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N.C. high court won't review biodiesel case
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Published: September 2, 2009
The N.C. Supreme Court won't weigh in on the lawsuit filed to prevent the McLain family from operating a biodiesel production facility on rural Snow Creek Road.
The state's high court denied the defendants' petition to review the Appellate Court's April 7 decision, which declared that biodiesel production was not a bona fide farm use and sent the case back to Iredell Superior Court.
The civil lawsuit involving Iredell Neighbors for Rural Life and 23 individual plaintiffs against the county and the McLain family has been shuffling through the court system for two years.
The plaintiffs sued the county in September 2007 in an effort to reverse Iredell County Board of Commissioners' decision to rezone a small parcel of McLain Farms on Snow Creek Road from single family residential to heavy manufacturing.
The latest ruling was hailed by the opponents of the biodiesel plant.
"We did hear last week that the Supreme Court let the ruling in our favor stand," said Snow Creek Road resident Randy Bridges. "We were very encouraged and pleased by that."
Bridges said Iredell Neighbors for Rural Life, one of the plaintiffs, will continue to fight against the zoning.
In early 2008, Iredell Superior Court Judge Kim Taylor ruled in favor of the county and the McLains, stating the facility met the requirements for bona fide farm use.
The McLains have not built a biodiesel facility on their family farm.
Instead, they have set up an oilseed plant and ship the oils from soybeans and canola to Foothills Bio-Energies in Lenoir.
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