A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton, NY 13617 315-379-9200 JULY 1994


MUNICIPAL WASTE INCINERATORS DEFEATED & ABANDONED PROPOSALS


PART 11 of 12-Part Series

# LOCATION DETAILS REASON FOR DEFEAT OF INCINERATOR

P E N N S Y L V A N I A (continued)

227. Mercer County 250 tpd “Potential steam customer went bankrupt & all RFQ proposals received were (Farrell) for landfilling.” (Ref GAA 1991)

228. Mifflin County 150 - 200 tpdResearch-Cottrell was the chosen vendor for this mass burn (Granville Township) RESEARCH-COTTRELL plant, but they went out of the waste-to-energy business. CONSUMAT Consumat was then picked as a replacement but their proposal was too expensive.” (Ref GAA 1991)

229. Monroe County 300 tpd On June 26, 1990, Monroe County Commissioners voted 2-1 against the \ East Stroudsburg AMERICAN ENERGY incinerator after sustained citizen opposition. County citizens also defeated Consumat and Clark-Kenith incinerator proposals for the county, See Waste Not #109.

230. South Philadelphia 2,250 tpd “Political opposition & NIMBY protests ended plans for a $350 million OGDEN MARTIN mass burn facility to be owned & operated by Ogden, which whom the City had already signed a 20-year contract.” (Ref GAA 1991). See Waste Not #10.

231. Potter County 48 tpd “Political, environmental & economic problems led to the abandonment of Kennedy Van Saun plans to build...incinerator. Originally slated to be publicly owned, plans changed & Kennedy Van Saun was to own & operate the facility.” (Ref GAA 1991)

232. Susquehanna/Wyoming 150 tpd “The Counties’ joint solid waste authority dissolved & resource recovery was Counties, ruled out as an option.”_(Ref GAA 1991)

P U E R T O R I C O

233. Guaynabo/Catano/ 1,040 “Plans for waste-to-energy never really developed. Developers had sought to Carolina EBASCO & build a resource recovery facility that would be operated by B&W.” BABCOCK & WILCOX(Ref GAA 1991)

234. San Juan 1,040 tpd On March 19, 1992, Westinghouse announced it was terminating this WESTINGHOUSE incinerator proposal. Approx $8 million was spent on the incinerator project between the city and Westinghouse. The incinerator was to be built in Puerto Neuvo, a highly polluted and industrialized community of mainly elderly and retired people. The residents of Puerto Neuvo together with Mision Industrial (a 25-year old grass roots environmental justice organization) fought hard to stop it. See WN #188. For info. contact Juan Rosario, Mision Industrial, PO Box 363728, San Juan, P.R.,tel 809-765-4303.

R H O D E I S L A N D

235. Johnston 750 tpd Rhode Island enacted into law, July 1991, a ban on building municipal waste OGDEN MARTIN incinerators. This killed the three incinerator proposals in the State. Ogden Martin has launched a $100 million lawsuit against the State to overturn the legislation adopted in July 1991. Ogden’s lawsuit argues that the ban on incineration constitutes an “unconstitutional taking of property from Ogden.” See Waste Not # 198,199,218.

236. Central Falls 750 tpd See above. Foster Wheeler was selected to build this incinerator without FOSTER WHEELER competitive bidding. See Waste Not #198.

237. Quonset Point 750 tpd Intense resident opposition. In March 1985, 84% of the residents of North (North Kingston) OGDEN MARTIN Kingston voted against the incinerator. Ogden took over this incinerator proposal, which was initially developed by Blount. (Blount pulled out of trash incineration and sold most of its operations to Ogden). The intensity of the community’s opposition to incineration propelled Rhode Island to become the first State in the U.S. to ban the building of MSW incinerators. See Johnston, R.I. above & WN #s #s 198 & 199.

238. Smithfield 400 tpd “Fluidized-bed gasification system developed by Power Recovery Power Recovery Systems Systems on hold indefinitely.” [Ref GAA 1988]

S O U T H C A R O L I N A

239. Central Correctional 300 tpd “Host community opted for a new landfill instead of a mass burn plant... Institute, Lee County located at the site of the state prison in Lee County.”(Ref GAA 1991)

240. Cherokee County 23,000 tpd “Consolidated Minerals proposed building a 23,000 ton per day (tpd) CONSOLIDATED incinerator project taking 11,000 tons-per-day from South Carolina & MINERALS 12,000 tpd from other states. 800 MW of electricity to be produced & sold to Duke Power; steam to be used by steel mill. However, cancelled in July 1991; opposition by environmental groups & County Council felt that air and water quality would suffer.” (Ref GAA 1993-94). WN: THE LARGEST CAPACITY INCINERATOR PROPOSED IN THE WORLD! This 2,200 acre site, near Blacksburg, houses the half-completed Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant, owned by Duke Power. The site was used by film maker Earle Owensby who filmed The Abyss at this site. Consolidated Minerals, out of Leesburg, Florida, is wholly owned by F. Browne Gregg. Gregg is estimated to have made $6 million in a private deal with OGDEN MARTIN when Ogden built the Lake County, Florida, incinerator. Consolidated hired Chernoff, Silver & Assoc. for the P.R._ See also WN # 134.

241. Aiken 1,000 tpd “Westinghouse Savannah River Company, operator of U.S. Dept. of Energy WESTINGHOUSE nuclear weapons complex, looked into feasibility of building a waste-to-energy plant to handle solid waste from complex & nearby communities in late 1990...” (Ref GAA 1993-94).

242. Berkeley County 225-240 tpd “Unfavorable economics for waste-to-energy at present.” [Ref GAA 1988]

T E N N E S S E E

243. Chattanooga 600 tpd “Previous administration wanted to build mass burn plant and negotiated Combustion with [Combustion Engineering].” Project scratched when economics Engineering reexamined.” [Ref GAA 1988]

244. Knoxville 900 tpd A 3 1/2 year battle riddled with dirty politics, citizen allegations of FOSTER WHEELER intimidation and the tragic suicide(?) of State Legislator Ted Ray Miller. The trash authority spent approx. $12 million in its effort to build the incinerator, which was defeated in April 1990, 2 days before the bonds were to be issued, when Knoxville’s Mayor announced he no longer supported the project. HDR were consultants to trash authority. Bonds were secured prior to project. See WN # 99.

245. Tullahoma 200 tpd “County Commissioners wouldn’t put cap on tipping fees; Elk River MONTENAY Resource Recovery Authority then scratched waste-to-energy project (Second Quarter 1990)...State of Tennessee was willing to provide $2 million grant & $1 million low interest loan for plant...” (Ref GAA 1993-94)

T E X A S

246. Austin 600 tpd “City Council canceled municipal [incinerator] project in July 1988 after a BABCOCK & great deal of equipment had been purchased...when the project’s cost analysis WILCOX was reevaluated, mass burning offered no economic advantages over landfilling. Also, some community/political opposition. The City is still trying to sell the equipment.” (Ref GAA 1991) See also WN # 14.

247. Dallas 2,000 tpd “Doing long range study of solid waste mgmt. to be completed by 1/89. Current landfill has 20 years of life at $6.50/ton tipping fee.” (Ref GAA 1988) Note: As of 1993, no plans for incinerator.

248. Galveston County 425 tpd “Waste-to-energy project cancelled in 1990; two cities could not agree on Texas City/Galveston contractual relationship.” (Ref GAA 1993-94)

249. Grand Prairie-Irving 700 tpd “This proposed [incinerator] project was not economically feasible due to low area landfill fees & the low price of electricity.” (Ref GAA 1991)

250. Houston “City had vague plans regarding waste-to-energy for a number of years. However, landfill tipping fees are currently $15 to $20/ton; therefore, resource recovery makes little economic sense. Also, surplus of electricity capacity in the area & no market for other sources of power...” (GAA 93-94)

GAA references refer to the year the Resource Recovery Yearbook: Directory & Guide was published by the for-profit Governmental Advisory Associates, 177 E. 87th Street, N.Y., N.Y. 10128. Tel: 212-410-4165


WASTE NOT # 293. A publication of Work on Waste USA, published 48 times a year. Annual rates are: Groups & Non-Profits $50; Students & Seniors $35; Individual $40; Consultants & For-Profits $125; Canadian $US50; Overseas $65.

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