A proposed biodiesel plant in Virginia has gotten a boost after a city commission gave it a green light to proceed.
The Virginian-Pilot reports that the Chesapeake city planning commission gave Tidewater Biodiesel a conditional-use permit for a 10-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant:
Wednesday night, residents spoke in support of the project, with one opposed to the potential detriment to home values – though she said she supports the project itself.
Susan Bell, a resident of the Forest Cove/Raintree area, helped get word out about a meeting between the public and the company on April 2. She said neighbors who attended the meeting were “very pleased with what they were presented.”
“This won’t be any danger to our community,” she told the Planning Commission. “I do feel confident that we will be in capable hands.”
About four years ago, another biodiesel plant in the area, Smiling Earth Energy LLC in South Norfolk won building approval, but the developer wasn’t able to build the 320 million-gallon-per-year plant, which would have made it the largest in the nation.