$15M pellet factory in Moreau gets IDA support

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

The Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency on Monday granted economic development incentives to help bring a wood pellet factory to the Moreau Industrial Park.

Woodstone NY Inc., will be building a $15 million facility that will buy wood from the Adirondacks and other sources and employ about 30 people, turning that wood into pellets for woodstove heating.

The plan, approved unanimously Monday at an IDA meeting in Malta, is smaller than the project Woodstone originally proposed last February, with five fewer employees. The plan was downsized in response to market conditions, said Dennis Brobston, president of the Saratoga Economic Development Corp.

Woodstone has its headquarters in Hingham, Mass. This would be its first New York plant. It takes lower-quality wood, and converts it into the fuel pellets. The plant will be able to produce about 100 tons of pellets per day.

“It’s a good project for the North Country,” said IDA Chairman Raymond F. Callanan.

Dennis McLister, chief financial officer of Woodstone, said the company will have an impact on logging industry employment in the Adirondacks.

“We believe it will generate at least 100 indirect jobs, but it’s difficult to quantify that number,” McLister said.

The economic development benefits Woodstone will receive through the IDA include a sales tax exemption on building materials worth an estimated $98,000, a mortgage recording tax exemption worth up to $150,000, and a property tax exemption worth about $55,000 a year for 10 years.

Woodstone first applied to the IDA for incentives in February, but the IDA decided not to act until the company had all the needed approvals from the town of Moreau. That happened only in the last week.

Moreau Supervisor Preston Jenkins said the IDA approval was good news for the town.

McLister said Woodstone would like to start construction in February or March, and complete its facility within eight to 10 months.