Plant project to save money for Struthers and county

By Jeanne Starmack

STRUTHERS — Now that it’s fully funded with federal stimulus money, a green project at the sewage- treatment plant will mean even more green in the city’s budget.

Mahoning County benefits too, said city and county officials, because the county subsidizes 64.5 percent of the plant’s costs to treat sewage from unincorporated areas.

The city got word late last month that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is giving it $5.4 million for two methane-gas generators it is building at the plant. The EPA is distributing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants for communities’ environment-friendly projects.

The generators will capture methane that’s now burned off as a byproduct of treatment. Then, they’ll generate electricity for the plant.

“For years they burned off the gas,” said Nick Jordan, an industrial monitor at the plant. “Now, they can [power] a plant with it.”

The plant also will save money because it won’t be using natural gas anymore to heat its digesters during the treatment process. The generators’ engines will heat the digesters, said Bob Gentile, plant manager.

Struthers’ generator project was not fully funded at first, but more money became available as other projects dropped off a list of 12 the EPA originally had. The city originally was going to get $1.5 million toward the project. The city and the county were going to pursue a 3.4 percent interest loan, to be paid back over 20 years, for the rest.

In November, the city heard it was getting more than $3.5 million in funding, so the amount it needed to borrow was reduced.

There would be a savings, officials said, but it wouldn’t be realized for several years. They said they couldn’t even predict how much of a savings, because it was hard to project where utility costs would be in the years to come.

Now, officials are excited because the savings will be recognized as soon as the project is finished. It will break ground in March and take about a year to complete.

The city originally figured the generators would produce between 60 percent and 70 percent of the electricity needed to run the plant.

But with a sludge thickener, also to be built, more sludge and less water will be burned, meaning even more methane production, said Gentile and Mayor Terry Stocker. They said they hope to eventually power the entire plant with methane.

The generators will mean a savings of $17,000 a month on electricity and $9,000 a month on natural gas.

It also will mean a savings of $1 million the city would have spent replacing the plant’s present generator, which is no longer powerful enough to run equipment that’s been added over the years.

Mahoning County commissioners said Tuesday they are grateful the city pursued the project.

“Without [Stocker’s] persistence, this would never have happened,” said Commissioner Anthony Traficanti. “It’s good for the Valley and maybe the beginning of something bigger. We’ll look to see if we can make this happen at other plants.”

“It saves the county and city hundreds of thousands in operating, maintenance and utility costs,” said commissioner David Ludt.