Opposition to biodiesel plant in Pullman grows

PULLMAN – The Port of Whitman County held a special meeting to discuss AgTech OS proposed Biodiesel plant on Southwest Old Wawawai Road, on Wednesday, March 4, at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Event Center.

The event, which was by RSVP, had speakers from AgTech OS and partners to discuss concerns the public might have about the proposed plan.

A letter from President and Chief Technology Officer, Edmund Schweitzer, was passed out to those in attendance in opposition to the construction of the proposed agriculture advancement campus.

The letter stated seven reasons for SEL’s opposition including that the project, which were as follows:

“1. It has been pursued quietly and quickly, denying folks enough opportunity to understand and comment.

2. Its main purpose would be to foster the objectives of a particular private startup business.

3. Taxpayers should not be unwitting sponsors of a private adventure, via taxes paid to the Port, or other means.

4. Land currently zoned Residential should not be re-zoned, or forced to be rezoned, Heavy Industrial.

5. The subject property is nearby new residential developments.

6. The subject property is nearby land acquired by the Pullman Public School District.

7. Heavy Industrial use of land next to residences and schools is undesirable.”

During the meeting, the public was encouraged to scan a code to send in questions that could be answered by AgTech OS representatives.

Several questions were shouted out from the crowd, one asked by Pullman resident and Realtor Mike Bradley about why the plant was planned for Pullman and not one of the smaller towns, like LaCrosse, that could use an increase in jobs.

“We’re very concerned about the overall picture of it,” Bradley’s wife Linda said in an interview discussing their concerns, “They thought we were concerned about the aesthetics of it, but we were more worried about why here,” she said.

There is a petition that is at 6,836 signatures, and growing at time of press. Petition writer Gwen Anderson shared the same concerns as the Bradleys’.

“The biggest opposition is the location,” Anderson said, “As a group we’re not staunchly against biodiesel,” adding that the land was not meant for heavy industrial.

In a press release from, Thursday, March 2, the Port of Whitman County changed its submission application for re-zoning to the City of Pullman an Industrial Research Park (IRP) and commercial rezoning for an Agriculture Advancement Campus.

The IRP re-zoning is a change from the previous proposal that the Port had submitted to request heavy industrial zoning.

Port Executive Director Kara Riebold said in the release that over the past month they’ve had conversations with the City of Pullman Planning Department, community members, and they’re engineering consultant.

“The result is a decision to change our request to Industrial Research Park. If approved by the City of Pullman, this zoning would provide more flexibility for the Port and future tenants to support a diversity of businesses and jobs and locate those businesses suitably within the campus.”

The rezoning application will include the public park, residential commercial, and green spaces that were all shared in the first application, but the release states that all other zoning is IRP.

Riebold explained that with the IRP rezoning, if AgTech OS wanted to put their biodiesel plant there, the start-up would have to apply for a conditional use permit.

“The IRP zoning doesn’t allow vegetable oil milling without a conditional use permit,” she said, noting that this adds another layer for the city to review for AgTech’s plans to see if it’s a permitted use to put the plant in the location.

IRP zoning would require businesses looking to perform a variety of manufacturing uses, such as vegetable oil milling, grain milling, fruit and vegetable canning to apply for the conditional use permit to operate at the agriculture advancement campus.

The Port states that all rezoning requests go through a public process, including reviews, recommendations and hearing. If approved by the City of Pullman, the campus would continue onto local and state permitting processes, which will include opportunities for the public to comment.

The citizens of Pullman have been doing their research and are going to follow the process, Anderson stated, noting that they’ve been studying the comprehensive city plan on the pullman website.

“We don’t want it in Pullman,” Anderson said of the biodiesel plant, “That’s why I started the petition and the group. Awareness and bringing the community together, and seeing if there could be an orchestrated voice that could say something about this.”

“We’ve appreciated the public input, and we hope that the public continues to engage with the process as it moves forward with the city,” Reibold said.