Fibrowatt proposes to construct up to three poultry waste burners in North Carolina. Fibrowatt is targeting Wilkes, Surry and Alexander Counties for their first site in North Carolina.
UPDATE: On May 17, 2010 Surry County Commissioners voted unanimously to stop negotiations with Fibrowatt. Fibrowatt had announced on June 5, 2008 that it would build a $140 million power plant near Elkin, NC.
On April 16, 2008, Fibrowatt LLC announced it had picked a 300-acre site in Sampson County, NC for the state's first power plant fueled by poultry waste.
Samposn County is providing $2.5 million in financial incentives to Fibrowatt LLC.
Surry County Rejects Fibrowatt
Incinerator
May 18, 2010
CACHE wins major victory! Surry County Commissioners voted Monday
night to break off all negotiations with Fibrowatt and to
immediately recruit another company for the site near Elkin,
North Carolina. See the story below from the Mount Airy News.
The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has campaigned since
2006 to stop Fibrowatt from locating in the
Wilkes-Alexander-Surry County area. The Citizens Alliance for a
Clean, Healthy Economy organized as a BREDL chapter in 2009 after
Fibrowatt decided to build a 40-50 mega-watt incinerator near
Elkin in Surry County.
Following the Commissioners’ unanimous vote, CACHE committed
to follow through on their promise to find new economic
opportunities for Surry County that will protect the community
and preserve the County’s air and water. Members also vowed
to assist communities in Sampson and Montgomery Counties where
Fibrowatt has also announced intentions to locate.
Page County Virginia Board of Supervisors says No to Fibrowatt
Citizens Applaud Court’s Rejection
Of Sampson County’s
Motion To Dismiss Fibrowatt Zoning Complaint
Feb. 17, 2010 (Clinton, NC) The members of Citizens for a Safe Environment, a
chapter of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, will
proceed with their lawsuit against Sampson County following a
Superior Court decision on Monday. In ruling against Sampson
County’s motion to dismiss the group’s complaint, the
court said that Citizens for a Safe Environment has sufficient
standing, has provided evidence of both unlawful “spot
zoning” and contract zoning, and that allegations of
capricious and arbitrary actions by the county are sufficient for
the case to move forward. Read BREDL Press Release
Jan. 9, 2010: CACHE (Citizens’ Alliance for a Clean, Healthy Economy) today released their response to Surry County Commissioners Chairman Craig Hunter’s rebuttal testimony to the North Carolina Utilities Commission opposing a request by Duke Power and Progress Energy to delay the poultry litter set-aside in General Statute 62-133-8 (f).
Read CACHE Press Release
Fibrowatt Flunks Major Tests In
Minnesota
League Challenges North Carolina Regulators and Calls for
Hearings
Dec. 22, 2009: Today in letters
mailed to state officials the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense
League challenged North Carolina’s environmental and
utilities regulators to consider major permit violations at a
poultry litter incinerator in Minnesota before allowing similar
projects to proceed. The plant’s operator, Fibrowatt LLC,
wants to build three more incinerators in North Carolina to burn
poultry waste. A settlement agreement between Fibrowatt and the
state of Minnesota was released to the League December 17.
League Files Motion to Delay
Poultry Litter Incinerators
Sept. 3, 2009: In papers filed Wednesday with the
North Carolina Utilities Commission, the Blue Ridge Environmental
Defense League and three of its community chapters moved to delay
and modify a contentious provision of the state’s renewable
energy law. Citizens for a Safe Environment (Duplin County),
Citizens Alliance for a Clean Healthy Environment (Surry County),
and Sampson County Citizens for a Safe Environment (Sampson
County) joined the League in filing the motion. Their motion to
intervene asks the Commission to indefinitely delay the use of
poultry waste to generate electricity. The poultry waste
requirement, or, “set-aside”, was included in the 2007
legislation adopting renewable energy standards for North
Carolina.
Deadline for
these sign-on letters was Midnight September 16, 2009. They will be
mailed on September 17, 2009. Thanks to all who signed.
BREDL
Sign-on Letter Please sign on to our
letter urging the North Carolina Utilities Commission to adopt a
poultry waste " time-out " and make use of the
opportunity to consider the implications of using poultry waste
to generate electricity.
BREDL Sign-on Letter Please
sign on to our letter urging NC GreenPower to remove the
incineration of poultry litter and other types of litter from the
green energy program.
Two recent Op-ed pieces about Fibrowatt
by BREDL staff:
June 13, 2009: Op-ed by Janet
Marsh in the Mt. Airy News
June 26, 2009: Op-ed by David
Mickey in The Sampson Independent
May 26, 2009: League Ups the Ante in
Poultry Manure Incinerator Debate - Today in a letter to
a powerful North Carolina legislator, the Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League called for full disclosure of the
violations and enforcement actions against the Fibrominn poultry
manure incinerator in Benson, Minnesota. BREDL Press
Release | May
26 letter to Rep. Pricey Harrison
May 7, 2009: League Urges Duke
Shareholders to Reject Poultry Litter Incineration -
Today at Duke Energy’s annual meeting in Charlotte, members
of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League asked shareholders
to question the company about electricity from poultry waste. The
group distributed a handout describing poultry litter as dirtier
than coal, more expensive than wind, and litter incineration as
an economic threat to farmers. BREDL Press
Release | BREDL
May 7 Handout at Duke Energy meeting
May 6, 2009: League Opens Fire on Fibrowatt - Today
at a press conference in Elkin, the Blue Ridge Environmental
Defense League released a stunning report showing that the
proposed Fibrowatt manure incinerator would deposit dangerous
levels of poisons up to six miles from the plant site. The report
concludes that the incinerator would contaminate the surrounding
area with arsenic, chromium, mercury and other pollutants. More
info: BREDL Press
Release | BREDL
Modeling Report | May 11 Forum Flyer
What would a Fibrowatt poultry
litter incinerator in Surry County
mean for air quality and public health?
Community forum with nationally recognized expert Stephen
Lester, Science Director, Center for Health, Environment and
Justice Monday May 11, 2009
7:00-8:30 PM
First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall
340 Hawthorne Road, Elkin, North Carolina Free and open to the public View BREDL
Event Flyer
What would a Fibrowatt poultry
litter incinerator in Montgomery County
mean for air quality and public health?
Community forum with nationally recognized expert Stephen
Lester, Science Director, Center for Health, Environment and
Justice Tuesday May 12, 2009
7:00-8:30 PM
Montgomery County Library
215 West Main Street, Troy, North Carolina Free and open to the public View BREDL
Event Flyer
April 2009: Fib-rowatt
Facts- It's time to tell the truth: BREDL Factsheet on Fibrowatt's
proposal to build three poultry waste incinerators in North
Carolina.
CSE Places Full Page
Newspaper Ad Highlighting Problems With Burning Poultry Litter
March 18, 2009: Citizens for a Safe Environment of Eastern North
Carolina (CSE), a BREDL chapter, placed a full-page ad in
Sunday’s Sampson Independent. The group raised issues that
have put their neighborhoods at risk.
Ad placed in March 15 Sampson Independent
Plans by a Pennsylvania company, Fibrowatt, to burn poultry
litter to produce electricity, threatens the local agriculture
economy, contributes to higher electricity rates, lowers property
values, and has negative impacts on air quality.
Locating the plant near a minority community, and close to area
schools and churches has raised issues of environmental justice
and attracted the attention of the North Carolina NAACP and other
groups. On Saturday NAACP President Rev. Dr. William Barber will
address a rally against Fibrowatt in Clinton.
The Sampson newspaper ad highlights several of the problems
associated with burning poultry litter:
• Sampson County is nationally ranked number one
in agriculture and an incinerator is incompatible with
the agricultural economy;
• Fibrowatt would receive millions in incentives,
but residents will get higher electric bills while
property values decline;
• Toxic emissions from burning poultry litter
include dioxins, lead, and arsenic;
• A recent USA Today report found Sampson County
schools already among the worst in the nation for toxic
air pollution;
• Locating the plant near the Martin Luther King
community unnecessarily increases their risk for toxic
exposure “once Fibrowatt lights up”.
Citizens Take Legal Action To Stop
Fibrowatt Poultry Manure Incinerator Oct. 02, 2008: (Clinton, NC) On Tuesday Citizens
for a Safe Environment took legal steps in Sampson County to
reverse the commissioners’ decision to re-zone land near
Faison. That decision allowed a poultry manure incinerator
project to move forward. Fibrowatt proposes to build a plant on
the site that would burn poultry manure. The complaint cites
negative impacts to the neighboring African-American community,
air and water pollution, and detrimental impacts to nearby
organic farmers and the area’s farm economy. The Superior
Court filing charges that the re-zoning is improper and invalid.
Read BREDL
Press Release | Read October 03, 2008 Fayetteville Observer
article Power plant foes are suing to pull plug
June 6, 2008: Fibrowatt picks site in Surry
-Fibrowatt announced on June 5, 2008 that it will build a $140
million power plant near Elkin, NC. Fibrowatt plans to begin construction in 2009 and would begin operating in Surry in 2011.
Read the Winston-Salem
Journal article
May 31, 2008: BREDL in the News: Fibro-flap -
Industry open house turns into fiery debate over environmental
issues. Read
The Sampson Independent article
Sampson’s Incentives for Dirty - by
BREDL's David Mickey Read
Letter-to-the-Editor published May 9, 2008 in the Opinion
Section of the Fayetteville Observer.
April 22, 2008: BREDL
comments on Sampson County’s proposed tax incentives for
Fibrowatt LLC.
July 11, 2007: (revised March 2008) Poultry power is dirtier than coal.Poultry Litter versus Coal-fired Power Plants: An
Air Pollution Comparison - The graph illustrates the negative
air pollution impacts of power plants powered by poultry litter
compared with boilers fired by coal. We compared emissions of
particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur
dioxide and acid gases from a recently opened poultry waste power
plant in Minnesota with the proposed expansion of Duke Energy’s
Cliffside facility. The pollution data is taken from the state
air permits for the two plants. We utilized heat input as a
common denominator, the typical method for regulating electric
generating plants in North Carolina, Minnesota and most other
states.
July 12, 2006: BREDL Report on proposed Fibrowatt facility - Executive Director Janet Marsh Zeller's comments on the report: Fibrowatt's Thetford plant, in 2004, put out 234,430 kilograms (516,824 pounds) of carbon monoxide. I call these incinerators rather than power plants, because 50 megawatts is a tiny amount of power for what is lost. The amount of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide -- if this plant is similar to their Minnesota plant -- would be roughly similar to a coal plant. One disadvantage of burning poultry litter is the creation of air poisons not in the original materials. They are created in the smokestack itself. Fibrowatt's Thetford plant put out 30 milligrams of dioxins in 2004. We are going to see larger amounts if they build what they plan for North Carolina. If you dissect what they say -- hold on, here are details. BREDL Report | Emissions Table
March 21, 2006: Fibrowatt LLC is considering
locations in North Carolina for a 50 MW plant
that burns poultry litter. Burning poultry litter
creates unnecessary pollution and is inconsistent
with NC GreenPower’s mission to promote
renewable energy while protecting the
environment. Please sign on to our letter urging
NC GreenPower to remove the incineration of
poultry litter and other types of litter from the
green energy program. BREDL
Sign-on Letter | Fibrowatt Factsheet
