Plan for green jobs at a plant originally built for war approved in Riverbank
Riverbank officials took their biggest step to date Tuesday night on turning the old Army ammunition plant into a hub for green jobs.
The City Council voted 5-0 in support of enterprises that will include making ethanol from woody orchard waste. The 173-acre site at Claus and Claribel roads already has companies involved in various ventures, green and otherwise.
The votes came 12 years after the closure of the plant, which employed about 3,500 people at its peak during the Vietnam War.
The conversion has been slow, in part because of Army bureaucracy and the ongoing cleanup of toxic waste. About 650 people now work for 35 companies leasing space at the site, in areas such as plastic recycling, conventional fuels, railcar management, pest control and auto repair.
Riverbank aims for at least 2,000 total jobs as other parts of the site are occupied in the coming years.
“It’s really going to transform the area, the green jobs impact both directly and indirectly ...,” Councilman Luis Uribe said.
The ethanol plant will built by Aemetis Inc., which already owns a Keyes plant that has made ethanol from Midwestern corn since 2011.
The Cupertino-based company expects to employ about 50 people in Riverbank, while generating perhaps 1,000 jobs for contract haulers of orchard waste.
Construction could start on the plant next year and finish by early 2024, said Eric McAfee, chairman and CEO at Aemetis, after the votes. He donned a hardhat at the podium to celebrate Tuesday’s milestone.
Aemetis also will be the “master developer” for the remaining vacancies, taking over from the city government. Riverbank will get up to $11.6 million in lease and purchase payments from Aemetis for 105 acres of developed and vacant land. This includes the current businesses, the ethanol site and land close to Claus for three upcoming buildings for new tenants.
Open burning will end in 2025
The ethanol plant will help almond and walnut growers meet a mandate to end open burning of orchard waste by 2025. Clean-air advocates say residents suffer when growers torch pruned limbs and trees pulled out of production.
The ethanol project also will help the battle against climate change. Experts calculated that it will cut overall carbon emissions thanks to reductions in orchard burning and conventional fuel use.
Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, welcomed Tuesday’s vote in an emailed statement from his Washington, D.C., office. He toured the plant in February and earlier helped Aemetis wade though federal rules on foreign investment.
“We’re creating 2,000 new good-paying jobs and helping our farmers fight climate change,” Harder said. “Last night was a huge step forward in landing these jobs in our community.”
Plant dates to World War II
The Army opened the plant in 1943 to process aluminum for World War II aircraft. It shifted to ammunition in 1952, during the Korean War. The workers made cartridges and casings for mortars and grenades through a contract with NI Industries.
In 2005, the plant was designated for closure with the waning of the Cold War. It was deactivated in 2009 and leased at no cost to the city the next year. It is now known as the Riverbank Industrial Complex.
Plastic recycling is the main green industry so far. Greeneyes Manufacturing makes landscape edging and related products. Repsco produces plastic items that replace wooden pallets for inventory handling. Circulus turns plastic bags into pellets for manufacturers elsewhere.
About 80% of the currently available space is now leased out, said Cary Pope, a local Realtor working with Aemetis at the complex.
They plan to soon erect three buildings for yet-to-be-named tenants on 24 acres on the west side of the complex. Aemetis will pay the city $1.2 million for this land.
Aemetis will have a 15-year lease on another 81 acres. It will make about $10.4 million in lease payments over that time and also have an option to buy the property outright for $8.8 million.
The Army has not yet transferred another 22 vacant acres to the city. It will be sold to Aemetis once that happens.
The ammunition manufacturing left chromium, cyanide, PCBs and other pollutants at the site. The Army has been cleaning it up for more than 30 years, working with state and federal agencies that deal with these matters. Monitoring will continue even after the land is declared safe for reuse.
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 12:56 PM.
