Strain meets with lawyer for Lacassine syrup mill

Looks like the purchase of the Lacassine syrup mill is still a go. Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain on Tuesday met with a lawyer for the Colombian-owned Louisiana Green Fuels, and the $44 million buyout is still planned. The family that owns Louisiana Green Fuels is searching for an equity partner, which is proving to be a challenge, given the state of the global economy right now. The Colombians are leasing the facility for $100,000 annually for four years before beginning payments on the 44-year note. Strain says Louisiana Green Fuels, which owns 9,000 acres around Lake Charles, continues to raise cane and grind it in the Patoutville mill, and has also finished the dirt work at the Lacassine mill in preparation for building an ethanol plant there. The state did, however, grant the group a 90-day extension on an interest payment to the bank that it is guaranteeing. Says Strain: “We’re going to work with them because it is in everyone’s best interest that they succeed.”—Penny Font