PORT ANGELES — A proposed composites recycling technology center won approval of a $1 million grant Thursday, the second time the proposal has received the support.
The Clallam County Opportunity Fund Advisory Board voted 4-1 to help build out a structure at William R. Fairchild International Airport in which carbon-fiber composite materials would be recycled and manufactured into new products.
The center also would house classrooms and labs where Peninsula College would relocate its Advanced Manufacturing-Composites Technology program.
Opportunity Fund board members Alan Barnard, Orville Campbell and Mike McAleer enthusiastically endorsed the grant.
Board member Bill Hermann expressed reservations about the program’s financial risks but voted to complete the 25,000-square-foot building at 2220 W. 18th St., Port Angeles.
Board members Dan Leinan and Joe Murray were absent.
One negative vote
Board member Sharon DelaBarre voted against it, saying the project’s main sponsor, the Port of Port Angeles, has the resources to finish the structure on its own.
The port at least could borrow the money from the Opportunity Fund, she said, or apply for a grant once the business was breaking even.
But Jennifer States, port director of business development and the project’s prime proponent, said the port’s reserves were committed to costlier projects such as controlling stormwater on the waterfront, cleaning up toxins from Port Angeles Harbor and readying the former KPly mill site for new business.
As for a loan, only a cash commitment could match the $4 million in grants that state and federal economic agencies already have approved, she said.
And she said only infrastructure — not business development — qualified for the Opportunity Fund.
Thursday’s action and discussion replayed those of April 23.
The board repeated the process after Clallam County Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis refused to issue a warrant for the funds.
Next, Clallam County commissioners must reaffirm the Opportunity Fund allocations after an Aug. 4 public hearing that Barkhuis insists commissioners must hold — although she has threatened still to withhold the warrants unless ordered by Clallam County Superior Court.
Barkhuis has demanded that the allocations be subject to public hearings as debatable budget emergencies and be approved only with formal contracts signed off on by Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols.
Aerospace firms
The composites recycling technology center would store uncured carbon-fiber scrap from Puget Sound-area aerospace firms until recycling it into new products.
About seven semi-trailers of material would arrive by highway each month, according to Geoff Wood, the port’s composites consultant.
Asked why the Seattle companies don’t reuse the material themselves, States said federal law prohibits recycled materials in aerospace applications.
And other Puget Sound-area businesses haven’t sprung up to do what Port Angeles hopes to accomplish, Wood said, because “we’re first out of the gate. We did it first.”
States added that potential suppliers and manufacturers have expressed interest in the center.
The companies, however, remain unnamed under nondisclosure agreements with the port.
Recreational products
Those manufacturers would make products that could include snowboards, fishing rods and medical prostheses from the lightweight, high-strength carbon-fiber composites, States said.
A separate nonprofit corporation will run the recycling center, which within two years would begin paying rent to the port, she said.
The port will seek an additional $1.3 million from state clean-energy funds to equip the center and leverage its economic development services for a local match.
The port’s proposal estimates that the center and its spin-off manufacturers could provide as many as 338 family-wage jobs after five years.
Besides the county, state and federal grants, the center has received almost $1 million in kind from permit waivers and staff time, plus $500,000 in equipment the college will relocate there.
‘Most impressive’
The Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, States said, called it “one of the most impressive projects they have seen in a long time.”
The Washington State Clean Energy Fund’s Brian Young said the center would have “the largest impact in the shortest time” of all the projects seeking funds in Washington, according to States.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell’s proposed Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 includes $10 million for a pilot composites-recycling project that could be located at the Port Angeles center.
Still, DelaBarre called it “a very high-risk project.”
“This is still in the research-and-development phase. I’m having a really hard time justifying use of these funds.”
But Barnard said the grant would complete a building that will be available for business even if the recycling center fails.
“We have a viable project,” he said. “The community needs it right now.”
McAleer agreed.
“I’ve not seen a proposal come to us that fit any better than this one,” he said.
McAleer noted that the project first had attracted federal funding, then state financing while awaiting the Opportunity Fund board’s commitment.
“You’re damned right we’re going to commit to it,” he said.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
