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Waste-burning power plant proposed
YOUNGSTOWN — A proposed $235 million waste-burning power plant near Alliance would conserve landfill space, promote recycling and generate reliable electricity in an environmentally friendly way, its promoters say.
Building it would generate 250 construction jobs and operating it would create 60 full-time jobs paying an average of $50,000 a year, according to Gregory L. Benik, president and chief executive officer of Jefferson Renewable Energy LLC of Warwick, R.I., the firm that would design and operate the plant.
The plant, known as the Mahoning Renewable Energy Plant, would occupy about 30 acres at Transload America’s Central Waste landfill, 12003 Oyster Road, Smith Township, Mahoning County.
Benik and Victor Gatto, Jefferson’s board chairman, presented the proposal at Tuesday’s meeting of the Mahoning County Solid Waste Policy Committee. Since it typically takes about a year to get the necessary environmental permits, Gatto said the company doesn’t expect to have the plant in operation until 2010.
“What we’re talking about is taking material that would be going into the ground now in Mahoning County and transforming it into an economic opportunity for the county and for the residents,” Gatto said. “We feel great about the chance to bring new power solutions to the table here” and to reduce dependency on foreign oil, he told the committee.
“We’ll also be looking to be a good citizen. We’ll be paying taxes,” he said, adding that the company hopes the new plant can make electric rates cheaper for local residents and businesses.
The landfill location is consistent with Jefferson’s goal of keeping “transportation, noise and other issues focused in the area where they already are,” Gatto said. “It’s in a relatively remote area,” he said.
The site has good rail access, adequate water and a nearby connection to the electric power grid, Benik said.
Gatto said the plant would be connected to the power grid at a substation about a half-mile away.
The plant would burn 2,050 tons of waste a day and produce 65 megawatts round-the-clock for the electric power grid. It would produce less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of a coal-fired plant, Jefferson officials said.
The plant would derive its fuel from municipal garbage and construction and demolition debris coming to the landfill by truck and by rail.
Noncombustible material and recyclable material, including an estimated 30,000 tons of metals a year, would be removed in a sorting area. Half the plant’s fuel would be garbage and the other half construction and demolition debris, Benik said. Ash residue would be sold, reused or safely disposed of, Jefferson officials said.
Jefferson has received a letter of commitment from Bank of America, and two other banks have expressed interest in financing the project, Gatto said.
Jefferson will discuss tax-free municipal bond funding with state officials, Gatto said. However, he added: “We won’t be looking for any tax breaks here.”
Jefferson is negotiating with three potential power purchasers: First Energy, Sempra and Constellation New Energy.
Jefferson and the South Orange, N.J.-based Transload America agreed last fall to collaborate on development of the proposed power plant.
The 1,400-acre Central Waste landfill conducted a grand reopening ceremony last November. TLA bought the dormant landfill in 2006 after the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency granted a permit to expand it, and TLA took in its first load of waste in June 2007.
Founded in 2002, TLA specializes in rail-based transportation, handling, recycling and disposal of waste. Besides accepting waste by truck, Central Waste has a new on-site rail spur, which can store up to 50 railroad cars.
Although Jefferson Renewable Energy is only two years old and does not yet have any of its own waste-to-energy plants in operation, Gatto said there are many such plants in operation, including one at a landfill in Palm Beach, Fla.