A year ago, I was telling you about how Imperium Renewables was opening a 100-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant in Grays Harbor, Washington (near Seattle) and how just the week before that announcement Imperium had inked a deal to provide 18 million gallons of the green fuel a year for the next four years to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
But what a difference a year makes, as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that a series of missteps by the company has resulted in Royal Caribbean canceling that long-term contract and Imperium continuing its downward spiral:
The loss of the contract with Royal Caribbean – Imperium’s largest customer – is a huge setback. And it follows a series of events over the past eight months – including the cancellation of an initial public offering, staff layoffs and executive departures – that highlight the troubles facing the one-time rising star in Seattle’s clean tech industry.
In a short statement provided Thursday to the Seattle P-I, Royal Caribbean said that “any financial or contractual relationships between our company and Imperium Renewables were ended by July 1, 2008.” Royal Caribbean spokesman Michael Sheehan declined further comment.
A spokesman for Imperium also declined to comment.
This latest development raises some serious questions about the future of Imperium and the Grays Harbor refinery, which was the nation’s largest biodiesel plant in the nation when it opened a year ago.
A company that turns leftover turkey parts into biodiesel has made a $100-million initial public offering as the company goes public.
A full three-quarters of all the biodiesel produced in the U.S. now meets the important BQ-9000 certification… a standard that couples the foundations of universally accepted quality management systems with the product specification ASTM D 6751, and has become the premier quality designation in the industry.
“They recognize some of the volatility we are facing, they recognize that we are a commodity that has to deal with peaks and valleys,” said Jennings. “But I think there is also a commitment that we need to continue to pull together to move this industry forward.”
Another was Winston Churchill’s famous “If you’re going through hell, just keep going.” Jennings says the point there is that “nothing that is significant is easy to accomplish” and the industry just needs to keep going in the face of the negative publicity. 
An animated version of an enzyme that could accelerate the process of making cellulosic ethanol from woody plants and farm waste looks kind of like “a Technicolor dinosaur fossil chomping on dinner.”
Retail giant JCPenney has inked an agreement with BroadStar Wind Systems to install BroadStar’s unique wind turbines at the retailer’s massive 1.6 million-square-foot distribution center in Reno, Nevada.
Music and a message will be what goes from the West Coast to the East Coast as the biodiesel-powered Green Train is set to make a tour across the country this coming April.
The train will include two flatbed concert stage cards. During the six-week tour the train will stop in seven major cities where country music performer and songwriter Merle Haggard, along with other musicians, will perform. They will also hold dozens of small-town whistle stop acoustic performances. Other artists and celebrities who have pledged their support for the Green Train include Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Cher, The Dave Matthews Band, Collective Soul, Jewel, John Mayer, and The Indigo Girls.
The city beaches and streets in Long Beach, California are going to be kept clean by using a greener fuel.