2025 July Economic Report

A father and son duo of entrepreneurs, with a scientist mixed in, is building a business — called Regenerative Industrial— in Lewis County to turn forest waste into sustainable and environmentally-positive construction products.

Their website states, “We believe the next generation of industry won’t be built on fossil fuels — it will be built on local biomass, modular design and commercially viable bio-based products that meet performance standards without compromising sustainability.”

Instead of developing products from fossil fuels, the company uses leftover trees.

They’ve partnered with Krume Lumber in Onalaska along state

Route 508 to use their forest waste to produce several products. Krume’s proximity to Interstate 5 and rail — 9 miles away — makes the location perfect.

They originally set up shop in 2024 at a location in the Twin Cities just off of Exit 79, where they built a pilot manufacturing program to first prove their technology. The pilot scale facility is designed to turn the thousands of pounds of forest residues produced by local lumber operations — including sawdust, chips and shavings — into biobased products for use in agriculture, construction and industrial markets.

The company transforms what was previously considered waste into revenue-generating products and creates local jobs.

The company was out pouring a new concrete pad on Friday for their new facility at Krume Lumber, with hopes to finish the facility in late August and start production at the end of October.

At the start they plan to create nine high quality jobs with an annual payroll impact of $598,828, with plans to add another 37 jobs in 2026-27 with an estimated payroll of $3.5 million.

Their original pilot manufacturing site in the Twin Cities just happened to be located next to the former headquarters of the Economic Alliance of Lewis County.

The founders of Regenerative Industrial walked next door and gave the Alliance a visit. The staff at the Economic Alliance soon came to their pilot site for a return visit.

“They were welcoming and said, ‘How can we help?’” said co-founder Kevin Hoffberg, the “dad” in the operations. “It’s hard to overstate how important the Alliance has been for us.”

The co-founders

The father/son team added a thoughtful, brilliant scientist with a can-do attitude to create Regenerative Industrial.

Co-Founder and CEO

Jake leads Regenerative Industrial’s go-to-market strategy, capital formation, and external partnerships. His ability to align business model design with investor psychology and policy tailwinds gives the company an edge in capital-efficient growth and market execution.

Prior to co-founding the company, Jake helped raise over $100 million across 25-plus early-stage ventures through regulation crowdfunding and direct-to-investor platforms. He previously served as publisher at Equifund and copy chief at Agora Financial, where he specialized in retail capital markets and narrative-driven fundraising.

Kevin Hoffberg, the dad Co-founder, Chairman and President

Kevin leads corporate strategy, financial systems and stakeholder engagement across Regenerative Industrial. He provides the decision frameworks and operating discipline that guide the company’s planning, governance and business development activities.

A serial entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience, Kevin has co-founded nine companies and held executive roles at Russell Investments, Onyx Software and Ulu Ventures. He has advised dozens of Fortune 500 firms and authored widely on decision-making, sales strategy and innovation.

Clayton Turner, the scientist Co-founder and Chief Science Officer

Clayton drives product development, systems engineering and technology innovation for Regenerative Industrial. He is the lead architect of the company’s Small Modular Biorefinery platform, AI-enabled carbon tracking systems and virtual training environments. His ingenuity powers the company’s core “cyber-physical” capabilities.

Clayton has led the design and deployment of over 20 biomass processing facilities. His cross-disciplinary expertise spans pyrolysis, distillation, molecular separation and automation. He previously served as Chief Visionary Officer of Santa Fe Farms and co-founded The Hemp Blockchain and The Carbon Protocol.

A smarter model for bioindustrial growth

Their pyrolysis technology transforms Pacific Northwest biomass into reliable, high-quality additives — carefully engineered to exceed standards for concrete, wood and steel applications.

Strategically located in Lewis County’s Bioeconomy Development Opportunit Zone, they source directly from abundant regional forests, ensuring stable, predictable material supplies with minimal logistics risk or delays.

Their bio-based products easily integrate across an entire project workflow — from pouring concrete slabs and sealing timber structures, to cleaning and mold prevention.

Material standards keep getting stricter — yet the supply chain hasn’t caught up. At Regenerative Industrial, they fill the compliance gap with cost-effective, biogenic alternatives that perform as well, or better, than the fossil-based products they replace.

They use controlled pyrolysis to thermochemically convert forestry waste into high-value, carbon-rich materials.

In the absence of oxygen, organic biomass breaks down into:

• Wood tar — a dense, resin-rich preservative
• Wood vinegar — a bioactive liquid condensate
• Biochar and biocarbons — high-carbon solids milled to specification

Unlike combustion or gasification, their process preserves molecular value in every output — maximizing recovery of usable compounds while minimizing emissions and waste.

At capacity, their Onalaska facility is designed to produce:

• 617,000-plus pounds of carbon-based solids
• 41,000-plus gallons of wood vinegar
• 10,000-plus gallons of wood tar annually

Modular design philosophy

Regenerative Industrial doesn’t believe the future of manufacturing is massive or centralized. Their model is modular, local and rapidly deployable — enabling them to build where the biomass is, not where the subsidies are, reducing shipping expenses.

Their pilot facility, demonstrates their small-footprint approach:

• Faster permitting
• Lower startup costs
• Local job creation
• Supply chain stability

This flexibility allows them to expand into other feedstock-rich Opportunity Zones including sawmills across Lewis County and nationwide.

Their products

Their slogan is, “Built for the real world. Designed for what’s next.”

Their products are grounded in proven science, engineered for commercial readiness, and aligned with a changing regulatory landscape. Whether you’re building ships, roads, food systems, or carbon-smart plastics — their materials move you forward.

Vessels and coastal infrastructure

Their LunaChar Wood Tar delivers an effective, low-toxicity alternative to conventional marine coatings — helping fleets meet new environmental mandates while improving durability and performance.

Advanced additives for asphalt, concrete and building materials

Derived from clean biomass, their carbon-rich materials enhance the structural and environmental performance of traditional building systems.

Their concrete, for example, with their additives, extends pavement life, boosts durability and reduces cracking.

Sustainable carbon black

Micronized BioCarbon is milled to spec and engineered to compete with fossil-based carbon black — offering high purity, ultra-low ash, and consistent performance.

Applications include plastics for electronics, automotive parts and sensors and food-safe packaging.

The U.S. is highly import-dependent on specialty carbon black from Asia — posing a growing supply chain risk. Their domestic, clean-source BioCarbon offers a safer, scalable alternative.

Organic inputs for soil health and plant protection

Their LunaChar Wood Vinegar and Biochar products support regenerative agriculture, helping farmers reduce chemical use while boosting crop health and soil vitality.

Applications include adding water retention, and suppressing plant pathogens in high-value crops.

With organic production rising and conventional pesticides facing regulatory scrutiny, farmers are actively seeking biobased, effective alternatives. Their wood vinegar and biochar meet this demand — especially in high-value fruit and specialty crop markets.

It all adds up to Regenerative Industrial coming to Lewis County.

Kevin Hoffman said, “Lewis County is perfect for this.”

Understanding how zoning shapes communities across Washington is now a little easier thanks to a joint effort from the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Growth Management Services unit, MAKERS architecture and urban design, BHC Consultants, and students from all four of the state’s accredited planning programs.

Commerce launched the Washington State Zoning Atlas (WAZA) this past week, a first-of-its-kind tool to compare zoning data from across the state in one standardized, interactive platform. The Washington State Zoning Atlas is available as an interactive web-based map and downloadable database.

In Washington, cities and counties have the power to write and manage their own zoning rules within the framework of the state’s Growth Management Act. While this local control gives communities flexibility, it also means there is no standard way to publish or organize zoning codes. This makes it difficult to compare zoning information across the state.

The WAZA changes that. It’s the first statewide tool to translate local zoning codes into consistent categories, which means more consistent zoning will be possible for housing, businesses and other development types.

“The Washington State Zoning Atlas is a powerful resource to answer big questions and help bring more housing online,” said Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn. “Zoning decisions shape what kinds of homes get built, where they’re built, and who can afford to live there. Local governments make the rules that decide what gets built where, but until now we didn’t have a clear picture of how those rules add up statewide.”

The WAZA is especially valuable for examining where barriers to housing may exist and how new housing laws, such as middle housing or minimum parking requirements, apply and are being implemented across the state.

It also supports environmental, ecological and economic research by clarifying where development is likely to happen and how intensive it may be. A WAZA user guide and examples of how WAZA can support research and policy analysis across different land use scenarios are also available.

Combining diverse perspectives

“What the Zoning Atlas does and what it’s really beneficial for is showing trends and showing relationships between jurisdictions,” said Justin Patterson, a Pierce County planner and Master of Urban Planning and Design student at the University of Washington Tacoma. “The use case of having that visually in one place where you can see how your jurisdiction is kind of lining up on a regional scale and how things are changing across jurisdictions. There’s a lot of value in that to local jurisdictions.”

UW Seattle, Western Washington University and Eastern Washington University have accredited planning programs. Students from those three universities and students from UW Tacoma worked together in a first-ever joint course to learn about zoning in Washington and test methods of collecting data to build the WAZA.

“The Zoning Atlas fills a significant information gap that has limited our ability to see how policies are implemented on large scales,” said Dave Andersen, managing director of Growth Management Services. “Now we have a foundation to see the big picture that will allow us to make better informed decisions.”

Tammy Laninga, associate professor at WWU’s College of the Environment, led the cross-university course and said students got hands-on experience working on the kinds of planning problems they will face in their careers.

“What was so interesting was how every community’s code had something kind of unique about it. The students learned very quickly that zoning gets really complicated,” Laninga said. “Like, how do you go from hundreds of unique zoning codes to something that is semi-standardized? That was the challenge and that was what the class helped with. By the time the class was over, we had a really solid protocol and a solid way forward.”

Despite the benefits WAZA provides, zoning remains local as cities and counties continue to update their zoning codes and maps regularly. The WAZA reflects data collected and standardized by Commerce and our partners from April 2024 to June 2025.

Some local zoning codes have already changed since this data was gathered. Commerce plans to update the WAZA periodically pending the availability of funding to continue this work.

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To access the map, go to www.commerce.wa.gov/growth-management/data-research/waza/

To access a user guide, go tohttps://deptofcommerce.app.box.com/s/2zaq36scagtbubrxbx0yzb7s9ip2himm