Hemp plant proposal asks Houston council for land and permitting help, not money

Sacred Seeds Foundation asked the Houston City Council on Wednesday for guidance on zoning, permitting and rail-adjacent industrial land for a hemp processing plant. It asked for no city money. The foundation says the plant would give Alaska fiber growers a local buyer, which it says the state's hemp economy lacks.

"We ask the city council to help us understand the right path for exploring compatible, rail-accessible industrial land in or near Houston," Sarah Williams, president of the foundation, said at the council's Sept. 23 work session. The item was for discussion, not action; the council took no vote.

A starter hub of roughly 10,000 square feet carries a range of $8 million to $10 million, with a roughly $27 million purpose-built processing and building materials plant to follow. The foundation's website calls it GreenBuild Composites and says it seeks $27 million in impact investment to capitalize it.

Williams said construction would employ about 55 workers in one build season, and the plant 35 to 50 permanent workers, eight hours a day, five days a week at first.

Williams said more than 200 acres have been indicated or promised across roughly five growers, and that other farmers have told the foundation of "a possible future pathway to more than 2,000 acres." No grower or processor registration on the state's hemp list is unexpired; all roughly 175 current registrations are retailers.

If a harvest falls short, she said, the foundation would import feedstock, the raw plant material it would process, through connections in Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Manitoba and Oregon. She called it a stopgap rather than a business model.

Council members pressed on truck volume, fire and dust risk at low feedstock moisture, wastewater, rejected biomass and energy sourcing. Williams said she had no clear answer on truck counts and would return with one.

No site has been selected. A council member said the city has asked the Mat-Su Borough for property near the double-track rail on the north end of town, and expects it to close in a month or two. The state has separately proposed conveying about 19,950 acres two miles north of Houston to a state development agency.