Hemp industry open for more business in Pueblo after city considered moratorium
The December Farm Bill or Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 changed the market for hemp, hemp based products, and CBD oils forever throughout the United States. Hemp was changed from a controlled substance to any ordinary crop like grain or corn.
In Pueblo, there have been questions on how to best move forward in this emerging business.
The old Sweeny Feed Mill on 4th Street is a local landmark in Pueblo. After a century of producing animal feed, businessmen like Jeffrey Howell, who has been in the hemp industry since 2003, want to repurpose it into something a little more 21st Century.
“Transformed into a hemp processing facility for clothing textiles trim work, and many more hemp-based products,” said Howell.
The facility would even produce crude CBD oil and lotions. It wouldn’t produce the most product but with the historic landmark producing hemp products like plastic and clothing inside, it would certainly be considered a one of a kind facility throughout the state.
However, Jeffrey Howell and his partners ran into some issues.
“We’ve made calls to the city regarding supplying them with our application for the hemp processing facility,” said Howell. “We were told there was a moratorium. And we told them there wasn’t.”
There is a moratorium on new marijuana dispensaries in the city of Pueblo, however, there is no moratorium for new hemp businesses.
Last Tuesday, Pueblo City council planned to discuss a potential moratorium on any new business which cultivated or processed hemp-based products until the end of the year.
According to the agenda item, the moratorium would allow the city to better understand the laws and regulation surrounding CBD and hemp industry. At that time, state and federal law did not coincide.
The agenda item was later dropped, but Howell says the damage was already done.
“We had a bunch of investors that we had to call based on this moratorium and that spooked them,” said Howell.
Pueblo City Council President Dennis Flores tells KRDO that Pueblo is open for hemp business. Many legal and regulation concerns regarding the hemp and CBD oil industry were put to rest when Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills late last week. Both SB19-220 Hemp Regulation Alignment With 2018 Federal Farm Bill and the SB19-240 Industrial Hemp Products Regulation establish standards for commercial hemp products, and align state and federal regulations.
Howell believes that a moratorium could cost Pueblo millions, and the time for Pueblo to invest in Hemp is now.
“We just don’t want to see all those millions of dollars leave Pueblo because someone at city council said we’re going to stop it all,” said Howell.
VIDEO CORRECTION: ‘Sweeny Feed Mill’ was incorrectly identified as Stanley Feed Mill. We regret this error.
