Chesapeake Panel OKs New Biodiesel Facility

by Marjon Rostami (The Virginia Pilot/iStockAnalyst.com) Recycled French fry oil could soon be part of what fuels local government vehicles after the city's Planning Commission approved a conditional-use permit for a biodiesel plant in an industrial complex off Military Highway.
Tidewater Biodiesel plans to build a 10 million-gallon-per-year facility on 5 acres of a 50-acre industrial complex on Steel Street in the Deep Creek borough by 2012.
...The Tidewater plant would not produce more than 10 million gallons per year and would serve the region using only local products, said Pete Burkhimer, an engineer with Engineering Services Inc., which represented Tidewater Biodiesel. The plant would use an all-closed process system, meaning it will not emit gases or fumes through smokestacks, he said.
"It's an environmentally friendly thing to do," he said.
Thomas Arrington, chairman of Tidewater Biodiesel, said the company would help the Navy reach its goal to have 50 percent of its fleet operating on biodiesel by 2020. Using biodiesel fuel from a local facility would help reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil, he said. READ MORE