However, officials from the Lufkin-based company are assuring the town that the project still is going ahead.

The company had reached a five-year agreement with East Texas Electric Cooperative to sell the electricity it generates, said Bioenergy Resources chief operating officer Michael Bishop.

However, investors had wanted a longer contract in place, he said in a telephone interview.

"We are in negotiations with two major electricity producers to buy the electricity for a fixed rate for the next 10 years," he said. "Whoever puts an offer on the table (to purchase electricity) first is whom we're going with. I think it's going to happen pretty quick."

East Texas Electric Cooperative general manager John Butts declined to comment, but said "the ball's not in our court."

"We're just waiting to hear from them," he said via telephone from Nacogdoches.

Last year, 140 acres were located for possible purchase in the vicinity of U.S. 96 Business and Texas 62 for the project, which is expected to bring in more than 100 jobs.

Bishop said he was pursuing both federal and private funding to pay for environmental and engineering assessments on the Buna site.

"This thing should have gone forward as far as funding a year ago," he said. "This is the kind of project that's going to create 110 jobs, give or take. It's going to be a boost to any rural community. This is not based on a depleting, diminishing fuel. This is something based on a renewable raw material."

The power plant will use locally available renewable, natural resources to produce electricity while the biorefinery would use waste wood and agricultural waste product such as rice straw, wheat, corn, sugarcane, bagasse and corn cobs.

Bishop said Bioenergy Resources has five similar power generating projects pending in Texas and one in Mississippi.

In Texas, facilities are planned for Harris and Fort Bend counties, Brownsville, Hereford and Buna.