Fulcrum BioEnergy Announces Partnership With Waste Connections

PLEASANTON, Calif., Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc., a leader in the next generation of advanced biofuels, announced today an earlier arrangement to partner with Waste Connections of California, Inc., for the supply of post-sorted municipal solid waste ("MSW") to Fulcrum's Sierra BioFuels Plant, the company's first commercial-scale production facility for converting waste into low carbon ethanol, renewable electricity and other high value chemical products.

"We are pleased to be partnering with Waste Connections, on this first-of-its-kind project," said Fulcrum's President and Chief Executive Officer E. James Macias.  "Their support over the past couple of years has played a key role in the successful development of our Sierra BioFuels project and demonstrates their commitment to the environment.  We look forward to working with Waste Connections on this milestone project that will convert household garbage that would otherwise be landfilled, into a clean, renewable transportation fuel," added Macias.

"We are proud to be a part of this exciting renewable energy project," said Waste Connections' President, Steve Bouck.  "The Sierra BioFuels Plant is an example of how companies can work together to create economically and environmentally responsible solid waste management solutions and convert waste into a resource for clean energy," added Bouck.

Earlier this year, Fulcrum launched engineering activities with Fluor on the fully-permitted Sierra BioFuels Plant.  With commercial operations planned for late 2012, the project is expected to be the Nation's first commercial-scale production facility for converting post-sorted MSW into ethanol, renewable electricity and propanol.

Last month, Fulcrum announced that the Sierra BioFuels Plant was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") to advance to the final phase of the DOE's Loan Guarantee Program.  Fulcrum has received a detailed term sheet and has begun the negotiation process with a goal of closing and funding the loan during the first quarter of 2011.  Following the completion of the financing, Fulcrum will immediately begin construction on the $120 million project located approximately 20 miles east of Reno, Nevada in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center in Storey County.  The plant will provide the Reno market with a much needed low-cost, reliable and environmentally clean source of transportation fuel and will help stimulate economic growth in Northern Nevada by creating more than 500 new green jobs.

The Sierra BioFuels Plant is the first of several projects that Fulcrum is developing across North America.  With a pipeline of opportunities that have a future capacity to produce over one billion gallons of ethanol annually, Fulcrum's process will produce low carbon ethanol that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 75% compared to traditional gasoline production and mitigates our country's dependence on foreign oil.

About Waste Connections

Waste Connections of California, Inc. is a subsidiary of Waste Connections, Inc., an integrated solid waste services company that provides solid waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services in mostly secondary markets in the Western and Southern U.S. Waste Connections serves more than two million residential, commercial and industrial customers from a network of operations in 27 states and provides intermodal services for the movement of containers in the Pacific Northwest.  Waste Connections, Inc. was founded in September 1997 and is headquartered in Folsom, California.

About Fulcrum BioEnergy

Based in Pleasanton, California, Fulcrum BioEnergy is emerging as a leading company in the development of the next-generation of ethanol production in the United States.  The privately-held company focuses on developing, owning and operating efficient, environmentally responsible facilities for converting municipal solid waste and other waste products to a much needed low-cost, reliable and environmentally clean renewable transportation fuel.  Fulcrum BioEnergy is on track to become one of the first companies to commercially produce ethanol from municipal solid waste, creating a reliable domestic source of renewable fuels, reducing the Nation's dependence on foreign oil, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and relieving the pressure on existing and future landfills. For more information, please visit www.fulcrum-bioenergy.com.

SOURCE Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc.