Legal dispute threatens Florida's first ethanol plant.

I'm sorry to report that it looks as though there won't be any ethanol being produced in Florida this year after all.

A proposal by US Envirofuels to build the state's first ethanol plant in Tampa has received its final permit to begin construction. But groundbreaking could be delayed by an unforseen legal dispute.

PEL Laboratories, an environmental testing firm at the Port of Tampa has filed an injunction to stop construction of the ethanol plant. It complains that gas emissions from the biofuels facility would  potential contaminate sample testing PEL conducts for the military and commercial customers. (PEL is a neighbor of the proposed ehtanol plant site.)

However, the Tampa ethanol plant remains on track, according to Bradley Krohn, president of EnviroFuels. The project continues to have the full backing of the Port of Tampa which is urging PEL not to stand in the way of the state's economic development. Florida officials, led by Gov Jeb Bush, have recently become vocal advocates for a green biofuels energy policy to reduce the state's dependency on foreign oil imports, while also cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Construction of the ethanol plant is due to start in 2007 and is expected to go into production by mid-2008. That's a year later than the company had hoped, but Krohn tells me that the company is now "fully permitted" after receiving its final permit from Hillsborough County last week.

The company says it has studiously fulfilled all the permitting requirements of local and state authorities. "The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has extremely rigorous standards for all permits that they issue," said Krohn. "We have met their standards. We have done everything right."

Krohn adds that the proposed plant is categorized as only a "minor source of emissions," and should be of no concern to PEL. He points out that Port Sutton is the most heavily industrialized site in Tampa Bay, including a sulphur and ammonia terminal, not to mention diesel emissions form the heavy ships passing through the port.

While this blog is an advocate of alternative energy, I would not wish to prejudge the dispute between Envirofuels and PEL. However, I have followed US Envirofuels for more than a year and I have been been impressed by their highly professional and committed approach to biofuels. Common sense would seem to indicate that PEL does not have much cause to complain. If it is concerned by contamination affecting its environmental testing, why is it located in one of the most polluted areas of Tampa Bay? Compared to some of PEL's other noxious neighbors, US Envirofuels would appear to be much less of a pollution concern.

Click here to read the story in the St Petersburg Times

- David Adams

Comments

[DANIEL D MARTIN]

great!,hoping that ethanol plant in Tampa will make more stations to offer E85 and the state to mandate 10 to 25% blending creating good conditions for a real ethanol market saving our state billions in oil revenew