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Highland Pellets to Build $130M Plant in Pine Bluff

2 min read

Highland Pellets LLC said Wednesday that it will build a 500,000 metric ton per year wood pellet facility in Pine Bluff.

In a news release, the company said the $130 million plant will create more than 35 jobs. It also claims “a further 482 indirect jobs” and “a direct financial impact” of $86 million per year. 

The governor, along with Arkansas economic development officials, officially announced the project this morning in Pine Bluff. It is the second wood pellet plant announced in the state in recent weeks. On July 30, Zilkha Biomass Energy of Houston announced that it will build a $90 million wood pellet facility in Monticello that will create 52 jobs.

Highland Pellets is a privately held Arkansas company that makes wood pellets, which is used as feedstock by European industrial utilities.

“While this plant is the first built under the Highland brand, our colleagues Mike Ferguson and Scott Jacobs bring decades of industry leading experience in the engineering and operating of industrial wood pellet plants,” Highland Pellets Chairman Tom Reilley said in a news release. “Together with Highland’s leadership team who are veterans of Cargill, Black River, JP Morgan and EnerNOC, we are excited to complete our Pine Bluff facility and expand our footprint.”

Groundbreaking on the plant is expected to take place in October with production to begin in March 2016.

On its website, Highland said Pine Bluff “is ideally located in the heart of the Arkansas fiber basket and benefits from a choice of main line rail or barge from the plant to the port.”

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