28/09/2007 (Sustainable Industries) - SEATTLE Three months after filing with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public with a valuation of $345 million, Seattle-based Imperium Renewables opened a 100- million-gallons-a-year biodiesel plant in Hoquiam, Wash. — the largest biodiesel plant to date in the United States. The Grays Harbor county plant will eventually employ 60 staff, Imperium spokesman John Williams says.

According to its filing with the SEC, Imperium plans to build three additional U.S. plants, bringing its capacity to 405 million gallons per year by the end of 2008. But projected growth wasn’t the only bit of information revealed in the company’s filing. Among the legally required disclosure of investment risks, the company identified several issues with its feedstocks, most notably the reliance of its business model on relatively low-cost palm oil.

“We plan to use significant amounts of palm oil from Southeast Asia, primarily Indonesia and Malaysia, in the production of biodiesel. Palm oil is currently the least expensive vegetable oil feedstock that we use,” the filing states. It also notes environmental and other groups have recently expressed concern that growing demand for palm oil may result in the clearing of Southeast Asian rainforests, threatening animal and plant species in the region.

Imperium also lists public concerns over the use of soybeans as a feedstock for biodiesel as a potential risk factor for investors, providing a brief overview of the food-versus-fuel debate that has raged over corn and, to a lesser extent, soybeans.

“Unfavorable public opinions concerning the use of palm oil, soybeans and other feedstocks, or negative publicity arising from such use, could reduce the global supply of such feedstocks, increase our production costs and reduce the global demand for biodiesel, any of which could harm our business and adversely affect our financial condition,” the filing continues.

While initial public offering (IPO) disclosures typically detail even the most obscure risks to limit legal liability in the case of financial failure, the company’s use of palm oil has already caught the attention of at least one environmental group. Seattle-based One Earth organized an Aug. 18, 2007 protest outside City Hall over the City of Seattle’s investment of $10 million from its pension fund in Imperium.