That’s the way Commission Chair Tammy Hall sees it.
Commissioners agreed Tuesday with a 3-2 vote to invest $10 million in property taxes in Algenol, a Bonita Springs-based company on the leading edge of turning algae into ethanol. The grant, from the $25 million pot commissioners set aside for business recruitment and job creation in 2008, came by a 3-2 vote.
“I can’t get around the rules we set for ourselves,” said Commissioner Frank Mann. “This is (property) taxes. Our most precious resource. With 15 percent unemployment here in Lee County it’s critically important we focus on jobs. J-O-B-S. This falls significantly short of the proposals we’ve already accepted.”
The Algenol project would bring more than 100 jobs to the county almost immediately, company CEO Paul Woods said. About half of those would go to locals, he said, and there would be many more of them in the future as the research and development element and production of ethanol take off. The process uses algae, which absorbs sunlight and carbon dioxide to create ethanol. Woods, who invented the process in the 1980s and retired in Bonita Springs at 38 a few years ago, said fuel from algae is the world’s best shot at handling climate change.
Commissioner Brian Bigelow sided with Mann, while Hall and Commissioners Bob Janes and Ray Judah voted in support. “This one has been a difficult one,” Hall said. “The decision for me is not about Algenol as a commodity for the world. The decision for me is what it means for Lee County.” Commissioners have to be serious about research and development to diversify the local economy, Hall said. “I know $10 million is a lot of money,” she said. “Research and development around the world is a competitive marketplace. If we don’t put it here it will go someplace else.”
The vote came after a parade of environmentalists, business leaders and Florida Gulf Coast University officials urged commissioners to give up the money. “We support a decision to move forward,” said Brad Cornell of Collier County Audubon and Florida Audubon. “This venture offers several benefits.”
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