POET weighs in on proposal

POET filed its comments this week on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed changes in the 2014 volume obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard.
POET, parent company of POET Biorefining Portland, argues that the EPA should maintain growth in renewable fuel by setting the 2014 conventional renewable fuel target at 14.4 billion gallons.
“EPA’s Proposed Rule represents a complete reversal from prior EPA precedent,” the company’s filing stated. “Worse still, the Proposed Rule’s approaches to setting the 2014 RFS targets are contrary to EPA’s statutory authority and based on unduly-conservative estimates of biofuel supply and use.”

Meeting rescheduled
The annual meeting and awards banquet of the Jay County Chamber of Commerce has been rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 8, at Bearcreek Farms. Inclement weather forced the postponement of the dinner on Jan. 25.
The chamber’s Citizen of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Industry of the Year, and Business of the Year awards will be presented at the banquet. Registration and entertainment begin at 5:30 p.m. with the dinner at 7 p.m.

Earnings down
First Financial Bancorp this week reported annual earnings of $48.3 million, down from $67.3 million in 2012.
Much of the decline was the result of a drop in fourth quarter earnings, which were $3.8 million in 2013 compared to $16.3 million in the same quarter of 2012. Part of the fourth-quarter earnings drop was the result of special charges related to paying benefits for employees whose jobs had been eliminated.

New position
Allegheny Technologies Inc., parent company of Portland Forge, announced this week that Kevin B. Kramer has been named senior vice president, chief commercial and marketing officer.
Most recently, Kramer has been president of Stoneridge Wiring Division and vice president of Stoneridge Inc.
Stoneridge has a wiring harness facility in Portland.
Kramer served eight years with Alcoa Inc., where he served in a variety of executive positions. Prior to that he was an executive with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for 21 years. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University.

Financing planned
Ardagh Group, which hopes to complete its purchase of Verallia North America this spring, has announced that it will raise a total of $1.53 billion of debt financing to finance the deal.
Verallia’s Dunkirk plant is a major manufacturer of glass containers, producing about 2.5 million longneck beer bottles a day.
Ardagh initiated the purchase in January 2013 but ran into objections from the Federal Trade Commission. It is attempting to satisfy those objections by selling six former Anchor Glass manufacturing plants in Elmira, N.Y., Henryetta, Okla., Jacksonville, Fla., Lawrenceburg, Ind., Shakopee, Minn., and Warner Robins, Ga. It would also divest itself of a mould manufacturing plant in Zanesville, Ohio, an engineering and spare parts facility in Streator, Ill., and headquarters in Tampa, Fla.
Verallia North America is currently part of Saint-Gobain, a Paris-based firm that is primarily involved in the production of sheet glass and other building materials.

Watson to speak
Mayor Dan Watson of Dunkirk will present his State of the City address at the Jay County Chamber of Commerce networking breakfast on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 7:30 a.m. at the Dunkirk Elks Lodge.

Workshops planned
John Jay Center for Learning will present three workshops in February. A lean manufacturing workshop in partnership with Purdue University will be presented Feb. 4. The Indiana Small Business Development Center will present a Microsoft Excel workshop at John Jay on Feb. 13, and Vincennes University will be providing medical assistant training beginning Feb. 18.
For more information, contact John Jay Center for Learning at 260-729-5525.

Patients honored
Banta Family Dentistry recently named its Patients of the Year.
Brenda Bergman, Ronald Hammons, Ed Muhlenkamp and Ronald Acker were selected and each given a gift box from the office.

Business burns
A Hartford City roofing company lost two buildings to a fire Monday.
An employee at Five Star Commercial Roofing, 1119 S. Ind. 3, reported the fire just before 10 p.m. Monday.
Hartford City fire Chief Ron Parrott told The Star Press two buildings were already on fire when the department arrived.
Officials believe the company’s storage and shop areas were destroyed while the office area was saved from the flames.
Firefighters had to fight the minus 12 degree weather and icy conditions and battled the fire for more than seven hours.
The company lost about 7,000 gallons of asphalt during the fire, and it damaged some of the fire department’s equipment, which will probably need to be replaced, Parrott said.
The fire remained under investigation earlier this week.

Closing facility
General Electric Corporation announced earlier this week it plans to shut down its last Fort Wayne facility within a year.
Company officials said its motor testing lab and executive center would be closed, eliminating nearly 90 jobs as it moves the work to Monterrey, Mexico, The Journal Gazette reported.
The company will enter a 60-day bargaining period, which allows unions representing workers to make alternative proposals.
Negotiations will likely focus on protecting transfer rights and retirement benefits, said Brent Eastom, president of International Union of Electrical Workers local 901.
The company has yet to decide what will happen with the 13-building facility, and will have less than 20 employees working from home after it shuts down.[[In-content Ad]]