GRAND FORKS – Epitome Energy CEO Dennis Egan hopes to still begin construction this year and says new biofuel standards announced by the Environmental Protection Agency have prompted new confidence in the project.
“Announcements of those two federal policies have given the equity investors some guidance and confidence in terms of what this industry will look like moving forward,” Egan said. “We have had a number of discussions with project partners over (the first half of June) and we’re making some really good progress on identifying the right partners.”
Egan told the Grand Forks Herald that he is in conversations with several investors about the project to get it off the ground this year. Economic uncertainties, the mood of investors and delays in securing necessary environmental permits had previously delayed the project.
Egan said that since the last election, investors have become more receptive to the project due to the uncertainties a change of presidential administrations posed for environmental and economic policy for biofuels. Continued support from both the city of Grand Forks and the state also has solidified the project, Egan said.
The new biofuel standards are an increase to the renewable volume obligations for biofuel blends from the EPA. There is also a proposed extension of the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit being proposed as part of the next federal budget. The standards, combined with strong prices in the soybean oil market, have provided "certainty," Egan said, especially in the path forward for the project.
“(Soybean oil prices) are the strongest they’ve been for probably four or five years, and so fundamentally, that just is a great indicator for projects like ours,” he said.
Epitome Energy is proposing building a $500 million soybean crush plant on the far northwest side of Grand Forks off 70th Avenue North. Epitome received a key air permit from the state in June 2024, a key milestone to moving the project forward. The project has previously received support from the state through grants, according to Agweek.
The facility is projected to be able to process 42 million bushels of soybeans into soybean oil, hulls and meal. The beans will come from farms across northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota.
As Eptiome continues development on the project, the city is moving forward with road improvements along 70th Avenue North. A $3.2 million grant from the Federal Economic Development Administration will help pay for the improvements. The grant stems from a 2023 major disaster declaration from an ice storm that year. The dollars are intended to support economic recovery.
Even though Epitome has not begun construction, the city has decided to move forward with the reconstruction of 70th Avenue North into an urban road. The $3.2 million from the EDA required a roughly $800,000 match
“We’re moving forward with it just in the eventuality that something’s going to end up out there,” Assistant City Engineer Christian Danielson told the Grand Forks City Council on June 9.
Funding for the road improvements had always been less clear, as there hadn’t been direct funding sources from the state like there are for water and sewer infrastructure, the city has said in the past.
If they are built, Grand Forks could see upwards of a billion dollars in agricultural processing facilities in the next five years between Epitome’s project and Agristo’s proposed potato processing plant on a site that once was the location for the planned Fufeng corn mill, which later fell through before construction began.
“Solidifying the old Fufeng site, and then for us to be on the heels of that, both projects are in that $500-plus million range, so it’s an exciting time for value-added ag in Grand Forks,” Egan said.