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Struthers works to meet deadline for waste-treatment plant project
The generators could save the city up to 70 percent in utility costs at its waste-treatment plant.
STRUTHERS — The city is working to meet a September deadline for a project at its waste- treatment plant that would save money in utility costs there.
After a series of phone calls July 31 in which the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency told the city it might be getting as much as $3.5 million in federal stimulus money toward the $4 million project, then said it was only $1.5 million, the city has assurances that the $1.5 million figure is correct, said Mayor Terry Stocker.
The city must pursue $2.5 million from a water pollution control loan fund for the rest of the project — two generators that would run on methane gas that is a byproduct at the plant. The loan would be at 3.43 percent interest over 20 years.
Mahoning County, which reimburses the city 64.5 percent of the plant’s costs for treating sewage from other communities, also appears to be on board in pursuing the loan with the city, Stocker said. He said he wants to confirm that, and he intends to call a special meeting for the city council early next week so it can decide if it wants to move forward on the generators.
The generators could save 60 percent to 70 percent of the plant’s utility costs a year, city officials have said.
Projections for 2009 utility costs are $252,000, Stocker said. In 20 years, the projection rises to $600,000, then to nearly $1 million in 40 years, he said.
The city could receive more federal stimulus money from the state, he said, if other communities’ projects on the EPA’s funding list are withdrawn.
He and county Commissioner Anthony Traficanti had called on state legislators and Ken Carano of the governor’s office to investigate why the city was told it would receive $3.5 million, then only $1.5 million.
Bob Monsarrat, head of the environmental planning section of the EPA’s Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance, said a staff member misread the figures.
Struthers’ project was the only one of 12 on the EPA’s list that isn’t receiving 100 percent funding — at least up to a $5 million cap. Monsarrat said that’s because the money ran out.
Only one project on the list exceeded the cap.
Stocker said a question about why the EPA allocated the funding the way it did remains unanswered.
Monsarrat said the agency believed the projects should be funded at 100 percent, believing the cap would allow the funding to be distributed farther.
He said the projects were ranked in terms of “water-quality benefits.”
The city has until Sept. 15 to submit designs, contracts and a permit-to-install application to the EPA.