FIRMS TO STUDY SITE AT PORT

SCOTT CITY - A Charlotte, N.C. firm, identified as the nation's fastest growing private company the last two years, is studying the possibility of locating at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority.

Cogentrics, Inc., a wholesale provider of electrical energy to companies, operates nine cogeneration plants with a total capacity of over 600 megawatts.

Another firm, Carbontec Energy Corp., which would purchase steam power from Cogentrics, is also considering locating at the port. Carbontec uses a new process to increase the heating capacity of low sulfur coal. Cogentrics would purchase coal from Carbondtec.

The senior vice president of Cogentrics, Jim Franklin, arrived in Cape Girardeau Tuesday afternoon for meetings with port commissioners held Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning of this past week.

At a special meeting Friday afternoon, commissioners of the port authority approved an agreement with two firms to conduct a feasibility study on locating here.

The agreement, which Port Executive Director Allan Maki called "a memorandum of understanding," is for six months and could lead to the construction of a power generation plant by Cogentrics, and a facility to devleop coal beneficiation and blending by Carbontec.

"This is not an agreement to do anything, just an agreement to study it," said Maki. "However, we feel good that this could lead to some significant development at the port."

Cogentrics was formed in 1983 and for three consecutive years has been identified as one of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the nation by Inc. Magazine.

For the last two years, it has been number one on the list, the only company ever to hold the top ranking two years in a row.

Carbontec now has a $35 million plant operating in cooperation with Cogentrics in Bismarck, N.D., and is working on another joint project in Montana. The firms are looking at the SEMO Port for the site of their third venture.

Maki said that $17 million of the $35 million cost of constructing the Bismarck plant came from a grant provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, which recently approved the process used by the company.

Carbontec uses a newly patented process where they take western coal, which has low sulfur content but burns at only 8,200 BTU's per pound, and blends it with eastern coal, which burns at about 11,000 BTUs per pound but has a high sulfur content.

Maki explained that the process results in the western coal being able to burn at 11,000 BTUs, while maintaining its low sulfur content and being less of a pollutant.

Maki pointed out that Cogentrics has identified a need in the Midwest region for new base load and peaking capacity for electrical energy. The purpose of the study is to research that need. "If they locate in this area, it will be at the port," explained Maki. "The study will focus on a port location for both companies."

He added, "The particular reason they have chosen the port authority is because of our intermodal access. The availability of more than one rail line and the river are critical to both in marketing this coal and receiving products."

Having a natural gas line nearby is also an asset to the project, Maki noted.

"I am very encouraged that the fastest growing private company in the country two years running has recognized the value of the port authority," observed Maki. "We look forward to cooperating with them in this study and will do anything we can to help them make a positive decision to locate at the port."

Since 1984, Cogentrics has built or has under construction the following, coal-fired power plants:

Lumberton, North Carolina $30 million;

Elizabethtown, North Carolina $30 million;

Kenansville, North Carolina $32 million;

Roxboro, North Carolina $44 million;

Ringgold, Pennsylvania $28 million;

Rocky Mount, North Carolina $107 million;

Portsmouth, Virginia $92 million;

Hopewell, Virginia $92 million;

Southport, North Carolina $84 million; and

Richmond, Virginia (Under development, estimated $250 million).