Woodville Pellets, LLC, Makes Further Environmental Investments and Pledges Funds for Local Residents and Educational Facilities to Improve the Energy Efficiency of Their Homes and Buildings

WOODVILLE, Texas, Jan. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Woodville Pellets today announced its intent to fund nearly $500,000 for local residents and educational facilities to use in improving the energy efficiency of their homes and buildings through a respected entity, Greater East Texas Community Action Program ("GET-CAP") along with a $200,000 payment to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and additional funding for technology improvements to make its Woodville plant more efficient and environmentally friendly. The announcement comes as the company reaches a settlement with Sierra Club over a lawsuit that had its genesis with the prior facility owners. Although Woodville Pellets disagrees with Sierra Club's allegations in the lawsuit and has not admitted any liability in the settlement, Woodville Pellets is pleased to resolve issues arising from the prior owners and continue Woodville Pellets' commitment as a state-of-the-art operator that also invests heavily in the local community.

The funding of the GET-CAP project will benefit both the local tradespeople who will do the work and local residents and educational facilities whose homes and buildings will be "weatherized" to be more energy-efficient year-round.

On the plant side, Woodville Pellets is committed to continuing its multi-million-dollar upgrade to make the plant state of the art. "We are happy to be moving forward with our permitting and planned environmental improvements and to focus on the operations of our plant," said plant manager Michael Rastatter. "We have worked tirelessly since acquiring this plant in 2019 to be successful, and this is an important step forward."

Woodville Pellets is one of the largest employers locally, employing approximately 100 people between its Woodville and Port Arthur locations. The plant produces approximately 400,000 short tons of wood pellets per year, converting locally sourced wood residues and low-quality roundwood into wood pellets and providing reforestation and economic investment in East Texas. Wood pellets continue to be a sustainable bioenergy solution providing affordable energy security and significant fossil emission reductions to numerous countries across the globe.

The settlement includes Sierra Club's agreement that pending permit applications to TCEQ and EPA should be granted, which will allow Woodville Pellets to complete significant technology improvements already underway at the plant, including the installation of new equipment. The company will also carry out additional periodic testing for air emissions at the facility, ongoing compliance reporting, and quarterly community meetings to discuss and answer questions about operations and environmental compliance at the plant. This work follows a multi-million-dollar investment that Woodville Pellets recently made to overhaul and improve existing equipment at the plant. These are commitments Woodville Pellets is pleased to make not only to achieve greater reliability in plant operations but also to benefit the environment.

In June 2019, Woodville Pellets purchased the wood pellet manufacturing plant out of bankruptcy. Following the purchase, the current plant leadership began working with state regulators to modernize the plant and enhance environmental compliance that resulted from the prior owners. The plant's multi-million-dollar investments have yielded positive results for its employees, the community, and the environment.

About Woodville Pellets – Woodville Pellets, LLC is a wood biomass pellet manufacturer in Woodville, Texas, USA, and operates a manufacturing plant in Woodville, Texas, and a pellet storage and shipping terminal in Port Arthur, Texas. The manufacturing plant is located in an area that has ample access to local feedstock supply. The vast majority of the pellets are produced using locally sourced roundwood and chips that are purchased through a reliable vendor. Woodville Pellets is a division of Graanul Invest Group, the second-largest pellet producer in the world and the largest in Europe. The group operates in the field of bioenergy and renewable energy production, forestry, and biomaterials development. Founded in 2003, Graanul is a world leader in biomass and bioenergy production and is the largest producer of wood pellets in Europe. The Company employs more than 500 professionals across its 12 modern pellets plants in the Baltics and U.S., as well as its six combined-heat-and-power plants in Estonia and Latvia. Graanul is fully committed to providing viable and sustainable alternative solutions to fossil fuel and carbon emissions, tracing 100 percent of the materials it uses across its supply chain to its source.

For more information, visit https://woodvillepellets.com

SOURCE Woodville Pellets, LLC