Biodiesel

The Suffield zoning board held a public hearing Wednesday night on the proposed biodiesel plant, and according to the Courant, it was a contentious affair:

Members of the company’s team proceeded to spend nearly three hours outlining the site plan and the process of turning vegetable oil into biodiesel. The company plans to sell the cleaner-burning, renewable fuel as heating oil and fuel for diesel engines.

More than 300 people attended Wednesday’s meeting, which marked the zoning and planning commission’s first public hearing on the project. But by 9:30 p.m., company officials were still presenting plans, and some residents left with their questions unanswered and their concerns unaired.[...]

The zoning and planning commission, which must ultimately decide whether the plant meets the zoning regulations for 18 acres of light-industrial land not far from Bradley International Airport, was expected to end Wednesday’s meeting at midnight. About 40 residents had signed up to speak against the plant, and nearly 20 had signed up to speak in favor of it.

The commission plans to hold another public hearing on the project next month.

It’s also worth noting the comments posted at Topix in response to the story. For example:

If Suffield doesn’t want it, send it down the river to us! We’d love more business’s in town to off set our property tax. I don’t want our town to become a bedroom community of Hartford, where all the taxes are paid by yours truly, Joe Homeowner. Without an industrial base Suffield will keep building of more McMansions for the workers of Springfield & HTFD. If you thought your property tax is high now, wait it can only go one way with this kind of attitude.

I am apparently not alone in thinking that if Suffield doesn’t want the plan, I’d be willing to see it in my town.

Seen at Treehugger:

Recently a row has broken out in the local press over Piedmont’s use of poultry fat as a feedstock. On the one side stand the vegan-purists, who claim that any purchase of waste animal fats is inexcusable, due to the support it gives to the factory farming industry[...]

Others, however, advocate a more pragmatic approach, with a response to this letter (from Bob, another vegan) claiming that waste chicken fat represents the lesser of two evils, when compared to petroleum-based diesel.

Remember folks—realism and compromise aren’t supposed to be mythical concepts.

When I first read this story in the Courant, I thought, “great, some NIMBYs are trying to block semi-renewable energy.”

Then I noticed that it’s going in essentially in my back yard….and I feel a little more sympathetic to the NIMBY’s.

From the Courant:

When CT Biodiesel came to Suffield with plans to build a $65 million plant last summer, the response was just as swift.

Residents erupted at the idea of being home to the largest biodiesel plant in the Northeast. They posted signs of protest on their front lawns and flooded town meetings, chanting, “Get out of our town.”

Instead of reaping financial benefits, CT Biodiesel officials have had to dangle 35,000 gallons of free biodiesel a year and more than $400,000 a year in projected property taxes as incentives to the town. Residents are expected to pack a hearing on the proposed plant Wednesday.

The plant would be built on 18 acres zoned for light industry not far from Bradley International Airport. Officials expect to convert 50 million gallons a year of soybean oil and possibly fatty acid oils, like animal fat and used grease, into the cleaner-burning, renewable fuel and sell it as heating oil and fuel for diesel engines.

Hmmm…free heating oil in return for being allowed to build…..

If they’d promise to not run trucks down my street, I’d welcome them into the industrial area in my corner of Windsor.