New Poll Indicates Strong Opposition To Proposed $140 Million Fibrowatt Power Plant In Surry County
Posted: 03-27-2009 : WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A new poll commissioned by the Yadkin Riverkeeper® has gauged public opinion regarding Fibrowatt LLC’s plans to build a proposed $140 million Fibrowatt LLC incinerator/power plant in Surry County on Highway 268, just east of Elkin, N.C., along the Yadkin River. Poll results indicate that North Carolina voters from both Surry County and Yadkin County overwhelming oppose Surry County Commissioners spending $5.4 million in county tax money for incentives to fund construction for a new Fibrowatt plant on the Yadkin River, citing major environmental, social and economic concerns.

The survey found that 87 percent of Surry County voters ( and 74 percent of Yadkin County voters) were actually aware of the proposed Fibrowatt facility and its proposed location on the Yadkin River. However, more than 80 percent of Surry County voters did not support Surry County Commissioners vision of recruiting heavy industry into the county. Almost 70 percent of the public disapproved of Surry County using tax payer money for incentives to build the Fibrowatt LLC plant and pay for water lines. Almost 70 percent of Surry County residents had concerns about air quality and impacts to public health from the Fibrowatt LLC incinerator. A majority of the residents did not know Fibrowatt LLC could burn wood products and biomass other than chicken litter. A majority of the residents also expressed concerns about odor and traffic safety issues, as well as disapproved of citing heavy industry on the Yadkin River.

The Yadkin Riverkeeper authorized Public Policy Polling
(www.publicpolicypolling.com) to conduct a telephone poll March 20-March 21, 2009. They received a live response from 7,263 people in both Surry and Yadkin County. In total, 1,058 survey interviews were conducted, including 761 from voter residents in Surry County and 297 from Yadkin County. The poll was conducted in response to Fibrowatt LLC’s proposed plans to build a new plant in Surry County that would burn chicken litter to produce electricity. The Pennsylvania-based company has recently increased its efforts to convince North Carolina legislators and Surry County officials, as well as utility companies from across the state, that burning chicken waste is good for North Carolina’s environment and economic development. According to the North Carolina Division of Air Quality, a chicken litter incinerator emits more pollution than a newly-built coal-burning power plant.

Yadkin Riverkeeper felt the poll was necessary after Surry County Commissioners voted unanimously, despite tremendous public opposition, on March 16 to rezone 117 acres of land near Elkin along the Yadkin River intended for a new Fibrowatt LLC plant. Approximately 175 people attended, including local farmers, winery operators and local business owners, the March 16 pubic meeting to oppose the rezoning, which would allow Fibrowatt LLC to locate one of three proposed chicken litter incinerators for North Carolina in Surry County along the Yadkin River. The poll was based on public concerns raised at the March 16th commissioner meeting (and the two previous meetings on March 5th and a planning commission meeting on March 9th). Questions for the poll were based on data obtained from the NC Division of Air Quality and Fibrowatt (www.fibrowattusa.com).

“Without Fibrowatt, the utilities would be free to purchase more energy from truly clean renewable sources that promise a greater scale of economic development,” said Yadkin Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks. “In its recent 2008 Green Jobs Census, the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association estimates that more than 6,470 jobs in renewable energy will be created in North Carolina. Fibrowatt’s plant would create only about 1% of the projected jobs that will be generated. With the growing interest in clean energy and green jobs, an incinerator is not the solution to North Carolina energy needs or economic development in Surry County, Sampson County, Montgomery County or elsewhere.”

Fibrowatt has been the subject of considerable controversy since its founding in 2000. The permit granted for the company’ Fibrominn project in Benson, Minnesota in 2007 has been scrutinized for air emissions. The Fibrominn project in Minnesota represents the state’s single-largest source of arsenic pollution, its largest source of sulfuric acid air emissions, its second largest source of hydrochloric acid air emissions, and a significant new source of dioxin pollution.

The Surry County Fibrowatt project is still pending final approval. A number of local groups have raised legitimate environmental, social and economic concerns about the three proposed Fibrowatt plants in North Carolina. Among the groups in opposition to the Fibrowatt incinerators, and in favor of clean, renewable energy solutions for the state of North Carolina, include: the Yadkin Riverkeeper®, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the NAACP, the Coalition of Sensible Citizens and the Coalition for Responsible Economic Development. If approved, The Fibrowatt Plant in Surry County could begin construction as early as 2010.

“It is impossible to quantify the cost of this plant on a community,” said Zoe Gamble Hanes, president of Yadkin Riverkeeper and Renewable Energy Attorney at Blanco Tackabery & Matamoros, P.A. “However, each rate payer will be subsidizing Fibrowatt each month on their electricity bill. With no other poultry waste generators, Fibrowatt is the only game in town. This will result in increases in the utility bills for Surry County residents, but it won’t support clean, renewable energy as the authors of Senate Bill 3 intended. We hope Duke Energy, Progress Energy and the Utility Commission will recognize that these contracts are not in the public interest.”

“This new poll indicates strong public concerns about Fibrowatt’s proposed plant operations along the Yadkin River,” said Naujoks. “In addition to the recent poll, poultry farmers in Surry County have expressed opposition to the Fibrowatt plan because their poultry litter is worth more to local farmers as fertilizer than if sold to Fibrowatt for incineration. Crop farmers are opposed because it would increase cost tremendously to use chemical fertilizers over poultry litter. As a result, Fibrowatt will not be relying on local poultry litter as much as they have stated publicly, but rather will incinerate poultry litter and construction waste hauled in from hundreds of miles a way. If this project receives approval, North Carolina will become a regional waste disposal location to satisfy the needs of all three Fibrowatt incinerators. This hardly address the fact these incinerators will be polluting our air and water with arsenic and other pollutants. Polluting ‘renewable energy’ sources like this will limit the advancement and promotion of truly clean renewable sources that promise greater economic development and a healthier environment for the region.”

About the Yadkin Riverkeeper®:
The Yadkin Riverkeeper’s mission is to respect, protect and improve the Yadkin Pee Dee River Basin through education, advocacy and action. It is aimed at creating a clean and healthy river that sustains life and is cherished by its people. To achieve this vision, it seeks to accomplish the following objectives: sustain a RIVERKEEPER® program, measurably improve water quality, reestablish native bio-diversity, preserve and enhance the forest canopy, bring legal action to enforce state and federal environmental laws, and teach and practice a “river ethic” of ecological respect to all ages. For more information, visit http://www.yadkinriverkeeper.org or call 336-293-8105.

About Dean Naujoks:
Dean Naujoks is the Yadkin Riverkeeper, employed by Yadkin Riverkeeper Inc since the fall of 2008 to manage and implement a river advocacy program for the Yadkin Pee Dee River watershed in North Carolina that will keep it a healthy and vibrant river for residents and businesses in the long term. Yadkin Riverkeeper is a licensed member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, which connects and supports local Waterkeeper programs to provide a voice and champion clean water for waterways and their communities worldwide. A longtime water quality advocate, Naujoks became the first Upper Neuse Riverkeeper in 2001 at the nonprofit Neuse River Foundation. His job there was to monitor conditions and advocate for protection of the Neuse River from Falls Lake to Goldsboro. He was appointed by Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker to serve on the joint government PCB Task Force to address PCB contamination in Crabtree Creek from Ward Transformer. A graduate of N.C. State, Naujoks created his own major in environmental policy and sustainable development. He also worked for the NC Wild Life Federation from 1991-1999.