That missing silo at the German Pellets Texas site evokes the image of a gap-toothed grin.

But the short history of the company in Port Arthur is no laughing matter, and the Port of Port Arthur commissioners are wise to set down firm rules before the company reopens here.

German Pellets, founded in Germany in 2005, had a meteoric rise in the clean energy industry, using locally owned wood resources in places like Woodville, Texas, and Urania, Louisiana, to substitute for coal, primarily for customers like the United Kingdom.

It made its first shipment out of the Port of Port Arthur on Sept. 30, 2013 and opened the Louisiana operation, now sold, two years later. At one time, Port Director Larry Kelley said, its shipments approached half the tonnage of the entire port.

That was then.

Nowadays, German Pellets is fighting its way out from myriad troubles, including two accidental deaths of employees — one in Port Arthur — bankruptcy challenges and a handful of lawsuits. The Port Arthur operation has been closed since last summer, after a “heat event” that put other port occupants and nearby neighborhoods under the daily scourge of “smoke, airborne particles and respiratory issues.”

Eventually, the third of five silos lined up at the German Pellets site collapsed.

Small wonder, then, that the port in an issued position statement said, “We recognize German Pellets wants to resume business operations. As landlord, we want to see them do so in a safe manner providing jobs and revenue to the port and community.”

To that end, the port has hired consultants, U.S. Forensics, who will review German Pellets plans, implementation of those plans, and operations at the site before German Pellets gets the final OK to operate at the port. U.S. Forensics will provide engineering, environmental and safety reviews of the operations.

There is plenty of upside to German Pellets investment in our community. The company created about 100 jobs in Woodville, another 20 or so at the Port of Port Arthur. It paid for its lease and was an economic partner in port progress.

But the death of an employee at the port site was the final straw for the company here, absent some dramatic turnaround.

Kelley said the company is under new supervision from bondholders and seems intent on doing things right this time. It must: The well being of the port and its other tenants and the good health and safety of area neighborhoods must take the port’s first and weightiest considerations.

The Port of Port Arthur’s leadership has provided a responsible, achievable plan for German Pellets’ resumed operation in our community. We should expect them to make good on their past troubles, and to rejoin our business community — but only as a good citizen.