Renewafuel Production Plant Selects Site

The Minnesota facility is part of Renewafuel's business plan to reach a level of more than 2.5 million tons of biofuels production in the next five years. With anticipated permitted production capacity of nearly 500,000 tons per year from its operations in Battle Creek, Michigan and planned facilities in Marquette, Michigan and Cusson, Minnesota, Renewafuel will be the largest producer of blended biomass fuels in the United States.

The Cusson facility will consist of a 100,000 square foot building to be built in Cusson, four miles north of Orr. It will directly employ approximately 25 people with an annual payroll of more than 1 million dollars. Renewafuel also will result in annual feedstock payments of millions of dollars to local farmers, loggers, and businesses that will provide the feedstock for the facility. Capital costs for the new facility are estimated at approximately 15 million dollars.

"This is truly an exciting day for the Leiding Township area and every citizen of Orr and Cusson," said Representative David Dill of Crane Lake. "The 25 new green-collar jobs at Renewafuel will have a significant economic effect on the area, as well as provide much needed business to the forest products industries, loggers, and farmers as well."

"This is a win-win situation for Cliffs," stated Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer Bill Brake, who is also the Chairman and CEO of Renewafuel. "Cleveland-Cliffs is committed to environmental stewardship and Renewafuel provides us the opportunity to help grow the Northern Minnesota economy, through proactive green technology, as well as improve our environment by reducing environmental impacts."

Renewafuel's biofuel cubes‹about the size of a coal briquette‹are environmentally friendly, generating about the same amount of energy as coal from the western United States; however, the green fuel emits 90 percent less sulfur dioxide, 35 percent less particulate matter, 50 percent less mercury, and 30 percent less acid gases than coal. In addition, the cubes are made from feedstocks that are considered biogenic carbon‹meaning they are already part of the natural carbon balance and will not add to atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. As a result, use of Renewafuel¹s products from its three operations in place of coal has the potential to offset more than 750,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year or roughly the equivalent of the carbon dioxide emissions from the annual use of more than 125,000 cars.

Renewafuel's proprietary fuel blends not only greatly reduce emissions they also are engineered to optimize energy performance. "Renewafuel biocubes may be designed to meet specific customers¹ needs depending on their unique operations and furnace or boiler technology," stated Renewafuel President Jim Mennell, who has served as environmental counsel for many of the region's renewable energy projects and has considerable expertise in the renewable energy arena. "They're versatile, they're economical, and they're green."

"Much work went into this project, and there are so many people to thank," stated Representative Dill. "The Department of Employment and Economic Development, the Iron Range Resources Board, The St. Louis County Commission, The Township of Leiding, The Mayor of Orr, The Orr Economic Development Council, the Iron Range Legislative Delegation, and our good friends in the forest products industry."

Construction of the Cusson facility remains subject to necessary loans and grants from the Iron Range Resources Board and the Minnesota Department of Economic Development and final approval of Renewafuel¹s Board of Directors. Renewafuel will begin work to obtain the necessary permits and approvals and is projecting start-up of operations for the fourth quarter of 2009.

Renewafuel was founded by Twin Cities/MN residents Jim Mennell, Managing Partner of the Environmental Law Group, and Leon Endres, CEO of Endres Processing, who remain partners with Cleveland-Cliffs who acquired 70 percent of the company in 2007 and launched commercialization.

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