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NEWS Index of Leading Anheuser-Busch Economic goes green Indicators Fort Collins brewery $ 1 trying out a few new July 6-19, 2007 Economist sustainable practices Vol. 12, No. 21 John Green’s Page 2 www.ncbr.com quarterly report Hospice of Larimer Page 24-25 County crosses line Windsor to be home for two end-of-life services providers Page 3 UQM prepares for New owners ‘win’ in Water Pik deal new Army contract Motor maker places 1.2M shares in private placement Transaction splits according to a company official. $380 million. The June deal was a a 40 percent share in Water Pik. The Page 3 Fort Collins-based Water Pik — little more complicated. Tony Prud- financial terms of the deal have not maker of consumer dental health- homme, CFO of Water Pik Tech- been disclosed. pool products care products carrying the Water- nologies Inc., explained that Water What is being disclosed is the pik brand — was acquired by pri- Pik Technologies sold a 60 percent properties and employees affected from dental care vate equity firm EG Capital Group share of Water Pik Inc., the person- by the deal. Following the divesture LLC in late June. It was only Janu- al health-care line of the company, of the Loveland Water Pik facility, By Kristen Tatti ary 2006 when parent company to EG Capital Group. which was recently sold for $3.3 [email protected] Water Pik Technologies Inc. was Carlyle remains the owner of million, the Fort Collins site targeted for a buyout by private Jandy Inc., the pool and spa prod- remained the only facility focused FORT COLLINS — Water Pik equity firm The Carlyle Group. ucts line of Water Pik Technologies, on the Waterpik personal health- Statewide smoking Inc.’s second buyout in less than Carlyle took the company off the and is renaming the company care products. Prudomme said that ban one year later two years is a “true win-win,” public market in a deal valued at Jandy. Additionally, Carlyle retains See WATER PIK, 33 Restaurants, bars reflect on the economic impacts Page 3 It pays to be the boss New oil shale THE EDGE revival sparks Is your invention obvious? Once you file all the paperwork, a patent reviewer will make f is obvious: Scope of contents of the prior art water concerns Prior patents, published patent applications, journal articles and other references will all be reviewed. If there is some suggestion or motivation, in prior art or knowledge of one skilled in the art combine references reviewers will reject the claimed invention. Level of ordinary skill in the art Possible factors used to determine ordinary skill in the art include the educational level of the inventor, type of problems encountered in the art, prior art solutions to those pr made, sophistication of the technology, and educational level of active workers in the field. West Slope project Differences between prior art and the claims of the invention Differences in the prior art and the claims of the invention will not be based on the differences themselves, but t could siphon water Inventors in for obvious difficulty from Front Range Court decision will HANS THOMAS WILLIAM make it harder to By Steve Porter receive a patent GEORG BETZ GENDRON RANKIN [email protected] Page 7 Advanced Energy Woodward UQM Industries Inc. Governor Co. Technologies RIO BLANCO COUNTY — A $1,687,370 $968,078 $798,595 possible resurrection of oil shale LISTS production in this Western Slope Region’s largest New proxy statements county has raised environmental Most innovative concerns about its potential impacts companies on groundwater pollution and how show AE’s CEO Betz a commercial-sized operation might Page 9 leads local executives impact water supplies slated for Public Front Range use. companies Cathy Kay, spokeswoman for the By Kristen Tatti Western Colorado Congress based Page 21 [email protected] in Meeker, said a 1 million- to 2 mil- lion-barrel-a-day commercial oil Locally based The highest paid executive at a public company head- public companies shale operation on the Western quartered in Northern Colorado during 2006 was Slope could require “phenomenal” Page 22 Advanced Energy Industries Inc.’s Hans Georg Betz. amounts — she estimates hundreds According to the summary compensation table of AE’s of thousands of acre-feet — of Southeast Weld proxy statement, Betz made almost $1.7 million last year. employers water to extract oil from the shale. In the past, finding out what elements made up a “If (oil companies) are going to Page 34 public company executive’s compensation package was need that amount of water to go as easy as deciphering an ancient language. New rules commercial, water transfer could be handed down a year ago by the U.S. Securities and completely stopped to the Front Exchange Commission require that companies spell out Range,” Kay said. executive salary in black and white. The rules were DOLLAR DAYS — The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission stiff- Brian Werner, spokesman for the amended in December, but in place in time for this ened the reporting requirements for executive compensation pack- Northern Colorado Water Conser- year’s proxy statements. ages. See page 19 for “Summary Compensation Table” with details. vancy District which has water The new standards came about because the “pay interests on the Western Slope, said See CEO, 19 See OIL SHALE, 35 2 The Northern Colorado Business Report July 6-19, 2007 Earth, wind and beer: It’s not what you think Several miles east of the brewery, in Weld Anheuser-Busch County, A-B operates a seven-acre farm irrigated with water used in the brewing brewery is ‘green’ process. Senior Plant Manager Glenn Wil- son said that until recently the farm was in a big, big way growing cattle feed crops such as silage and haylage. However, last year a seed of an idea By Kristen Tatti was sown at the brewery. [email protected] “Their corporate headquarters was interested in producing energy crops,” said FORT COLLINS — Northern Col- Colorado State University Soil and Crop orado’s small brewers have long been giving Sciences professors Dwayne Westfall. So the a new meaning to the term “green beer” brewery and the university began the through various environmentally minded Renewable Fuel Crop Development project. projects, but there’s something bigger brew- ing just north of Fort Collins. Growing fuel Anheuser-Busch’s Fort Collins brewery In the spring, the Anheuser farm was has been implementing a number of prac- planted with biofuel crops, such as canola, tices aimed at reducing waste and support- camelina, safflower and soybeans. Through ing sustainability — ranging from fueling a grant from A-B, Westfall and colleague its transportation fleet with biodiesel to a Jerry Johnson are monitoring how the crops potential solar power project to generate interact with A-B’s “unique environment.” electricity to help produce the 9 million Westfall explained that the irrigation barrels of beer it makes annually. water from the brewery has high nutrient In April, the brewery began converting and organic content, especially rich in all of its Fort Collins vehicles to use nitrogen. Westfall said CSU will monitor how well the crops grow as well as how well biodiesel and filling them up from its own Courtesy Anheuser-Busch fueling sites at the facility. The program is the plants process the nitrogen. CSU will actually a pilot for the whole company — if also evaluate the quantity and quality of oil ECO ENERGY — T he fleet at Anheuser-Busch’s Fort Collins brewery began converting to biodiesel in April. The it proves to work well, it could be imple- produced by the crops. company has its own pumps on-site. mented at the other 11 A-B breweries Westfall said the project is mutually ben- around the country. eficially as it will add data to research that Westfall said he has been working with win-win, with the nitrogen output from the While many companies are turning to he and Johnson are already conducting on the brewery’s farming operations for some brewery becoming an input for its crops. biodiesel as an environmental conscious other farms. He also sees it as a long-term time now. Westfall deems the program a model of fuel choice, A-B is taking it a step further. program that will grow in scope. “The main objective is removal of nitro- beneficial nutrient use. The company is in the early stages of a pro- “Eventually, we’ll expand to other crops,” gen from the system,” he said. For A-B, it’s also a chance to add back to gram that could eventually produce its own he said, possibly switch grass and ethanol- Plants need nitrogen in their metabolic See BIOFLEET, 46 biodiesel from crops it grows. specific corn varieties. process. The situation, therefore, becomes a REGIONAL LOCATIONS AT Southeast corner of I-25 & US 34 RETAIL • OFFICE • LIGHT INDUSTRIAL www.chrislandinc.com Nicholas M Christensen, J.D. Ryan J. Schaefer 970-663-3150 x 3 970-663-3150 x 4 July 6-19, 2007 The Northern Colorado Business Report 3 THE Hospice crosses county line, meets competition to come in and fill that niche. County, perhaps in Centerra or somewhere in Dueling Windsor offices “We were getting an increasing number of north Fort Collins,” Contos said. EYE calls from the community saying, ‘Can you Then he learned that HLC would occupy an may change landscape come to Windsor?’,” said Jean Hall, HLC’s exec- office less than 25 yards from Mountain Valley. utive director. “Everyone in Windsor has been “How confusing is that to have two hospices A loaf of for terminally ill patients very welcoming and that’s been very gratifying.” within a stone’s throw of each other? We knew But suddenly the town is about to become they were coming to town but didn’t think By Steve Porter home to two hospice providers.

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