Leaders in Community Development Awarded in New Orleans

Central Valley NMTC Fund earned the 2016 Operating Business QLICI of the Year Award for its investment in the North Fork Bioenergy Plant in North Fork, California. The deal was funded with $6 million of Central Valley’s NMTC allocation to build and operate the nation’s first forestry-fueled biomass gasification plant.

The plant uses Sierra Nevada Forest waste as its feedstock to produce electricity, reducing fire hazards in the Sierra. Though North Fork, Calif., is a small, low-income community, the town has taken an active role in redeveloping a vacant mill site that closed in 1994. As noted by Janice Hetland, 2016 Community Development QLICIs of the Year Awards judge, “[the North Fork Bioenergy Plant] addresses a variety of issues by using forest waste as feedstock for a biomass facility, which will produce electricity to be used by businesses in the area which manufacture forest-produced goods.” The project will create jobs while maintaining local forests.

Central Valley NMTC Fund addressed Gov. Jerry Brown’s emergency proclamation that specifically called for the development of forest waste-to-fuel plants.

Read the issue here: novogradac_jtc_2016-11_nmtc_pg62.pdf‍

Historic Image Caption:The North Fork Bioenergy Plant in North Fork, California was able to build and operate the nation’s first forestry-fueled biomass gasification plant following an investment by Central Valley NMTC Fund