Delmarva Chicken Association (DCA) said it supports a plan to build an anaerobic digester near Seaford, Del.
The Bioenergy Innovation Center, proposed by Bioenergy Devco, would convert hatchery waste, poultry plant byproducts and chicken-house litter including manure into natural gas and a soil conditioner in an enclosed process, the 1,600-member trade association said in a press release.
Bioenergy Devco operates dozens of similar plants in Europe, as well as an anaerobic digester for other waste streams in Jessup, Md. Other local organizations that have voiced support for the Bioenergy Innovation Center include Friends of the Nanticoke River and the Wicomico Environmental Trust, DCA said.
DCA Executive Director Holly Porter said DCA and its members have been working with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control for years to properly and sustainably manage poultry processing, hatchery and litter outputs.
“The proposed anaerobic digestion facility is in the right place at the right time. With tens of thousands of anaerobic digesters throughout the world, the DCA hopes you will approve this technology for the benefit of the chicken industry, our local economy, and the environmental health of the region,” Porter wrote in comments to the department supporting the company’s permit applications.
