Connecticut Town Protests Biodiesel Plant
Townsfolk of Suffield, Connecticut aren’t keen on a biodiesel production plant being built in their town. The town’s residents have started protesting CT Biodisel’s $40 million dollar plan.
To combat the naysayer mindset, CT Biodiesel is waving incentives in the town’s face by offering 35,000 gallons of biodiesel a year for free to the residents, plus $400,000 a year in property taxes toward the town.
Where in other American towns, the 38 $40,000-a-year jobs are incentive enough to welcome a new plant, Suffield residents’ average income hovers around $67,000 and the prospect of new jobs isn’t enough.
(More details after the jump)
The townspeople cite pollution and fire-hazard as their main concerns about the company. Doug Bender, co-chairman of Know Bio (a firm formed to fight the plant), told the Hartford Courant, “Once we open the door to a biodiesel plant, what else could we get in Suffield? Maybe then, we’ll have enough biodiesel production to get a grease pre-processing facility, and maybe then we’ll get an ethanol plant, and maybe then it'll make sense to bring the fuel mixing here.
Comments
Cicero
Guess they are also not keen on energy indpendence, but the company can readily find somewhere else to build te plant that would be more accepting
chuck goolsbee
Would a Biodiesel plant be welcome in your town?
I already have a BioDiesel plant in my town... hell it is right on my property! ;)
Mind you I'm producing an average of a gallon a day, so I'm not exactly talking industrial-scale production here.
--chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org
john
Pollution and fire hazards? Don't cars pollute and explode when caught on fire? Maybe they are all riding around on Segways.
chuck goolsbee
You are right John, the materials used in BioDiesel production are relatively benign in the grand scheme of things: Vegetable Oil, Alcohol (usually methanol), and a strong base such as Potassium Hydroxide (KOH). The byproduct is basically soap. The methanol can be recaptured and reused. The remaining glycerides are quite benign. I compost my byproducts.
Fire is a reasonable risk, but easily mitigated by standard industrial process and procedures.
Having a BioDiesel processor around is on par with a brewery, or other large scale food production facility.
--chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org
Kal
Chuck, the methanol runoff is highly toxic and if not dealt with according poses a HUGE threat to both humans and the environment. When you mix methanol with Potassium Hydroxide your creating Potassium Methoxide (K+ MeO-)which is the strong base which makes turning oil into biodiesel possible. This methanol solution is readily absorbed by human and animal skin and once its in your body it acts as a powerful nerve agent that will quite litterally kill nerve cells on contact. Thats not exactly what I would call benign.
Also, how many home producers are familiar with "standard industrial processes and procedures"? Whats your chemical hygiene plan? What do you do in case of a spill?
This is the kind of thing that should never be done by someone who simply read an article on the internet. There's just too much that can go wrong and too many unforseen risks involved for joe smoe to be brewing his own fuel out back. Leave it to professionals.
Jeb
Heheh...I bet the decision to approach that town was something like "Here's a nice, liberal, New England town that's got some open land. Certainly they'd welcome an alternative fuel production facility with open arms!"
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