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Surry OKs Fibrowatt's request for rezoning
Concerns voiced about waste-burning plant
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Published: March 17, 2009
DOBSON - Despite pleas from residents concerned about air quality and traffic, Surry County officials voted last night to rezone 117 acres near Elkin along the Yadkin River intended for a Fibrowatt LLC plant that would burn chicken litter to make electricity.
The decision came after a public hearing that lasted more than an hour inside the Surry County Government Center. More than 100 people squeezed inside the board of commissioners' meeting room. The crowd spilled out into the hallways.
Residents said they worry about emissions from the proposed incinerator, storm-water runoff and how a smokestack would look on the river. They also pointed to a budding wine industry and tourism, and asked whether the plant would be a good fit with the surrounding agricultural area.
But Surry County commissioners said that they want to bring jobs to the area and that as they recruit industry, there has to be a place for it.
"We are constantly trying to recruit this area for industry," Commissioner Jim Harrell Jr. said. "We need tourism, but I don't think we can do without industry."
The five-member board voted unanimously to approve rezoning the land from rural agricultural to manufactured industrial. Surry County owns the land.
In June, Fibrowatt, selected the land for placement of the company's $140 million power plant. The site is along the Yadkin River near a Duke Energy Corp. substation, poultry producers, and Interstate 77 and N.C. 268.
Some residents said they have health concerns.
Bill Blackley, an Elkin doctor, urged commissioners to get an independent study before moving forward. He said he worried about air pollutants, such as ozone and dioxins. "I think it's a danger," he said.
At least one resident spoke in favor of the rezoning. "I do support this change in zoning mainly because it's already next to a very large areas zoned for manufacturing," Ray McCreary said.
The plant would bring at least 80 jobs, and it would be the largest single investment by any company in the history of Surry County, officials said.
Last year, members of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League criticized the project, but there was no visible local opposition. Blue Ridge compared an air-quality permit for Fibrowatt's existing plant in Minnesota with a proposed permit for Duke Energy's Cliffside plant, a new coal-burning plant under construction, and found that some of Fibrowatt's emissions are higher.
The Surry site could be under construction sometime in 2010, Fibrowatt officials have said.
Although the commissioners have already voted on the issue, they will have a community meeting to discuss residents' concerns at 6:30 p.m. March 26.
Commissioners said last night that they may look for a larger place to hold the next meeting.
■ Sherry Youngquist can be reached in Surry County at 336-918-6119 or at syoungquist@wsjournal.com.
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