RECENT SUCCESSES

• The Florida Department of Transportation awarded in November 2015 a $1 million grant to the Port St. Joe Port Authority to fund final design of the dredge material disposal areas and to prepare specifications and bid documents for their construction. The intent is to advance that project to "shovel ready" status so that implementation of the dredging project, when authorized, will not be delayed.
• The US Army Corps of Engineers issued the Federal Permit in February 2015 to dredge the shipping channel up to 37 feet.
• The Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued the State Permits in December 2014 to dredge the shipping channel up to 37 feet and disposal of dredge materials to two nearby locations.
• The Port St. Joe Port Authority announced that the results of an economic impact study it commissioned the Washington Economic Group (WEG) to conduct concluded that the proposed port infrastructure improvements are estimated to generate nearly $133 million in net state revenues, representing a total return on investment (ROI) of nearly $4.66 to state taxpayers for each state dollar invested in the project.
• The Port Authority has a signed Letter of Intent (LOI) from Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation expressing an interest in transporting materials via the Port and the Apalachicola Northern Railway (AN Railway) provided that the port channel is dredged and improvements are completed to the railway.
• The Port Authority is working to secure the funding for the necessary permits to dredge the shipping channel up to 37 feet.
• The AN Railway, L.L.C. is receiving $5 million to rehabilitate about 19 miles of rail and 17 structures including a trestle over the Apalachicola River to accommodate freight trains to and from the Port.
• The St. Joe Company has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Enova Energy Group, a full service, clean energy development company specializing in development and operations of contracted renewable based assets. Enova has expressed an interest in transporting a minimum of 1 million metric tons per year of wood pellets using the AN Railway to the Port of Port St. Joe for further shipment to overseas markets.
• The St. Joe Company has also signed a Letter of Intent with Green Circle Bio Energy, Inc., a producer of biomass based renewable energy. The LOI anticipates several potential new business development opportunities to create jobs in the Northwest Florida region. Green Circle is interested in leasing a site from St. Joe along the AN Railway to develop a wood pellet production facility. Green Circle operates the world's second largest wood pellet plant in Cottondale, Fla. The wood pellets produced at the new production facility can be transported via truck or AN Railway to the Port for further shipment overseas. Both Letters of Intent are contingent upon the Port of Port St. Joe receiving funding to complete maintenance dredging of the shipping channel.
• Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City, Fla., has leased 20 acres at the port site to expand its shipbuilding, vessel construction and repair and industrial steel fabrication operations in the Gulf-coast region.