By MIKE PERKINS, Huntington Herald-Press Editor
The company considering a biofuels manufacturing facility for Huntington has renewed its options to buy more than 102 acres of land on the city's far-northeast side.
Fort Wayne-based NuFuels renewed three options Monday for a total of $7,500. The options give the company exclusive rights to negotiate with the current owners to buy the land through March 1, 2007.
In May, NuFuels announced that it is considering land in and adjacent to the Park 24 industrial park as a site for an ethanol and biodiesel fuel manufacturing facility. The refineries and a research-and-development office would constitute a "biofeuls campus" that could cost as much as $200 million and provide as many as 100 jobs, the company said at the time.
NuFuels' statement has drawn opposition from an citizens' group, Huntington C.A.R.E., which has raised questions about possible environmental and esthetic concerns. In September, attorneys for Huntington C.A.R.E. sent NuFuels officials a letter suggesting the group would pursue legal action against the company if the site is formally proposed for biofuels production.
The options were secured from three separate parties. The largest option, for a total of 37.6 acres, was purchased from the Peggy G. Platt Revocable Trust and the Platt trust with Huntington County United Economic Development (HCUED) as an option-holder through its Lime City Economic Development Committee. A second option is for a total of 32.8 acres owned by Robert L. Beaty, with HCUED/Lime City as an option-holder. The third option, for 32.4 acres, was purchased from the Platt trust.
All land under option is part of Park 24 except the 32.4-acre tract and 10 acres of Platt trust property in the 37.6-acre option. The acreage not in the industrial park is adjacent to the park's eastern boundary - and outside the Huntington city limits.
"My hope of that by March 1 they will have made a decision to purchase the land and will have moved forward," Carol Pugh, HCUED's executive director, said of NuFuels' prospects.
NuFuels secured the initial option on the properties in October 2005. Pugh explained that the fees paid for the options are placed in a trust account at the Huntington law firm of Bendall Delaney Hartburg McNeely & Roth. If NuFuels buys the land the fees will be applied to the purchase price. If the options are allowed to expire without a purchase, NuFuels would forfeit the fees to the landowners and HCUED/Lime City would recover any costs involved during its optioning process.