Baltimore County officials are putting the brakes on a company?s plans to build an ethanol plant at the Sparrows Point shipyard in Baltimore County, which already has alarmed community activists waging war against a proposed liquidfied natural gas facility at the same site.
County development officials tabled a meeting Tuesday with attorneys for the Bethesda-based Ecron Corp. after deciding they “need more information,” according to Don Rascoe, deputy director of the county?s permits and development office. The alternative-fuel company has asked for an exception to the site?s local zoning code, but hasn?t specified what exactly will be going on at Sparrows Point, he said.
“Will they be manufacturing or transporting or refining?” Rascoe said. “We have to determine if that usage is allowed in that zone. It?s not going forward until we have more information.”
Community activist Fred Thiess sent a letter to County Executive Jim Smith and all of the county?s department heads Monday, urging them to postpone the scheduled meeting because several activists were attending a meeting at the same time as members of a state-appointed task force to study the proposed LNG terminal.
Thiess and other community members like Sharon Beazley, who both toured an ethanol plant in Iowa, are fighting plans to expand the former Bethlehem Steel site into what they call an industrial wasteland. They said the shipyard is designated as a federally protected Superfund site and falls under two consent decrees forbidding further environmental damage.
“We had three hearings three nights in a row for people filing permits at Sparrows Point,” said Beazley, who is a co-chair of the state-mandated task force. “It?s getting out of hand. We have LNG, we have ethanol, oil recycling. They just want to move it all to Sparrows Point.”
Ecron wants to manufacture 100 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol each year, said Walt Smith, a county project manager, which would satisfy 70 percent of ethanol demand in Baltimore City and County. The alcohol and corn-based motor fuel and fuel additive burns cleaner and more efficiently than gasoline. The company would lease 54 acres from the shipyard?s proprietor, Vincent Barletta.
Ecron principal partner Boris Maslov said he?s been working with the community since May and organized the trip to Iowa so residents could see a first-hand look at what he is proposing. All of the ethanol produced at the $166 million plant will stay in the area, he said.
County development officials must determine if Ecron?s plans are allowed under the site?s existing code, or ifthey must make an exception. Either way, the community will be invited to public hearings before the plant is approved, Smith said.
The county?s development review committee rescheduled the meeting with Ecron attorneys Sept. 18, but could postpone it again, Smith said.
