Could Biofuels Be Part of the Future for "Delmarva: A Region of Possibilities"?

by Joanne Ivancic* (Advanced Biofuels USA) "Don’t come to listen, come to act." That's what the invitation from the Rural Maryland Council, USDA Rural Development office and Maryland Broadband Cooperative said. We were invited to connect for a day with other public innovators interested in moving Delmarva forward as a thriving region. They emphasized that "Delmarva: A Region of Possibilities" would not be a regional planning exercise, but a gathering designed to build regional relationships and networks.

For many years, Advanced Biofuels USA has seen biofuels in the future of the peninsula comprised of parts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Four years' worth of reports (2007-2010) from the Chesapeake Bay Commission touted biofuels as a way to balance energy, economy and environmental needs. We encouraged a landowner group to explore the possibilities of switchgrass as a biofuel feedstock. We watched development of anaerobic digesters as a way to use poultry litter. We followed a feasibility study by the University of Virginia and others about jetfuel production in the area. We've met with faculty at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore about research they are doing with biofuels feedstock that could remediate legacy phosphorus from farmland.

So, this seemed a good opportunity to find out more about how people who lived and worked on the Delmarva thought about biofuels in the region. And to build relationships and networks so that when biofuels-related opportunities arise, Advanced Biofuels USA can serve as a resource.

Participants spent the day networking, sharing aspirations, and collaborating on actions they will take to make Delmarva prosper. Everyone attending was expected to cause, or contribute to, something big or small that advances Delmarva as a thriving economic region.

Dr. Bill McGowan the USDA Rural Development state director for both Delaware and Maryland served as MC. First, he presented an overview of the “Strategic Doing” process that we would all participate in.

There was a morning presentation by Mike Thielke of the Eastern Shore Enterpreneurship Center about the demographics of the area followed by a couple of panels in the morning: 1) people who had “linked and leveraged” resources to achieve business results that reached throughout the Delmarva; and 2) people had “boundary-spanning” projects, most related to tourism; one to emergency management. They talked about the strengths of collaborating and the weaknesses experienced when collaboration was stymied.

The rest of the day was in small groups of about eight at round tables talking about a question posed by the organizers. The idea was then that each table would create a project that the people in that group would continue to work on.

Our group decided to create a stakeholder database of those interested in working through regulatory, legal and cultural issues that limited collaboration among the different parts of the Delmarva.

This group will be meeting again by conference call in mid-June; and expects to continue to work on putting together some kind of gathering of stakeholders after the summer tourist season.

I expect that this group could grow to become a forum for tackling region-wide environmental and development issues. If you are on the Delmarva and see yourself as a stakeholder who would like to participate in this group, please give me a call (301-644-1395) or drop me an email (info@advancedbiofuelsusa.org).

Similarly, Advanced Biofuels USA can serve as a resource for economic development and regional planners around the US and the world. Our website has a wealth of information and we will be happy to help forge relationships to expand the understanding, development and use of advanced biofuels as a solution to economic development, energy security, military flexibility, pollution control and climate change mitigation challenges.