The City of Siloam Springs, Ark., and Ecostrat are pleased to announce the issuance of a Bioeconomy Development Opportunity Zone (BDO Zone) designation. The ‘A’ Rating for poultry litter supply is expected to drive new market development for bioeconomy projects that can utilize the region’s more than 1.5 million tons per year of reliably produced poultry litter.
“The City of Siloam Springs became interested in the BDO Zone designation to potentially attract investments in new, green technologies in our community and improve the environment. The BDO Zone designation is an additional tool in the city’s economic development tool box. The “A” BDO Zone rating signifies to the biomass investment and development community that there is abundant feedstock and efficient infrastructure to support investment in a bioeconomic project, and reduces the risk of such investments. In addition, our region’s poultry industries have been implementing successful nutrient reduction strategies for a number of years, and the development of a biomass project will provide those industries with another valuable outlet for the by-product, which will in turn reduce nutrient runoff to our waterways from the land application of the poultry litter.” says Phillip Patterson, City Administrator.A BDO Zone rating signals that the region has undergone rigorous and extensive due diligence using over 100 standardized, transparent, and validated risk indicators based on the BSCR Standards for biobased investment. “A” and “AA” BDO Zone Ratings identify areas in the country best positioned for low-risk bioeconomy project development.
Jordan Solomon, CEO of Ecostrat, states: “The bottom line is that BDO Zone designations solve a big problem for communities, which is that many of them have strong biobased assets: tremendous surpluses of biomass, reliable suppliers, and good infrastructure to support an operating plant – but they don’t have the budget, the platform, or the credibility to communicate this to biobased investors and developers around the world. A BDO Zone designation changes all that.”
Siloam Springs also offers a Federal Opportunity Zone on the northeast side of the city where eligible new investments can take advantage of preferential tax benefits. Michelle Perez, Program Officer at Winrock International says: “Through the BDO designation, Siloam Springs is using an innovative and sustainable approach to leverage the value of its Opportunity Zone and of the assets generated in the region for community and economic development. Winrock International, through our Opportunity Arkansas project, is excited to continue working with Siloam Springs to develop investable projects that revitalize the local community.”
Investors and developers interested in siting a project in the Siloam Springs BDO Zone can tap into the Arkansas Opportunity Zone Fund to provide powerful tax incentives for new capital in eligible projects located in the OZ. Nick Andrews, CEO of USA BioEnergy and Arkansas Opportunity Zone Fund says: “We are excited to work with Ecostrat on the BDO Zone initiative to create clean jobs, bring economic development to distressed communities and make an impact on climate change.”
American biomass provides an economic development engine with the potential to create 160,000 jobs and nearly $15 billion of economic benefit. The BDO Zone Initiative can help the U.S. realize this potential by supporting new market development for American bioenergy, advanced biofuels, biobased heat and power, bio-materials, and clean hydrogen.
For more information on the Siloam Springs, AR BDO Zone, or to read the full Risk Rating report, visit https://bdozone.org/.
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