BioLargo’s Strategic Advantage: Seizing Opportunities in the Era of PFAS Contamination
In May 2023, BioLargo, Inc. (OTCQB: BLGO) reported record-setting revenue growth quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year in the company’s most recent 10Q, with the company’s strong, expanding product line and industrial services contributing significantly to the growth.
Exploring the 45% Decrease in Revenue and Skyrocketing Operating Losses at BioLargo Engineering, Science & Technologies
Among the list of positives above rests one financial anomaly, one that will be the focus of this article. To summarize, the decreased revenue increased operating costs incurred by the company’s Engineering, Science, and Technologies division.
- Revenues at BioLargo Engineering, Science & Technologies, LLC decreased by 45% to $193,000, as compared to the same period in 2022, and its operating loss increased to $368,000, as compared to $35,000 in the same period in 2022.
What understandably appears to be a grave concern is just that, an apparition. Therefore, what seems concerning on paper instead proves reassuring in reality.
The Context of PFAS Regulation: BioLargo’s Response to Growing Concerns
In addition, to my previous coverage of BioLargo, the U.S. EPA continues prioritizing PFAS regulation as the presence and concentration of these “forever chemicals” continues expanding and increasing, respectively, among a significant percentage of the nation’s drinking water supplies. Specifically, PFAS contamination from manufacturing dependent on certain industrial chemicals and processing methods, along with the waste streams associated with those chemicals and methods, is the EPA’s primary initial target. (PFAS contamination of soils and air will inevitably follow.)
Furthermore, as water remains a primary input for most manufacturers, the EPA has focused on testing thousands of municipal water treatment systems throughout the U.S. in addition to the agency’s continued monitoring of current or former production facilities and their respective dumpsites rife with PFAS contaminants. As a result, the known presence of PFAS in drinking water supplies due to nearly a century’s worth of large-scale PFAS production has generated more scrutiny and legal action toward corporate manufacturers, including industrial giant 3M. Accordingly, the plaintiffs in nearly all cases are comprised of a united front of private citizens, local politicians, and state governments with the backing of the EPA.
Additionally, BioLargo’s evidence of this co-operative’s power continues to prove influential: 3M’s recent agreement with the EPA to pay up to $12.5 billion in fines for drinking water contamination tied to its past and present PFAS production not only legitimates the EPA’s authority over this matter, but also underscores the gravity of PFAS contamination considering 3M preempted this agreement and is amenable to the likelihood of paying higher fines if the scope and scale of PFAS contamination exceeds initial presumptions. Because, even 3M’s CEO declares the moves to represent “an important step forward” for the company as it actively phases out PFAS from production. It is about as savvy of a corporate response can be in this situation.
Ultimately, the gauntlet has been thrown. And to BioLargo’s full advantage.
Pioneering PFAS Detection & Removal: BioLargo’s Visionary Approach
The company’s Engineering, Science & Technologies division’s ongoing diligence to refine, scale up, and fully implement BioLargo’s PFAS detection and removal technology via its testing program accounts for the recently reported financial pullbacks—natural consequences to the company’s commitment to high-caliber research and development, full-scale solutions, and commercial adoption of this technology. Nonetheless, Focusing on the integrity of the infrastructure, on remaining competitive with current and future assets, and leveraging carefully the full value of R&D make BioLargo stand out beyond just the microcap world.
Furthermore, BioLargo’s proven technology to detect and filter out EPA-proposed thresholds of PFAS from water supplies has, according to CEO Dennis Calvert in a recent Stock Day Media podcast, resulted in a verbal agreement with a major customer for the full-implementation of the company’s PFAS technology, with a potential contract ranging between $5 – $20 million at the conclusion of its three-tiered PFAS testing program. BioLargo recently concluded for this client the first step.
Thus, it is noteworthy again to underscore the rarefied air belonging to BioLargo in the space of PFAS detection and elimination, as it represents the only company that can both detect the 4ppt (parts per trillion) PFAS threshold proposed by the EPA and eliminate any of the 4,500+ known PFAS chemicals. More remarkable than how quickly the company’s water treatment technologies have proven effective and scalable is how deliberate and methodical its engineering team has proven to be in developing and refining those technologies, with each member averaging 30 years’ experience in the space.
Driving Value with Strategic Partnerships: BioLargo’s Path to Success
The company’s sound business practice, in concert with its continued partnership with ICS Group for scalable implementation, will drive BioLargo’s value to record heights as we move closer to the end of 2023. Coincidentally, aligning with the EPA’s timeline to begin finalizing its formal recommendations to Congress on sweeping PFAS regulation to enact.
As a result, emphasized previously. PFAS contamination is not subject to politicking. On the other hand, it would be unwise for one to fraudulently politicize this issue to curry favor with an electorate or a Party. Ultimately, the growing mountain of proven, causative environmental contamination and the history of suppressed, scientific evidence of PFAS’s potential effects on human health render PFAS a career-ending, third-rail issue if dismissed or denied.
Subsequently, what appears financially concerning on paper to BioLargo’s engineering division is more apparition than reality as the company continues its steadfast commitment to long-term product and service development supported by science- and market-backed due diligence.
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