1. The grape harvest is a manic time at Seneca
BioEnergy because the company that started out to
make biodiesel from corn, soybeans and grape seeds
is now focusing on its most immediate revenue
stream, grape seed oil for the kitchen — not the car.
Tons of pomace — the stuff left over after you
squeeze grapes to get juice to make wine — arrive
every day at the company’s warehouse on the
grounds of the former Seneca Army Depot in Romu-
lus, Seneca County.
Those daily shipments, about 40 tons a day from
about 20 wineries in the Finger Lakes, are the first
step in a circle of sustainability that will put another
local product on the shelves of wineries and stores
made from the stuff they throw away.
Michael Coia, CEO of Seneca BioEnergy, watched
recentlyasgrapeseedsfellintoahopperattheendof
a process that separates the seeds from the skins,
stems and leaves. He said he sees many opportuni-
ties in the process that turns agricultural discards
into useful products and sustainable businesses,
such as the production of biofuel, live stock feed,
bedding for dairy cows and fertilizer for farms.
Whatisneededtospurhisplanisfundingfromthe
state through the Finger Lakes Regional Economic
Development Council to help leverage financing for
infrastructure and equipment.
“We philosophically decided it was important
fromthecompany’spositiontolinktogetherenviron-
mental sustainability, renewable energy and agricul-
tural processing,” said Coia, an environmental engi-
neer. “We think those tenets are important to an
Democrat and Chronicle Sunday, October 7, 2012
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Hey, there’s a
presidential campaign going on here.
Unlike New York, where the out-
come on Nov. 6 is a given, Florida is a
battleground state — actually it’s the
battleground state because of its size —
with the latest Tampa Bay Times/Miami
Herald poll showing a virtual tie be-
tween Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
As a result, political ads abound on
TV, in the newspapers, on websites.
After Wednesday night’s debate — both
the Times and Herald described Oba-
ma’s performance as flat but stopped
short of declaring Romney the victor —
the president’s campaign launched a
TV ad asking, “Why won’t Romney
level with us about his tax plan?”
I’m worried about Romney’s tax
plan, too. I’m also worried about
where’s Obama’s fiscal policies are
taking us. We simply can’t afford an
increase in federal borrowing that
amounts to $55,000 per household over
the next four years, as has occurred
over the past four, according to Stan-
ford University’s Hoover Institution.
Romney was right to take the president
to task over his failed promise to cut
the deficit in half.
But can we believe Romney, either,
when it comes to taxes and spending?
Obama was right to question’s Rom-
ney’s arithmetic. He has said he won’t
go for even $1 of tax increases in ex-
change for $10 of spending cuts, a stri-
dent position that puts Tea Party poli-
tics above national interest. Romney
seems to be putting almost all of his
eggs in the basket of economic growth
to cut the deficit, though robust growth
in the U.S. might still be years away.
Frankly, after listening to the debate,
I don’t believe either candidate has a
credible plan to balance the budget and
reduce the debt.
I’ve written on more than one occa-
sion that Obama let the country down
when he failed to embrace the debt-
and deficit-cutting recommendations of
the Simpson-Bowles commission. But
in the height of hypocrisy, Romney’s
running mate, Paul Ryan, had the gall
to criticize the president when, as a
member of the Simpson-Bowles panel,
Ryan voted against the final report.
The thing is, there are plans out
there to effectively tackle this critical
problem. I encourage you to go to
www.taxpayers.org, the website of the
nonpartisan budget watchdog Taxpay-
ers for Common Sense, and read its
report “Sliding Past Sequestration,”
which lays out detailed plans for reduc-
ing federal spending without taking a
meatcleaver approach.
The report is likely to irritate both
conservatives and liberals, but that’s
the point. Shared sacrifice is needed,
whether it’s certain “green” programs
favored by Obama or certain defense
programs favored by Romney.
Obama, Romney lack credible economic plans
SSINK@DemocratandChronicle.com
Steve
Sink
BUSINESS EDITOR
Seneca BioEnergy project one of several promoted by
regional council as potential engines for job growth
Jeffrey Blackwell
Staff writer
See SEEDS, Page 5E
The Finger Lakes Grape Seed Oil and its sister company Seneca BioEnergy take pomace, top left photo, and separate out the grape
seeds, top right, that are then squeezed to make bottles of grape seed oil, at right. PHOTOS BY JEFFREY BLACKWELL/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
INNOVATION IN THE FINGER LAKES
TRANSFORMATIVE PROJECTS
The Finger Lakes Regional Economic Devel-
opment Council identified the Seneca BioFuel
project as one of several “transformational”
projects in the region and is asking the state
for funding to assist the project.
Other projects include efforts to sustain and
develop nanotechnology, like the work being
done at the Smart System Technology & Com-
mercialization Center in Canandaigua and the
Science Technology and Advanced Manu-
facturing Park in Geneseo.
Next week: We look at some of the ways
that the council suggests the state can support
small business in our region.
DIGITAL EXTRAS
Click in this story at RochesterNext.com for
an online video and photo gallery of Seneca
BioEnergy.
SENECA ARMY DEPOT
The former U.S. Army depot was built in 1941
for munitions storage and disposal. It was
closed in 2000 and transferred to the Seneca
County Industrial Development Agency. It
occupied more than 10,000 acres of buildings,
warehouse, munitions “igloos” storage bunk-
ers, an airport and a rail system that feeds the
entire depot.
SEEDS OF
TRANSFORMATION