BESICORP - EMPIRE SECURES RENSSELAER BASF SITE; PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL MEETING ANNOUNCED

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Besicorp-Empire Development Company, LLC announced today that it has secured the approximately 90-acre BASF Corporation site in the City of Rensselaer where it plans to develop a $680 million newsprint recycling facility integrated with a 500 MW natural gas powered generation facility.

BASF will be terminating production at its chemical manufacturing plant at this site in January. "The achievement of this milestone is an important step in the development and completion of this project and marks the beginning of a series of events that will lead to regulatory and permitting approvals," said Dick Clark, Besicorp-Empire Development Project Manager.

The Company will submit preliminary documents to the Public Service Commission and Department of Environmental Conservation following a public informational meeting scheduled for November 9, 2000 at 7 p.m. The event is to be held at the Rensselaer High School in the City of Rensselaer.

"We are pleased with the progress of this project and the economic and environmental benefits it will bring to the citizens of Rensselaer and the State of New York," said William T. Seils, President of Besicorp Development, Inc. "Our focus now is to work with all parties to ensure a timely and environmentally sound clean-up of the site to prepare it for our project. This is truly a cooperative effort that includes BASF Corporation, Besicorp-Empire Development Company, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Public Service Commission and the Rensselaer community. We look forward to working with the citizens of Rensselaer throughout this process."

Construction on the Rensselaer project is targeted to commence in September 2002. Besicorp-Empire Development Company, LLC is a joint venture between Besicorp Development, Inc. and Empire State Newsprint LLC. Besicorp Development, Inc. specializes in the development of environmentally sound independent power projects.

Contact: Sean Casey Sawchuk, Brown Associates (518) 462-0318.