Profits could have run into the tens of millions, figures in documents from an EPA investigation of C6-Zero, obtained by the Register, indicate
Officials at a Marengo plant that exploded and burned in December, sending 20 people to the hospital and forcing evacuations of surrounding homes, believed their asphalt shingle recycling business could produce substantial oil profits, according to documents submitted to government regulators.
Responding to questions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after the blast and fire, the officials at C6-Zero disclosed that they believed their manufacturing process could pull 2.3 barrels of oil out of every ton of used asphalt shingles they received, according to documents provided to the Des Moines Register on Friday through a Freedom of Information Act request.
According to a contractor’s report about the company’s operations, C6-Zero estimated that it could process 800 tons of shingles a day. The company also planned to run the factory 24 hours a day year-round.
Based on those numbers, C6-Zero would have produced 1,840 barrels of oil a day and more than 650,000 barrels a year. A standard barrel of oil is 42 gallons.
The price of oil is notoriously volatile. But in 2022, West Texas Intermediate oil traded at an average of $95 per barrel. At that rate, C6-Zero’s production estimates would mean the company could earn nearly $65 million in annual revenue.
If, as Howard Brand, the company’s founder, disclosed to a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regulator when he was working on a similar process in San Antonio, he could buy shingles for $55 to $65 a ton, his cost for his main raw material would have been about $17.5 million a year.
A company spokesperson did not respond to an email from the Register on Friday afternoon asking whether C6-Zero’s internal revenue and profit projections match what their responses to regulators indicate. However, the projections do help explain how the renewable energy startup could attract some well-established Iowa backers.
Jeffrey Boeyink, a partner at the lobbying firm LS2group and a former chief of staff to Gov. Terry Branstad, served as a company liaison to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Christopher Rants, a former Republican state representative and PolicyWorks lobbyist, also sat in on a meeting with the DNR in May, according to emails obtained through a records request.
