The Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce has backed off its previous support of a planned Fibrowatt plant near Elkin that would generate electricity by burning poultry waste.
The chamber, which is based in Elkin, decided Thursday that it will not support a proposed incinerator because it would harm Surry County's tourism, its residents and the environment.
The chamber's executive committee recommended that its board of directors take the action, said Laurette Leagon, its president. The chamber has 322 members, which are businesses in Surry, Yadkin and Wilkes counties.
The chamber hasn't notified Fibrowatt officials about its opposition to the company's plans. Leagon declined further comment on the group's decision.
A year ago, Leagon said that the chamber supported the Fibrowatt project because Surry needed a diverse economy, given the county's unemployment rate. She made those comments at a public hearing conducted by the Surry County Board of Commissioners.
The chamber joins several community groups, including the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, who are opposing the proposed Fibrowatt plant.
They say that the plant would produce noxious odors and toxic emissions that would endanger residents' health.
Dean Naujoks, the Yadkin Riverkeeper, said that the plant "would contribute significant pollution to our community."
Fibrowatt denies those claims, saying that its plant would not add pollutants to the environment, and that they would remove polluting chemicals from the chicken litter.
Fibrowatt wants to build three plants in North Carolina, including the one in Surry County, that would generate electricity by burning chicken waste. The plant in Surry would be near a Duke Energy substation, poultry producers, Interstate 77 and N.C. 268. The other plants would be in Sampson and Montgomery counties.
Representatives of Fibrowatt, which is based in Pennsylvania, did not return calls yesterday.
The chamber is the second local organization to reconsider its support of the Fibrowatt project. The Surry commissioners decided on March 29 that Surry may not provide Fibrowatt with incentives if the company doesn't respond to the concerns of residents who oppose the planned plant.
The commissioners approved rezoning of the site for the plant in March 2009, saying that it would bring jobs and increase the tax base.
The state's utility companies are negotiating power-purchase agreements with Fibrowatt and two other companies that would provide renewable energy sources.
A state law requires utilities to begin getting some energy from pig and chicken manure by 2012.
jhinton@wsjournal.com | 727-7299
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