Company plans bottling plant at Port of Lewiston

Tsceminicum Bottling Co. LLC is obtaining a permit from the Idaho Department of Water Resources to pump almost 130,000 gallons of water a day from a well it will drill at the Port of Lewiston.

The agency didn’t review any impact the well might have on underground aquifers after receiving the application Jan. 7 and is issuing the permit, said Adam Frederick, water rights supervisor for the Idaho Department of Water Resources.

That’s because the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and members of the public didn’t raise objections during a public comment period that ended Monday, Frederick said.

The well and a bottling plant are going to be constructed at 980 Colonel Wright Way, near the city of Lewiston’s garbage transfer station on a 4-acre site leased from the port, said Lewiston Port Manager David Doeringsfeld.

The lease was approved by Lewiston Port commissioners Jan. 10, he said.

“It’s a manufacturing facility,” Doeringsfeld said. “It’s starting with six to eight jobs. (Its executives are) looking to ... expand over time. It has good job creation potential.”

Richard Keane, who signed the application for the water permit, declined to be interviewed earlier this week, but provided a news release. Keane is also the managing partner for Millennium LLC, the entity on the port lease, Doeringsfeld said.

A groundbreaking for the factory is scheduled for Feb. 25, according to a Facebook page for Tsceminicum Bottling Co. Artesian Fusion Brands.

The plant is expected to be in full production by the end of June, packaging beverages in plastic and aluminum bottles, according to the company’s news release.

The city is reviewing a building permit application for an 8,000-square-foot structure for the operation, said City Building Official John Smith.

“It’s a pretty preliminary set of plans,” Smith said. “(They) will be returned for further information.”

The Facebook page shows a line of lemonades and bottled waters. The lemonades come in flavors such as Georgia peach, Washington raspberry, Idaho huckleberry, Montana blueberry and wild blackberry, which retail for $10.50 for a six-pack.

It also has a line of waters with two kinds in what appear to be plastic bottles retailing for $3.88 for a 24-pack of 16-ounce bottles.

It’s not clear if Tsceminicum Bottling Co. has ties to another venture that proposed a water and lemonade business in 2017 at the former Twin City Foods plant site in downtown Lewiston. That project didn’t move forward because the backers never acquired the land.

A company called Asgard Capital Expansion requested a conditional use permit for a business with the same name, Tsceminicum Bottling Co.

A Brian Knox, of Centerville, Utah, was a registered agent of Asgard, according to public documents that were available at that time.

A man with the same name from the same place is listed as a member of the Tsceminicum Bottling Co. that is seeking the water permit for the Port of Lewiston site.

The lease for the vacant Port of Lewiston land runs from Saturday through Dec. 31, 2022, and has options to renew. It starts at $808 per month and then rises to $1,212 per month on Jan. 1, 2022. If the lease is extended the following year, it rises to $1,617 per month before rising 7 percent on Jan. 1, 2025. After that, the amount rises by 7 percent at regular intervals.

The agenda for the meeting where the transaction passed listed a lease with Millennium LLC as an action item, but made no mention of the bottling operations.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.