Could legislation revive bioethanol plant in Fernandina?

An amendment to a bill running through the Florida Legislature could allow a controversial bioethanol plant to be built in Fernandina Beach, despite the City Commission’s denial of the plan.

City officials do not believe the bill’s amendment has any bearing on the bioethanol plant proposed by Rayonier Advanced Materials, known as RYAM. But longtime opponents believe differently.

Fernandina Beach city commissioners rejected the plant Feb. 6 under the reasoning that making bioethanol is akin to chemical manufacturing, which is not allowed under the city’s Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code.

But on Friday, state Sen. Stan McClain, R-Ocala, added an amendment to a land use and development regulation bill that worries Rayonier’s opponents.

The amendment says production of ethanol from plants and plant products is done through fermentation, distillation and drying, and “is not chemical manufacturing or chemical refining.” As such, the amendment says, “this subsection is remedial and clarifying in nature and applies retroactively to any law, regulation, or ordinance or any interpretation thereof.”

The Senate’s Community Affairs committee approved the amendment by a 5-3 vote on Monday.

Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami-Dade County, questioned McClain before the vote Jones asked whether the amendment changed the definition of what a chemical is. McClain said the amendment does not change the definition, only “how it’s actually done.”

Jones then asked McClain, who is also chairman of the committee, whether he is concerned that the bill might represent “potential overreach” by the state after a community has already acted on a land use or development issue.

Jones added that Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach residents have expressed their “fear of ethanol plants being built next to private homes,” based on how the amendment redefines ethanol.

“I think that’s why we are here to have a discussion about what things that we need to do to help local governments move forward with development,” McClain said. “I don’t know the particulars of that particular project and where its located. What we wanted to do is be able to define ethanol production and how it takes place, and how it can take place.”

Jacksonville Today asked the city of Fernandina Beach whether the amended bill could have any effect on the RYAM’s proposed bioethanol plant. City Manager Sarah Campbell responded that she doesn’t think the amendment “applies in our situation.”

“The section of the statutes that this applies to is specific to agricultural zoned lands,” Campbell said in an email. “That would not apply to the situation at hand in Fernandina. We will certainly discuss this with our attorneys further. I will ask the City Commission (Tuesday) … if they would like to take a formal stance on this legislation.”

A group called No Ethanol Fernandina, long opposed to the proposed $51 million facility at Rayonier’s Gum Street complex, is “assessing all avenues to oppose this amendment,” said Tom Budd, the head of the group.

Budd said McClain’s new amendment is an “unconscionable attempt to manipulate the legislative process and provide RYAM an ‘end run’ around local control of zoning decisions.” And if the state bill is successful, it will set a precedent “so onerous that Florida communities will suffer the consequences in perpetuity,” Budd said in a statement.

“Committee members charged with the responsibility of considering this amendment should refuse to be manipulated in this obvious and reprehensible way,” Budd’s statement added. “Local control is the premier tenant of our system of government. All legislators should be horrified by this blatant assault on local control of zoning decisions and vote accordingly.”

RYAM began efforts over a year ago to expand its existing pulp mill site just south of downtown Fernandina to build a second-generation plant to produce bioethanol for sale. On its website, RYAM calls its Second Generation BioEthanol “a cleaner, greener alternative to fossil-fuel based gasoline” that will help sustain 300 local jobs, plus help property values and support the city’s economy.

The No Ethanol Florida website says the group recognizes ethanol as an alternative fuel source. But members oppose manufacturing it adjacent to densely populated residential areas on Amelia Island and along the environmentally sensitive Amelia River.

The plant also would bring tanker trucks filled with ethanol to Fernandina Beach, Florida 200 and the Shave Bridge through Nassau County to Interstate 95, opponents say.

“It is simply too dangerous.” No Ethanol Florida’s website states. “Ethanol is highly flammable and carries substantial risk of accidental fires and explosions by producing it within a manufacturing site that already processes large quantities of other extremely hazardous and highly reactive chemicals.”

RYAM filed a lawsuit Feb. 28 stating that the project is a permissible use under city codes and not chemical manufacturing.

“The Project’s proposed method of creating biomethanol relies on the same fermentation process used to making beer, yogurt and certain baked goods,” the suit states. “Once bioethanol is made through fermentation, it can be isolated depending on end use.”

In the Fernandina case, the fermented bioethanol mixture will be distilled so the bioethanol can be used as a clean energy fuel source, the suit says.

The suit asserts that city staff bowed to “political pressure from the community, candidates for political offices and members of the City Commission to adopt this erroneous interpretation at the heart of this dispute.”

Rayonier did not respond to Jacksonville Today‘s requests for comment about McClain’s bill and the concerns of No Ethanol Fernandina.