02/09/05 New funding for Idaho gas producing firm

There are some who don't believe that an Idaho Falls based company can turn cow manure into a saleable methane gas. That's exactly what Intrepid Technology and Research is doing at the Whitesides Dairy in Rupert. Now, the Industrial Development Corporation of Gooding County is preparing to issue 20 million dollars in tax-free bonds for the company's biogas facilities. ITR President Dennis Keiser wants to build more anaerobic digesters in Gooding, Lincoln, Twin Falls and Jerome counties, plus a collecting pipeline and storage facility. KEISER "Intrepid Technology and Resources will provide the equity base, that 20 to 40 percent equity base, and then we'll use these industrial revenue bonds to debt finance these plants." The four Idaho counties covered by the industrial revenue bond are home to over 300,000 dairy cattle. If fully utilized the financing would allow ITR to put about 100,000 head of cattle into the production of methane gas. Keiser's company plans to begin work on a second, much larger digester complex at the Westpoint Dairy in Wendell. KEISER "And then we'll tie in dairies in between these anchor locations. And we're talking to other dairymen right now that are sufficient size that they can anchor the pipeline." Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott