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KiOR was a green energy scam. It was supposed to turn Mississippi pine trees into diesel. It was promoted by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vinod Kosler and backed by a popular Mississippi Governor. Its first plant near Columbus was funded by a $75 million interest free “loan” from the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA).
KiOR never produced any diesel. Its experimental reactor didn’t work (like Kemper’s experimental gasifier). KiOR bit the dust in 2014. It went bankrupt. Its stock options to entice Condoleezza Rice and other director notables were worthless. But then they didn’t cost the directors anything.
MDA’s note from KiOR was also worthless. But its default cost Mississippi taxpayers $69 million. MDA bureaucrats are good at spending Other People’s Money on experiments. They have this in common with the Mississippi Public Service Commission. It likes experiments and green scams too. It makes utility monopolies’ customers pay for them.
Enviva is a KiOR look alike. You may not have heard about it because it’s a Maryland company. It makes wood pellets. In fact, it’s the world’s largest producer of wood pellets. It has two pellet plants and a pellet export facility in Mississippi. Yep, you guessed it. The MDA helped finance them. With Other People’s Money. Yours. You might guess politics were involved too. Green politics.
Enviva has been in the news lately. Mongabay News reported a company whistleblower (they’re everywhere) says the company’s green claims are fraudulent. The claims also defy common sense. But so do solar plants that supply electricity 25% of the time when it’s needed 24-7-365. Hey, you’re not supposed to ask if green energy makes common sense or economic sense. Just pretend it does.
Enviva’s wood pellets from Mississippi plants are exported to Europe, the U.K., Japan, and South Korea where they are burned in converted coal plants to produce clean electricity. The electricity is clean because wood pellets are considered a renewable energy source. The magic word that makes wood pellets clean and green is renewable.
Of course wood has been used as a fuel since the Stone Age. Even today about 14% of the world’s energy is provided from burning wood. Mostly by the poor in developing countries. The poor don’t burn manufactured wood pellets though. They’re too expensive. They’re burned by the rich in rich countries – who can afford to believe green energy myths. At least for a while.
It’s true that wood is and that forests are renewable. New trees grow back when old trees are cut. But it takes 30-40 years for trees to get big enough to be logged commercially. What happens in the meantime? Who wants to look at stumps and debris on logged over tracts? Apparently, a lot of unhappy people don’t.
Enviva is hearing from those unhappy people. It has also learned that buying stumpage (uncut trees) and logging and hauling logs to mills cost a lot. And that twigs, limbs, and scraps don’t make good pellets – despite its claims they do.