A biomass industry’s project to expand throughout Mississippishould pay off handsomely for the state’s southwest corner in lessthan five years, a local lawmaker said Friday.

District 53 Rep. Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, said Houston-basedbiofuel producer KiOR would build the third of its five statewidesites in or near Bude in Franklin County, bringing an estimated 75direct jobs and at least 200 indirect jobs to the area’s forestryindustry over the next three to five years.

The company uses wood chips in a process to create synthetic crudeoil that can be refined into gasoline or diesel fuel. It choseSouthwest Mississippi because of the region’s abundant timberresources and supporting industries, he said.

“What a shot in the arm it would be for Southwest Mississippi,”Moak said. “The way the process works is, basically, they’ll comeout to your farm and buy your timber, so you get a check. Then,they carry the timber over to a chipper, like at Cortez Byrd, sothose employees are at work. Then, those chips would go to thefacility in Bude, go through the process, and they literally speedMother Nature up and create oil out of the wood products.”

Moak said KiOR’s plans call for the smallest facility to be builtfirst in Columbus next year, where around 50 new jobs will becreated and another 200 or so related forestry jobs. A similarsecond facility would be built in Newton County before constructionbegins on the Bude project, where average wages are expected to bebetween $50,000 and $60,000 annually.

“They’re going to produce about 800 barrels a day at the Columbusfacility, and that’s the smallest one,” Moak said. “It will reallyhelp our timber prices, really help the industry. In Mississippi,we grow more timber than can be harvested every year. That’s whythey like Southwest Mississippi in particular.”

KiOR is planning a total of eight facilities across the South, withfive in Mississippi. Such a commitment from the company requires acommitment from the state, and lawmakers are meeting today in aspecial session to consider granting the company a $75 millionloan.

Some lawmakers have shown great skepticism toward the project,doubting the technology and even comparing it to the beef plantfiasco in 2004.

However, Moak pointed out KiOR’s state backing won’t kick in untilthe company has inked a contract with a refinery to process itsproduct. Additionally, the company has said its plants will requiremore than 100 truckloads of wood material per day and has pledgedto spend about $85 million annually in direct purchases inMississippi. The state will have the first lien on all KiORassets.

Moak supports the loan for KiOR.

“Shoot, man, it’s almost five to one. Heck, yeah,” he said. “By thetime they create the jobs in Mississippi we’ll have our moneyback.”

Britt Herrin, president of the Southwest Mississippi Partnership,said the coming of KiOR would create economic movement in all 10 ofthe organization’s area counties. The direct jobs created will bewelcome, but the real impact will be felt by supporting industrieslike logging, he said.

“You have local guys cutting, other guys hauling, local businessesselling equipment, stations selling fuel,” Herrin said. “It’s justa really big ripple effect in that one industry, and I think it’sgoing to have a huge impact.”

Herrin said the Partnership worked with KiOR and the MississippiDevelopment Authority to show company officials the way aroundSouthwest Mississippi and provide information on the region.