Monster silo in the works at Washakie
Jeff Peterson, public and government affairs representative, talks about the final biodiesel product, right, Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 at Washakie Renewable Energy plant in Plymouth. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
Jeff Peterson, public and government affairs representative, poses for a photo inside a grain silo Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 at Washakie Renewable Energy plant in Plymouth. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
Washakie employees take a break in front of gas reservoirs Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 at Washakie Renewable Energy plant in Plymouth. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
A new tanker filling station was recently installed at Washakie Renewable Energy plant in Plymouth. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
Washakie Renewable Energy plant in Plymouth has recently expanded over the past couple of years. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
Jeff Peterson, public and government affairs representative, pauses while talking about building expansions Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 at Washakie Renewable Energy plant in Plymouth. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
Brian Mattingly, general manager of Washakie Renewable Energy, pauses while talking about the new grain silos Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 at the plant in Plymouth. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
A train car waits on track next to a new grain crushing facility Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 at Washakie Renewable Energy plant in Plymouth. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
Workers work on a new tanker station Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 at Washakie Renewable Energy plant in Plymouth.
Brian Mattingly, general manager of Washakie Renewable Energy, peers inside a grain silo Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 at the plant in Plymouth. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
Jeff Peterson, public and government affairs representative, laughs while talking biodiesel products Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 at Washakie Renewable Energy plant in Plymouth. (DYLAN BROWN/Standard-Examiner)
PLYMOUTH — The local biofuel manufacturer here is approved to build a 123-foot-tall silo, which likely will be the state’s tallest building north of Ogden.
In fact, except for a few LDS temple spires and some downtown Ogden landmarks, Washakie Renewable Energy’s coming monster silo could be the tallest structure north of Salt Lake City.
Ogden’s 183-foot Municipal Building, at 2549 Washington Blvd., eclipses the coming silo. The 12-story “Muni” is Northern Utah’s tallest structure, according to various websites, while the nearby Ben Lomond Hotel and the Wells Fargo building top 140 feet.
“We were cognizant of the fact it’s rather large,” said Jeff Peterson, spokesman for Washakie. “But the needs of our crush plant are very large.”
Washakie’s growing biofuel operation provides federally mandated seed oil additives for gasoline manufacturers, and the plant at Plymouth is one of the largest in the Intermountain West, Peterson noted.
The need for seed storage is to allow Washakie to generate its own seed oil for processing, instead of purchasing the oil from markets around the world, and as far away as China, Washakie officials say. Last fall the company obtained approval from Box Elder County to construct eight 48-foot-tall silos at the Plymouth site, with construction of four completed by January.
Approval for the new 123-foot-tall, 156-foot-diameter giant was granted by the Box Elder County Planning Commission in June, said County Planner Scott Lyons.
“I don’t track silos around the country, but it’s probably one of the largest in the state,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s a big one, that’s about as big as they get,” a spokesman for Digman Construction, in Platteville, Wisconsin, a major silo-builder, said of the Washakie silo. The company is currently finishing plans for a 130-foot silo it’s contracted to build.
Sollenberger Silos, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvannia, another major silo-builder, according to the Internet, proudly points on its website to a 148-foot silo it built as “possibly the largest farm silo in the country.”
Feeding Washakie’s monster silo may be accomplished locally. Peterson said it’s possible Washakie could buy enough seed from growers in Utah alone to fill the silo, initially soy and canola beans. “We might be able to hit capacity in Utah.”
The 40,000-square-foot crush plant that extracts the seed oil is still under construction, Peterson said, so groundbreaking for the new giant silo is yet to be scheduled.
Utah’s tallest buildings are the Wells Fargo Building in Salt Lake City at 422 feet, with the LDS Church headquarters a close second at 420 feet.
