Oil and automobile companies have been doing what they can to come up with environment-friendly fuel in order to help the preservation of our environment. These oil companies have come up with the idea of using biofuel, a type of fuel created from natural resources such as grain and sugar cane, just to name a few. It’s their way of ensuring that nature stays healthy for the next generation. Given the direction their headed at, it’s pretty obvious that they would need numerous plants set-up in order to achieve the mass production and release of this eco-friendly fuel. Unfortunately, not everyone has accepted this direction with open arms. The town of Suffield, Connecticut belongs to this group.

Suffield, Connecticut was built on the farming and production of tobacco. It was through this that the town was able to establish itself. And even if the farming of this product has dwindled over the recent years, Suffield is still recognized as one of Connecticut’s leading agricultural communities. And when CT Biodiesel proposed to put up a plant for the production of Biodiesel, as expected, the town went livid.

"It's about a passion. It's about a loyalty to this town," said Gloria Smith, co-chairwoman of Know Bio, the largest of several groups formed to fight the plant. "When you believe in something, you don't let it go. I will not give up on this town."

Health and safety issues have been the primary concern of the townsfolk of Suffield. As we all know, the dangers presented by oil plantations are fires and oil leakage. Any of the two threats can cause damage to property, the people and worst of all, a town’s environment.

In order to pacify the people, CT Biodiesel had its executives conduct meetings with the townspeople and even came up with an offer of providing 35k gallons of biodiesel a year, $400k in property taxes, aid for student scholarships, charitable institutions and fuel banks and a chance for workers get lined up first for job openings. Regardless of how good the offer may sound, Suffield still isn’t buying it.

However, not everyone in Suffield has expressed anger over the attempts of having a biodiesel plant set-up. Janet Banks, a resident for 35 year said, is open to this since it will help in the town’s tax base.

“For Pete's sake, in less than a mile [from the proposed plant] we've got Hood, and we would be filling a piece of industrial land that has been up for sale for 35 years,” she said, “If anything, we need things like this to pay for our efforts in preserving farmland.”

Sources: Courant, The Truth About Cars