Land locked: The Allen Parish Police Jury has approved a lease for the development and operation of a proposed $100 million refinery at a former chemical plant site just west of Oakdale. Police jurors agreed Monday to lease 67 acres of commercial property at the old Arizona Chemical plant site to Virtual Engineering Operations of Kingwood, Texas, for a refinery to produce 20,000 to 40,000 barrels a day. The lease is for 49 years at a cost of $100 per acre for five years, then $1,000 per acre for the remainder of the lease. Under the agreement, the company must maintain 35 permanent jobs. VEOPS President J. Craig Harrington says construction is expected to begin by July and should be completed within 18 months.
Back to the future: Woburn, Mass.-based Terrafugia Inc. says its prototype flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year. The vehicle—dubbed the Transition—has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. Last month, it flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes. Commercial jets fly at 35,000 feet. Around 100 people have already put down a $10,000 deposit to get a Transition when the vehicle goes on sale, and the number of buyers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces it to the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don’t expect it to show up in too many driveways. It’s expected to cost $279,000. See a photo of it and read the full story here.
Euro-empire brewing: Molson Coors announced this morning that it will spend $3.54 billion to buy StarBev and its nine breweries in central and eastern Europe as it expands its operations further. The Denver brewer is betting on a vibrant region once the economic crises subside in the European Union, where unemployment has now reached the highest point since the euro was introduced in 1999. The brewer slogged through a similar economic swamp recently, when the economic crises cut severely into the budgets of beer drinkers in the United States. However, Molson Coors appears to have emerged leaner and stronger in its most recent quarter, and the U.S. economy appears to be on the mend. Beer sales are again on the rise. Check out the full story here.
