Media Release

Pacific BioEnergy Drives “Last Spike”

October 19, 2006, Prince George, BC – Reminiscent of the last spike at Craigellachie in 1885, Pacific BioEnergy Corporation drove their “last spike” to celebrate the completion of their rail siding at the site of their new pellet plant development in Prince George on Monday, October 16.  John Rustad, MLA for Prince George-Omineca, was joined by Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley and Pacific BioEnergy CEO Scott Folk and Director Don Gould in driving the last spike surrounded by an audience of local and regional politicians, supporters, employees, and invited media.  Honorable Pat Bell, Minister of Agriculture & Lands and MLA Prince George North, and Honorable Shirley Bond, Deputy Premier, Minister of Education, MLA Prince George-Mt. Robson, also attended the celebration.

“We wanted to mark and celebrate this important step of our new plant development while thanking those who have supported us along the way,” said Scott Folk, Chief Executive Officer of Pacific BioEnergy Corporation.  “As the original last spike ceremony marked the beginning of a prosperous future for Canada, our ‘last spike’ marks a prosperous future for our company,” added Folk.

“We applaud Pacific BioEnergy for taking this step forward to grow their international reputation of producing high-quality bioenergy product,” said Rainer Kastens, AVP & Branch Manager of HSBC in Prince George.  “We are pleased to have the opportunity to marry our local commercial banking efforts with HSBC’s overall global leadership in carbon neutral policy.”

The new rail siding can accommodate over 60 rail cars, and is the first phase of a new pellet plant project that will be complete in the summer of 2007.  Once finished, the new plant will have a capacity of 160,000 metric tonnes per year.  The plant has also been designed in a way that will allow for further expansion, which will enable the company to meet the ever-increasing world demand for bioenergy.  Pacific BioEnergy is a part of the solution for dealing with the mountain pine beetle crisis by producing value-added product from wood that would otherwise be burned or land-filled.

Pacific BioEnergy Corporation is a leading manufacturer and internationally recognized supplier of wood pellet biomass fuel to industrial purchasers worldwide. The company has access to one of the largest fibre supply sources in the world and has been exporting bulk quantities of high quality wood pellets to large scale customers since 1998. For further information, please contact:

Scott Folk
Chief Executive Officer
Pacific BioEnergy Corporation
Tel:  604-602-1099
sfolk@pacificbioenergy.ca

Pacific BioEnergy Photo: Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley, surrounded by supporters, drives the last spike on Pacific BioEnergy’s newly finished rail siding and first phase of their new pellet plant.