You can watch the No Ethanol Fernandina meeting here https://youtu.be/xn6XmGkIDNY
No Ethanol Fernandina conducted a town hall Wednesday to a standing room filled Peck Center auditorium in what began a series of events on Rayonier Advanced Materials' (RYAM) efforts to build a bioethanol production plant.
Those upcoming events include:
Oct. 24 City of Fernandina Beach town hall meeting 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting will include a 30-minute presentation by RYAM about the project and a 30-minute presentation by No Ethanol Fernandina in opposition to the proposal. That will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
Nov. 18-20 RYAM air permit administrative hearing to be conducted at City Hall city commission meeting room. The hearing will determine the validity of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection draft air quality permit issued last March to RYAM to operate a bioethanol plant at its facility on Gum Street that would produce 7.5 million gallons of bioethanol a year.
Tom Budd of No Ethanol Fernandina provided updates on the status of the administrative hearing that is scheduled for three days next month.
"This is a long fight," Budd told the audience.
Budd explained that even after the judge makes a determination about the validity of the air permit, that decision goes back to FDEP, which then makes a ruling on the status of the permit.
"A win for us is if the judge says they made their case and you (RYAM) skipped too many steps and you (RYAM) need to go back and do a Prevention of Significant Deterioration," Budd said. "That's the win, they (RYAM) have to do that study."
Retired industrial chemist and subject matter expert Medardo Monzon, provided an overview of the bioethanol production process and the inherent dangers of chemical manufacturing on a barrier island.
"We are the grassroots. We are the grass, and we are the roots. We are up against a major corporation (RYAM)," said Julie Ferriera of No Ethanol Fernandina. "And we need a lot of support."
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