08/28/07 Groundbreaking for fuels plant

Diversified Fuels will break ground near Buhl today for its canola oilseed crushing, refining and processing plant. The 125 million dollar complex will be the largest of its type in the Northwest. Diversified Fuels will take canola from the field and transform it into a wide away of products including oils and specialty feed ingredients. Diversified President Stace Campbell says it's not a chemical plant; it's not a biodiesel plant. CAMPBELL ""Fryer oils, edible oils, fuel for the body, fuel for the vehicle, fuel for industrial oils, whatever those happen to be." At full operation Diversified will process the canola oil and 700 tons of canola meal every day for dairy and livestock feed. Canola has to come from somewhere. CAMPBELL "The Midwest and Canada, some out of the PNW, the Pacific Northwest. As we scale the facility and move forward more and more of it will come from locally grown sources. There's over a million acres of rotatable land just in Southern Idaho which goes from the Treasure Valley to Driggs. Groundbreaking today, canola processing and production beginning about a year from now. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott