Aberdeen, the depressed timber town most notable recently as the home of Kurt Cobain, is hoping for economic revival based on renewable energy.
After shriveling with the timber and fishing industries, the town recently broke ground on the country's largest biodiesel plant, which is supposed to make 100 million gallons of fuel a year from farm crops. Seattle-based Imperium Renewables says its plant will employ 300 during construction and 65 full-time when it opens next year, according a Tim Egan article in the New York Times.
The hope is that the plant will attract related renewable-energy technology. The town previously pinned its hopes on logging more of the remaining stands of nearby old-growth forest, expanding exports to Asia through the harbor and on the now-mothballed nuclear power plant nearby. Meanwhile Weyerhaeuser recently closed two mills in the area, costing a few hundred more jobs.
"After shriveling with the timber and fishing industries" -- wow, a little heavy handed, isn't that?
Posted by: Steven Friederich | December 14, 2006 at 15:52