Imperium Renewables cuts 24 workers

Imperium Renewables, the Seattle-based biodiesel producer, has laid off 24 employees, a majority of the staff at its large Grays Harbor plant.

The cuts will help it "survive and grow when the market turns around for the biofuels industry," company president and founder John Plaza said in a statement Thursday. He said Imperium faces "dramatically reduced global demand for biodiesel, high feedstock prices and extreme volatility in the petroleum fuel markets."

The latest blow to the company was a tariff imposed this month by the European Union on biodiesel imported from the U.S. The EU said U.S. subsidies on biodiesel allowed producers such as Imperium to undercut European manufacturers.

Plaza said that along with the plunge in energy prices, "the recession has led to a drastic reduction in demand for fuels of all types, but especially for biofuels."

The Grays Harbor plant is capable of producing 100 million gallons a year, but the company won't say how much biodiesel it is currently making.

Spokesman John Williams said the reductions "represented more than half of the staff at the plant," but the company isn't saying how many remain.