Dive Brief:
- Empire Green Generation missed payment on a bond related to a pyrolysis plant planned in West Virginia, according to public records. A division of Empire Diversified Energy, the subsidiary has touted plans to convert up to 70 metric tons of plastics per day to petroleum-derived commodities at the facility.
- Empire Green Generation initially secured a $40 million bond from the West Virginia Economic Development Authority in 2023. UMB Bank served as trustee on the agreement.
- In February, Empire Green Generation had closed $10 million in additional bond financing from WVEDA with an initial draw of $4 million, purportedly to complete the facility.
Dive Insight:
The pyrolysis plant is in the Port of West Virginia, a site Empire Diversified Energy acquired in 2020. The complex is located in Follansbee, West Virginia, on the Ohio River and is 70 miles from downtown Pittsburgh.
Since acquiring the complex, Empire has invested $150 million to turn it into a multimodal industrial hub. It contains rail spurs serviced by an Empire-owned entity and Norfolk Southern. Empire's website lists several planned projects for the site, including an anaerobic digestion facility and a merchant pig iron plant.
Empire previously partnered with wastewater technology firm Heartland on a food-waste-to-hydrogen project that was to be funded, in part, through the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub supported by the Department of Energy. The project received initial funding from DOE in August 2024, per The Allegheny Front. But Heartland confirmed to Waste Dive this week that it’s no longer pursuing the project, citing federal funding uncertainty.
Empire has been building the pyrolysis facility in a 30,000-square-foot building at the Port of West Virginia. The facility was also set to repurpose an existing 20,000-square-foot building for feedstock storage, per a 2023 press release.
The company logged an unscheduled draw from its 2023 bond on Oct. 31, 2024, according to public records from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. Its second bond through the West Virginia Economic Development Authority was issued on Feb. 24 of this year, but by May 28 the company had missed payment on both bonds, The Bond Buyer first reported.
Empire did not respond to requests for comment on what the missed payment means for the future of the project.
Empire Diversified Energy and its subsidiaries are also in the midst of a merger. Vivakor, an energy transportation, storage, reuse and remediation services provider, signed an agreement with Empire on Feb. 26, 2024, to acquire the company and make it a subsidiary of Vivakor. The buyer plans to issue 67,200,000 shares of common stock as compensation for the agreement. As of June 4, Vivakor's stock was valued at $0.84 per share.
Last year, Vivakor executives reported the merger was pushed back into the first quarter of 2025 due to a delay with a separate transaction. It’s unclear where the acquisition of Empire stands today, and Vivakor did not respond to requests for comment.
