REG celebrates biodiesel start-up, welcomes Texas employees

A. Lee Graham Reporter   Renewable Energy Group Inc. recently celebrated its newest refinery and welcomed new employees at the facility in the Northeast Texas town of New Boston. The Iowa-based biodiesel producer and marketer hosted a June 28 ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of major upgrades at REG New Boston LLC, about 150 miles east of Dallas. “Biodiesel is America’s leading and growing advanced biofuel, which supports agriculture and food production here in the United States,” said president and CEO Daniel J. Oh at the ceremony. “We are proud to purchase raw materials like poultry fats and used cooking oils from this region, and use them to produce high quality, clean burning fuels to help power our transportation industry.” Since late 2012, 22 new full-time employees have been hired for the New Boston facility. They joined company leaders, customers, suppliers and community members to cut the ribbon and celebrate the plant’s first sale. The company acquired the refinery in November 2012, ending its almost four-year dormancy. The facility marks the second Texas biorefinery that REG has acquired, with a Houston site operating along with five other plants in Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota, giving the company more than 225 million gallons of annual production capacity.   lgraham@bizpress.net