Surry drops Fibrowatt deal
By John Hinton | Winston Salem Journal Reporter 5/22/10
The Surry County Board of Commissioners decided this week to end its negotiations with Fibrowatt LLC over its planned chicken-litter incinerator near Elkin, saying that the company never answered opponents' concerns about the project.
The commissioners voted unanimously on Monday to stop negotiating about the project with Fibrowatt officials.
Commissioner Paul Johnson, the board's chairman, said yesterday that the Fibrowatt project in Surry is dead.
"I don't think anybody on the board has any plans of reversing (their decision)," Johnson said.
County Manager Dennis Thompson sent a letter on Tuesday to Fibrowatt at its headquarters in Langhorne, Pa., informing the company of the commissioners' decision. The letter said in part that the commissioners will try to sell land off Gentry Road to an industry that the Elkin community would support.
Terry Walmsley, a spokesman for Fibrowatt, said that the company regrets the decision.
"But we understand that they did what was best for their own community," Walmsley said.
Several community groups including Elkin residents and the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League have said that the proposed Fibrowatt plant would produce noxious odors and toxic emissions, and increase truck traffic on rural roads and highways.
They also said it would decrease property values and interfere with their health.
Fibrowatt denied those claims, saying that its plant would not have added pollutants to the environment, and that the company would have removed polluting chemicals from the chicken litter.
A state law requires utilities to start getting some energy from pig and chicken manure by 2012. Fibrowatt selected the site in Surry in June 2008.
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Commissioner Jim Harrell said that most residents in Elkin and nearby areas were opposed to the Fibrowatt plant. He represents Elkin and southwestern Surry communities.
"It was a distraction," Harrell said. "There have been too many unanswered questions. We just don't need it."
In April, the Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce backed off its previous support of the planned Fibrowatt incinerator.
The chamber said it was concerned that the plant would harm Surry County's tourism, its residents and the environment.