By Mike Saewitz
The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, VA.)
Copyright 2007 Landmark Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A proposed $500 million ethanol refinery near the Chesapeake and Portsmouth line could pose "significant challenges" to firefighters trying to battle a blaze on the 97-acre site, Chesapeake's deputy fire marshal wrote in documents released Thursday.

Chesapeake fire officials are concerned because the plant can be reached only by one Portsmouth road. They also question whether the city can provide enough water to mix with a special foam needed to put out ethanol fires.

Portsmouth Fire Chief Newell Whitehead said his department is not prepared to respond to an emergency at the proposed plant, according to an April 13 e-mail. Whitehead said he would need more personnel and equipment to "feel comfortable" with such a large responsibility, according to the e-mail.

Ethanol burns differently from other flammable liquids, said Chesapeake Fire Chief R. Stephen Best . In its purest form, burning ethanol could have a near-invisible flame, he said.

Company officials have said water won't douse the fire; it would simply be absorbed. But mixing the foam with water creates a blanket that stops vapor production, Best said.

The managing partner for International Bio Energy Virginia LLC, the refinery's developer, is working with the Portsmouth and Chesapeake fire departments, and maintains that the public has little to worry about because the plant will meet state and city fire protection regulations. The partner, Sidney Harrison, said technology in the ethanol industry is "tried-and-true.

"This industry is improving daily," he said. "It's not like we're trying to do something brand new."

Fighting ethanol fires requires different training and materials, Best said. After learning last year that Chesapeake motor fuel terminals were gearing up to store up to 8.5 million gallons of ethanol, Best's department purchased 4,000 gallons of a foam concentrate. To offset the cost of the training and equipment, the Chesapeake council voted on May 8 to increase fire permit fees for plants with tanks storing more than 100,000 gallons of flammable or combustible liquids.

The city will need more foam and training to handle what could be one of the country's largest ethanol refineries, slated to produce 216 million gallons of the alternative fuel per year.

Best said Hampton Roads cities will have to adjust to ethanol's presence. "Ethanol is becoming a permanent part of our community, and a permanent risk in our community," he said.

In recent years, there have been a handful of reported ethanol-related fires nationally, most of which originated in grain dryers. Two people died; a few were injured. Harrison said that when compared to other fuels, ethanol is environmentally safer and doesn't burn as hot .

Greg Lee, the chief of a volunteer fire department in Benson, Minn., said more than 10 years of experience with an ethanol refinery in his city has taught him that the fuel in its purest form is equivalent to 200-proof alcohol. "Straight ethanol is pretty dangerous," he said.

Ethanol plants bring good-paying jobs and boost tax revenue, but citizens living nearby often worry about pollution, safety and increased truck traffic. RiverWright Energy aims to open an $80 million ethanol plant on the Buffalo River in New York in 2008. Nearby residents have expressed more concern about noise, dust and traffic than over the potential for explosion.

The city of Benson, Minn., a community of 3,500 people about 140 miles west of Minneapolis, has had few problems with the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Co. refinery since it was built in 1996, Lee said. But the plant was the site of a 40,000-gallon tank explosion that killed a contract worker in 2003.

"Any time an alarm goes off at the plant, your mind races a little bit more at what could be happening," Lee said. "There are definitely more challenges out there."

In a May 10 memo released Thursday, Chesapeake Deputy Fire Marshal Harold W. Creason said the "major items" of concern were over emergency access to the plant. Portsmouth's Victory Boulevard is the only way to get to the site, which is bordered by a railroad system and the Navy's St. Juliens Creek Annex. Harrison said Thursday that a second access point has been approved through Giant Cement Holding Inc.'s nearby Portsmouth terminal.

Harrison said Chesapeake has assured him that the city will provide adequate water.

While Chesapeake city leaders say they have met twice with Portsmouth officials, Best said he has not yet met with Portsmouth Fire Chief Whitehead, who could not be reached Thursday. "There are many, many meetings and many hours of work yet to be done," Best said.