Molly Parker and Lindsay Street
Staff Writers

NORTH CHARLESTON -- A controversial vote in Chesapeake, Va., to turn down what could become the nation’s largest ethanol plant may punt the development to South Carolina.

Earlier this summer, International Bio Energy Virginia was eyeing both Chesapeake and North Charleston, and in the end secured a 97-acre greenfield site in Chesapeake near the Portsmouth border for the alternative fuel plant.

But IBE Virginia’s plans fell apart in late November when the Chesapeake City Council voted 7-2 against the development following five-hours of emotional public testimony, largely from residents in Portsmouth who opposed the project over concerns about pollution, noise and smell, according to reports in The Virginian-Pilot. 

“We’re looking to bring the plant to where people understand the opportunity that we bring,” IBE Virginia manager Sidney Harrison told the Charleston Regional Business Journal, debunking claims that the plant would cause any environmental fallout or devalue nearby homes. “South Carolina and (other states) seem to have an understanding, and they are very welcoming.”

Saying he did not want to “spoil my shot,” Harrison declined to specify where he was looking to build, but he did note that he was exploring options with the S.C. Department of Commerce and several county economic development directors. The Virginian-Pilot reported that company officials indicated after the vote they would look for an industrial area near the Savannah River in South Carolina, which Harrison did not deny, but added as a caveat that the company is considering a number of options, and that his phone is “ringing off the hook” with proposals.

Harrison said the company had considered the site of the old Macalloy metals plant in North Charleston because of the access it would provide to rail and the port, but decided to look at rural areas instead because of the opposition the company faced in trying to build in urban Virginia.

“I don’t want to go through the kind of outrageousness I had to go through there,” said a clearly frustrated Harrision.

Portsmouth city attorney G. Timothy Oksman denied Harrison’s assertion that Portsmouth’s decision was a revenge effort against Chesapeake, which fought plans for a garbage port on the Portsmouth waterfront earlier in the year.

“Portsmouth was driven solely and exclusively by concerns for quality of life, neighborhood preservation and public health in the decisions we made,” Oksman said. 

The plant is slated to produce 216 million gallons of ethanol per year from some 800 million bushels of corn, and cost $400 million to build.

IBE Virginia is expected to announce its selected location early next year, Harrision said.

The company is looking to position itself in the rapidly growing Southeast, Harrison said, in anticipation of methyl tertiary-butyl ether bans sweeping the United States based on concerns of groundwater contamination. MTBE is a gasoline additive used to clean car exhaust, but its use has been banned altogether or limited in at least 25 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Harrision sees that as a growth area because ethanol has been heralded as a safer alternative.