[Biodiesel News] Officials race to catch up with biodiesel

Officials race to catch up with biodiesel

Delmarva Daily Times - MD,USA

... Preparing to bring a biodiesel plant to Berlin meant establishing local guidelines and educational forums for skeptic residents and officials alike, said Jerry ...

 

 

SNOW HILL -- The coming of industry unique to a region brings questions of guidelines and safety, and with a trend toward renewable energy facilities proposed on the Lower Shore, a Worcester County official says now is the time for joint talks between counties on regulatory and marketing concerns.

 

Preparing to bring a biodiesel plant to Berlin meant establishing local guidelines and educational forums for skeptic residents and officials alike, said Jerry Redden, executive director at the Worcester County Economic Development Com-mission.

 

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Redden is advocating open discussions, and there is talk the topic could become an agenda priority for the Lower Shore Tri-County County that coordinates government issues in Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset counties, he said.

 

"Communities must set ground rules for the businesses to grow," Redden said last week. "We should be energy independent, but we need to make sure that we enable businesses to grow and build in a fashion that is compatible with the community."

 

Cropper Oil Co. in the spring opened the facility that processes soybean oil or chicken fat into biodiesel and blends the product with fuel. But first it underwent a grueling and tedious process to come in line with not only federal and state regulations, but also local guidelines that in some instances were yet to be set.

 

Now nearby communities are planning public meetings on proposed plants that process renewable energy, and could borrow from the experiences of those who have already weathered the process, he said.

 

"Elected officials had to pass laws that enable you to put in a biodiesel plant since we didn't have regulations enabling legislation that lets you do it," Redden said. "(Officials) wrote guidelines so we could have a plant."

 

A Baltimore firm recently submitted a proposal to build an ethanol plant on former farmland off Costen Road in Somerset County for corn oil conversion. Next week, in Wicomico, a Richmond firm, Ingenco Wholesale Energy LLC, breaks ground on a plant at the Newland Park landfill outside Salisbury that will convert underground methane gas to electricity.

 

Last week, Princess Anne Town Manager Jay Parker called on Town Commissioners to tour the Berlin biodiesel plant to prepare for talks on a similar facility proposed at the town industrial park.

 

John Wade, who led discussions at a Princess Anne Planning and Zoning Commission on the Baltimore Biodiesel proposal, said an industrial park location perhaps enabled his panel to skirt potential concerns.

 

"I had the ordinance right in front of me that covered smoke stacks, tanks, buffer requirements," Wade said Friday. "It was written especially for an industrial park. But outside an industrial park, some questions could come up."

 

Daniel Thompson, who heads the Somerset Economic Development Commission, said at the meeting he would look to Redden's direction.

 

As early as this fall, Redden expects the Tri-County Council to launch discussions on the future of renewable energy enterprises in the three counties. "Fellow economic development commissions are dedicated to Lower Shore being energy independent," he said. "We talk about renewable energy projects and we will raise the issue as a tri-county initiative to consider. Hopefully by the fall it will be on the agenda."

 

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore tackled the issue at a recent forum at its Assateague Coastal Laboratory that attracted a cross section of participants from retail, hospitality, regulatory and park services sectors, he said.

 

A tri-county forum would include topics as the scope of work preceding a plant permitting process, a customer base for renewable energy, education and of course, environmental and safety issues.

 

"The message now is buy biodiesel, and right now we are trying to get as high of a profile as we can," Redden said.

 

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Posted by Vince to Biodiesel News at 9/18/2006 11:17:00 AM