AEDC Wants Seed Money Back from Oxane Materials

The Arkansas Economic Development Commission has filed a complaint against Oxane Materials of Houston, Texas, seeking to recoup money given to the company in hopes of creating jobs at a facility in Van Buren.

The city entered into a grant-reimbursement agreement with the company, which manufactures proppants used in hydraulic fracturing, in June 2010 and advanced $500,000 in grant funds. The money was intended to create 150 full-time, permanent positions, which never occurred, Little Rock attorney John Kooistra wrote in the complaint.

The commission was assigned to and is now the holder of the agreement, according to the complaint.

Kooistra wrote that the agreement requires Oxane to reimburse the commission for part of the grant amount, which he said came to a sum of $260,000.

The commission demanded that the money be paid in a letter dated Jan. 20, but has not received any payment, according to the complaint.

The Van Buren facility closed in January, eliminating about 70 jobs, according to local news reports and other complaints filed against the company.

Oxane has not yet responded to the AEDC complaint in court, and a phone message was not returned last week.