Boot Hill Biofuels lists $4 million in debt

    Boot Hill Biofuels has $4 million in unsecured debt on its books, including $2 million owed to a Colwich-based designer of ethanol plants.
    The bankrupt company also reported $498,056 in assets, according to financial statements filed earlier this week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wichita.
    In 2006, Boot Hill Biofuels teamed up with the Liberal-based company Conestoga Energy Partners to build an ethanol plant near Wright that could generate up to 110 million gallons of the grain-based fuel each year. Construction has not started yet, however.
    Boot Hill Biofuels president Gary Harshberger told the Globe on Friday that the company still plans to build the plant but is waiting until the economic climate improves.
    "The environment at this time would just dictate that we stay patient until the ethanol space changes, because right now it's just not favorable to building a new plant," he said. "But it's still a good plant, still a good location. I'm still very optimistic that it's viable."
    The Los Angeles-company Biofuel Venture 1 filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Boot Hill Biofuels on Dec. 1 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wichita, seeking repayment of a $750,000 loan for start-up capital.
    The case was later converted to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows the debtor to postpone all payments on debts so he or she can reorganize the business.
    Boot Hill Biofuels' financial statements listed 11 unsecured creditors, with the Colwich-based ethanol plant designer ICM at the top of the list. Boot Hill owes the company $2 million.
    Biofuel Venture 1 is the second-largest creditor at $750,000, followed by MD Ethanol of Castle Rock, Colo., at $500,000 and Third Day Biofuels of Spring Hill at $400,000. The other seven creditors have claims for $50,000 apiece.
    Boot Hill Biofuels has no real property assets because nothing has been built yet. The company's only assets are personal property, listed at $498,056.
    The company reported $82,580 in income between 2006 and 2008, all of which was interest income.
    Harshberger said that the company is working with its creditors to resolve the bankruptcy case, and he was optimistic that they could resolve those issues.
    "I think with negotiations between all of the creditors, I think we can come to an understanding," he said. "And that's all it's really about is just getting all of the creditors on the same page and believing in the plan of action that we have.
    "Once they all agree and BVI (Biofuel Venture 1) can take care of their other concerns, then I think we're going to be good to go."

    Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.