CURWENSVILLE – The recently announced Helios Scientific ethanol project was a topic of discussion at Monday night’s Curwensville Borough Council meeting.
In October, the people behind Helios Scientific held a press conference to announce the intention to use cutting-edge technology to turn cellulose into affordable energy. The site will be a demonstration facility, and will use one ton of materials a day to produce 30,000 gallons of ethanol a year. The materials used in this process will consist of (primarily) waste wood, switchgrass, and corn husks, to name a few.
As stated earlier, the site will not only produce ethanol, but will be used to demonstrate the technology to existing investors and the investment community. Helios expects this will lead to funding for the first of 10 commercial-scale facilities to be built in Pennsylvania, starting in Clearfield County in 2011.
While state Rep. Camille “Bud” George was present at that press conference, noticibly missing were other elected officials, including members of Curwensville Borough Council.
Some members of council have taken umbrage with this.
“Apparently we were the last to know,” said council member Sam Ettaro.
He presented the company’s grant application to the rest of council to consider for review, noting what he felt were discrepencies, most notably in the purchase price of the company’s facility. Council President Mark Curulla stated that the company paid $750,000 for the building they are using.
Earlier in the meeting, Helios’ president and chief science officer Lee Polite was scheduled to speak. He was not in attendance. During that time Curulla stated that if Helios bought the building and had all the proper permits in place, he didn’t care what they did.
“I can’t see what all the rumble is about,” said Curulla.
“Council still needs to meet with them,” said council member Larry O’Dell. “Apparently, everyone else did.”