Business View Magazine | May 2019

185 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MAY 2019 to get the $14.2 million project off the ground. The project previously received about $6.1 through grants from Empire State Development, the state Dormitory Authority, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Federal Economic Development Administration. The accumulated funding will enable construction to begin on the biorefinery prototype, which could be operation in two years. The biorefinery will follow a patented hot water extraction process to separate chemical byproducts from low-grade wood, biomass crops, and agriculture residuals that come from local sources. End products of this process include ethanol, methanol, acetic acid, and wood that can be used in home heating, composite lumber, biodegradable plastic, and biofuels. All of these renewable energy initiatives have been integrated into the third revision of Allegany County’s Comprehensive Plan, which is in the process of being finalized. “We’ve made the Economic Development chapter of our plan more robust and prominent to address our current development needs, as well as devoted more planning to sustaining our natural resources, addressing possible future issues of climate change, and developing strategies for integration of renewable energy sources,” McKay explains. Meanwhile, the County is also hoping to grow its economy via other means. “We’ve been working with site selectors since 2016,” Clark notes. “They’ve visited the County three times and they’ve given us a pretty good profile on trying to expand what we already are doing a good job at, which is advanced manufacturing and ceramics, which is big at Alfred University, as well as some other areas, including food production. Another initiative we’ve been working on is tourism. We have a pretty active ATV park in the County, being as rural ALLEGANY COUNTY , NEW YORK