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"This is it," Northern Oil & Mill manager, Don Bubar, said. "We can't wait any longer.

"If it doesn't go through, we're going to have to look someplace else."

Bubar and fellow manager, Bruce Soloway, plan to use seeds from canola grown locally and make oil.

The company recently received a $10,000 check to help.

Bubar said the money most likely will be used to transport and set equipment.

This past Friday, Bubar told The Leader that they need to be ready to receive more than 30 tons of canola seed.

"There are about 15 tons in Ann Arbor and 17 tons in Suttons Bay," he said. "We've got to have our silos and grain bins set up."

Bubar said that he had provided information to the Kalkaska County Planning and Zoning Department, per the department's request, proving biodiesel is biodegradable and non-hazardous.

"I contacted MDOT, MDEQ, the EPA, OSHA and referenced the California Clean Water and Air Act," Bubar said.

According to Bubar, the time it has taken to get this far is taking its toll.

"It's putting a little pressure on," Bubar said. "It's making the farmers a little nervous.

"There is a lot of support at the federal and state level for this type of activity. There is not a lot of support right where it should be."

Northern Oil & Mill has equipment in its possession that reportedly will produce more than 500,000 gallons of biodiesel and more than 5,000 tons of canola or soybean meal per year.

Bubar said that if the Kalkaska County Planning and Zoning board does not approve Northern Oil & Mill's application, they will look elsewhere.

Bubar and Soloway have been making biodiesel for about two years, using waste oil donated by G's Pizzeria and Deli in Kalkaska and the Fife Lake Village market.

The men have been using the biodiesel to operate tractors, oil furnaces and other equipment.

The proposed plant has been in the planning stage for more than a year and Northern Oil & Mill owners have been working with the Kalkaska County EDC for several months.

"A location and building for the plant has been obtained," Bubar said. "As soon as permits are completed, the equipment can be put into operation."

According to Jack Kelly, Kalkaska County Planning and Zoning Department administrator, Bubar attended the public business portion of the March 19.

"The property is zoned light industrial," Kelly said last Friday. "A farm product processing operation is subject to an industrial site plan for review."

The information requested by the department included confirmation from either the US or the Michigan Department of Agriculture that a biodiesel facility of this nature constituted a farm process in operation.

Kelly said the information is needed in advance of a board meeting, in case board members want to or deem in necessary to visit the site.

According to the unapproved minutes from the March 19 meeting provided by Kelly, farm product processing is an allowed use, subject to a site plan review in light industrial. If it is a fuel storage facility, then it is allowed with a special use permit, as well as site plan review.

"The chairman (of the planning commission) indicated that Mr. Bubar would need to be on the next agenda so that individuals from the public would have an opportunity to discuss it," Kelly said.

Kelly said he was expecting to have an industrial site plan application and fee from Bubar, for likely inclusion on the April 16 board meeting agenda.

The April 16 meeting will be held at the Island Lake Road Kalkaska County Governmental Center at 6 p.m.

For more information, call Bubar at 231-879-4249 or Soloway, at 231-879-3451. Ê