Biodiesel Expansion OK’d Amid Asphalt Concern

by Thomas Breen (New Haven Independent) An Annex plant that turns vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel won permission to expand its industrial waterfront operations — with a plea from City Plan Commissioners to do its best to swap out asphalt with concrete when possible to minimize its impact on a warming planet.

That was the outcome of Wednesday night’s latest regular monthly meeting of the City Plan Commission. The virtual meeting took place online via Zoom.

The local land-use commissioners voted unanimously in support of a site plan application by American GreenFuels LLC to construct a 1,400 square-foot addition to an existing 8,400 square-foot commercial building at 30 Waterfront St.

American GreenFuels is a Swiss-owned “biodiesel production” company that has been operating out of the city’s harbor-adjacent New Haven Terminal since 2013. The company takes “feedstocks,” plant-based oils and animal fats and turns them into tens of millions of gallons of renewable fuel every year. (Click here and here to read previous Independent articles about their Waterfront Street business.)

On Wednesday, Guilford-based engineer Stephen Benben explained that the company is looking to build a 1,400 square-foot addition to its existing Annex plant to expand their operations. “It will just house equipment that will allow them to further refine the finished product,” he said. READ MORE