Well, I should say most of the county — and by “county,” I’m talking about the County Commission; Commissioner Bill James actually got applause last night. Hold on, I’ll explain:
So, ReVenture …
By now, you have to know that’s the name of the proposed eco-industrial park that may be located on the edge of the Catawba River, just down the way from downtown Mount Holly. It’s a big news item because our county can’t wait to pay ReVenture to take our trash, which will sort it for valuable recycleables (yes, they’re gonna sell them) before incinerating/gasifying* the rest.
(If you need to catch up, check out this article I wrote for Charlotte magazine and, by all means, follow Susan Stabley’s coverage over at The Charlotte Business Journal because, lawd knows, this project is “evolving” faster than any one article can express and she’s doing a helluva job keeping up.)
It’s important to note that this project won’t just touch the western side of the county. There’s the sorting facility, which will be on Amble Drive, just off North Graham Street. Then, there’s the county’s recent pot of hot water — a $15 million planned expansion at the Foxhole landfill in south Charlotte which will enable the landfill to accept residential trash should the county’s deal with ReVenture fall through, but also the ash left over after our trash is incinerated/gasified should the deal be sealed. (Read more about last night’s contentious public meeting at Elon Elementary School from WCNC.)
There’s also the air we all breathe that may or may not be impacted by emissions from the plant — until we have the results of the third-party study the county decided they needed after the public demanded one (and, let’s be real, after the county was found to have very interested parties on the boards making decisions about this project), we won’t know for sure.
Here’s the thing, though: The more the community declares their concerns about this project — which has sailed through the state’s marble halls, too — the more those in power pat citizens’ heads and tell everyone to trust them.
You can most likely witness that same patronizing attitude today on WFAE’s Charlotte Talks’ program. (Listen live or to a recording here.) The guests are Tom McKittrick, ReVenture’s main man; County Commissioner Jennifer Roberts; and the county’s Executive Director of Waste Management, Bruce Gledhill.
All three of them have been ReVenture cheerleaders since the start, even though no one outside of the company was made aware of the plant’s technology — promised for months to be like Germany’s or Japan’s only to be revealed as being developed in a field in Kansas, U.S.A. — until late December of last year. And, there are, to date, no traffic studies, no environmental studies, no public health studies and no long-term economic studies to, you know, study.
Who needs studies when you’ve got promises from capitalists and politicians, right?
Well, here’s where Bill James’ applause came in: He seems to hear the people when they say they don’t want residential trash in Foxhole, which is currently used for commercial and development debris. James made a point of saying so at last night’s meeting and about three weeks ago when he was the lone vote against funding the landfill’s expansion. But, even his stance doesn’t fill in the gaps those studies will plug.
As far as I can tell, all the people are asking for over at Amble Drive and in west Mecklenburg are for some reassurances. They don’t want their traffic, roads, or health screwed by someone peddling promises — and who can blame them? Even ReVenture’s most ardent opposition (I think it’s safe to say that’s the local chapter of the Sierra Club) likes most of the rest of the plans for the so-called eco-industrial park. But the leadership in that organization, namely Bill Gupton, like the citizens who are speaking out, would like for things to slow down long enough so those few studies can be conducted. We want to make the best possible decision with our limited tax dollars and for everyone’s health, right? That seems reasonable to everyone but the people in charge, who want us to just relax and let them handle things.
This is when you may ask yourself, “What’s the rush?” Two things … OK, one thing: money.
The company is chasing federal stimulus money, and lots of it — up to $50 million. At first, the deadline for shovel-readiness was the end of 2010, now it’s the end of this year. The county’s also trying to figure out who’s contract they’ll sign: ReVenture’s or Republic Services, the company that already hauls our trash away to a landfill in Cabbarrus County. The county’s contract is up with Republic in a little over a year, and they’re worried the rates will go up. (ReVenture undercut them by $1 per ton.) I’ve been told by Republic representatives, however, that they’re willing to negotiate.
But are our government officials willing to negotiate with the public they serve? Are they willing to prove that ReVenture’s incinerator/gasifier hybrid* will do all of the good and wonderful things it’s promised to do, without harming anyone in any way, before they sign on the dotted line? Only time will tell.
Oh, and one more thing: The cheerleaders are going to tell you about all the jobs ReVenture will create. Keep this in mind as they do: The first jobs will go to the folks from Kansas that came up with this technology, and there will probably be a few blue collar jobs to be had over at Amble Drive, too. But the rest of the jobs (more than 90 percent of them) won’t come for years, and that’s assuming the rest of the eco-industrial park builds out as projected — which is assuming a lot. Without the incinerator/gasifier hybrid, none of the jobs will materialize.
* Note: the company’s reps really hate the word “incinerator,” even though the main man, Tom McKittrick, stood before the county’s ReVenture Advisory Council and talked about “100-year-old incineration technology” being mixed — for the first time — with gasification technology. I later asked him if that meant the ReVenture “waste-to-energy” (that’s the terminology they prefer) plant was a hybrid, and he agreed that it was.
In barely related news: City Council totally disregards public petition at last night’s meeting in favor of a fast-food joint
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 2, 2011.
They claim they can flip a switch and handle thousands of tons of raw garbage a day without a day of experience doing it? LOL. They say they can ‘recycle’ straight up nasty wet greasy garbage and get a sellable product? LOL. They say that a 1000 gallons tank at their recycle center will handle the juice from that trash, maybe for the first couple hours they are open then the stuff is running out and down the creeks? LOL They say they produce less green house gasses than landfills with LFG to energy? LOL. They say that it will cost a dollar less per ton then our current plan but the plant costs 168million in new investment? LOL OK so we save 500k a year, thats less then we pay all these politicians planning this mess. LOL They say lots of things. Make then test this ‘new’ technology somewhere that doesn’t care what they are breathing. Once its burnt its in the air and out of control. If its buried, we still have some control of it.
I really believe the County messed this up.
First they draft this agreement with Re-Venture that has no mention of the Foxhole. For about a year the agreement was only Re-Venture and they were to come up with their own waste solution.
Then the state rejects the agreement because it didn’t list a solid waste site. Evidently Re-Venture could not reach agreement with the Speedway and left that out of the application to the State (resulting in its initial rejection).
Since Re-Venture doesn’t own a landfill, it needed one to get its plan passed.
So the County (over my objections) agreed to approve using the foxhole as an ‘option’ at the last minute without notice to ANYONE. I found out about 4 days prior to the vote.
Once that agreement with Re-Venture occurred there is little incentive for the Speedway landfill to extend the current agreement (or less of an incentive than under the current agreement).
Without an agreement with the speedway 370,000 tons are going to head towards the foxhole in 2012.
Had they waited on voting on that motion and worked with the foxhole advisory group we could have done the extension and then determined whether Re-Venture was workable (after the study).
Re-Venture could not work out a deal with Republic so the County stepped in (wrongly) and helped them out at the expense of the residents of Ballantyne.
There has to be a reason why the County pushed Re-Venture at the expense of our current relationship with Republic and before working out the extension.
I suspect the reason they did so was the Federal Stimulus money you cite as being on the line.
Why the inner-city neighborhoods aren’t worried about the hundreds of garbage trucks going in and out of North Tryon I don’t know. That is George Dunlap’s district. I figured they would be hopping mad but evidently not.
……talked about “100-year-old incineration technology” being mixed — for the first time — with gasification technology.
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Hey Folks: What is this incinerator/gasifier hybrid?
Incineration is much like a campfire. It consumes atmospheric air and oxygen, incineration produces heat, smokey emissions and has leftover ash needing disposal in a landfill.
The process of incinerating trash emits poisonous dioxins and furans which cycle back through mammmals via mother’s breast milk consumed by infants – whether the mammalia are 2-legged or the 4-legged variety. In summary, incinerators are really, really BAD NEWS which are NOT well understood by County Commissioners nor their constituents…
There are over 200 garbage incinerators across America co-genning a little electricity as they reduce the volume of garbage by about 65%. And it isn’t ‘clean campfire ash’ remaining – it is gooey, toxic sludge.
Now: Gasification is a horse of a totally different color.
Gasification is typically VERY clean, it operates in an oxygen-reduced atmosphere compared to incineration which used about 20% oxygen in ambient air. Gasification of waste solids or coal is %ypically accomplished in 8% to 125 oxygen concentratons and typically an oxygen-concentrator is used – not ambient air feeding into a gasification chamber.
There are 30 different makes/models of gasifiers out there. Look for something VERY low pressure like 1-2 psi instead of high-pressure models featuring 600 to 800 psi. The high-pressure gasifiers own typically patented by Exxon, Texaco, Lurgi, GE. What you need to direct your research scientists toward is a 1-2 pai “henry ford model T type of basic gasifier.” Look hard, they are out there, cost less – are far easier to construct and maintain and cost a lot less to operate.
Gasification produces a synthetic methane called synthesis gas. Syngas is CO & H2. Methane natural gas is CH4.
The syngas combusts cleaner than natural gas does because of the ONE oxygen atom contained within its molecule.
Syngas is oftentimes combusted to create super heated steam to produce co-gen electricty which is NOT the greatest value-add here at all.
But most scientists don’t know how to convert syngas into oxycarbon or hydrocarbon liquid fuels. And the upfront goal is to reduce the volume of municipal garbage in exchange for tipping fees. I could go deeper but I won’t here.
The key element in gasification is that it has extremely clean emission profiles and the ash is actually an obsidian-like glassy slag. The key here is that this glassy slag is inert – it contains no carbon to leach into the groundwater and this glassy slag can be ground up and utilized as excellent construction aggregate and even be integrated into asphalt and create stronger roads for society.
Keep in mind that neither incineration nor gasification can destroy either low level or high level nuclear waste. And ANY municipal waste stream will have some nuke nasties tossed into it. So your incoming feeds need to be passed under a geiger counter in the trash clarification processes so any nuke material can be isolated and not fed to an incinerator or a gasifier.
I’ve never heard of an “incinerator/gasifier” nor a hybrid of these two very distinct and very different solids reduction systems. If somebody is pushing a ‘hybrid’ design on you folks – caveat emptor! Gasification is bass-ackwards of inceration. Please understand this…
I’d sure get to the bottom of this proposal first. And I would NOT be concerned with a proven gasifier model to reduce and recycle municipal garbage. I would NOT wish to live close by ANY municipal incinerator and I’d be leading the NIMBY charge if an incinerator were proposed for my own community.
Living near an incinerator is breathing poison. But don’t worry, Nukes are OK. They don’t emit CO2 greenhouse gasses.
Don’t believe anybody without first doing your own diligent research here AND hiring 3rd party chemical engineers to parse the deck and interpret back to the laymen publics.
Do your homework here citizens and GET INVOLVED. Best of luck.
-Sarah
%ypically accomplished in 8% to 125 oxygen concentratons
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Typo correction:
[gasification is] typically accomplished at 8% to 12% oxygen concentratons
Mecklenburg County Avoids Public Input on Spending $15.1 Million to Bail Out ReVenture
Where is our clear and transparent decision making in local government? Apparently when it comes to decisions about ReVenture Park and their plans to build a gasification incinerator, making decisions without public input and review has become the norm.
The Mecklenburg Solid Waste department presented three proposals impacting ReVenture to the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners for a vote on April 5th . They did so without using the appointed Boards and Councils charged with their oversight:
• They took the proposal to the BOCC without presenting the proposal to the citizen panel of the Mecklenburg Waste Management Advisory Board for review.
• They took the proposal to the BOCC without presenting the proposal to the citizen panel of the ReVenture Advisory Council for review.
• They took the proposal to the BOCC without presenting the proposal to the citizen panel of the Foxhole Advisory Council to review.
What did Commissioners Roberts, Pendergraph, Bentley, Clarke, Cogdell, Cooksey, Dunlap, and Leake approve without waiting for citizen input? (Commissioner James voted no because the vote breaks the agreement made with the citizens of the Ballantyne area):
1. They approved $15 million dollars to be financed to expand the Foxhole Landfill so ReVenture would have a place to put their excess waste from their regional garbage, commercial waste and industrial waste facility. There is no urgent need for this expansion. As the Commission stated, “We wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for ReVenture”.
2. They broke their agreement with the local residents and approved the Foxhole Landfill to accept municipal solid waste (smelly garbage), commercial waste and industrial waste from ReVenture (no fee structure was discussed).
3. Since ReVenture is seeking a permit to accept waste from Mecklenburg County, Union County, Cabarrus County, Gaston County, Iredell County, and Lincoln County, the Foxhole Landfill has the potential to become a regional dumping site for ReVenture.
4. They made this decision without giving the Waste Management Advisory Board citizen panel the opportunity to present their findings. Why? (quotes from actual report)
a. They didn’t want you to know that the ReVenture Team “does not have sufficient expertise to credibly represent the scope and long-term impact of the project.”
b. They didn’t want you to know that “The process of vetting the ReVenture project has been compromised by local political and financial interests.”
c. They didn’t want you to know that the WMAB had advised the Commissioners that “no contract be executed between the County and ReVenture without a favorable from this outside expert source.”
d. They didn’t want you to know that “If ReVenture fails, it will damage Charlotte’s credibility around the New Energy Hub concept.”
Did an emergency come up and decisions have to be made about this? Of course not! The option to begin using the Foxhole landfill for municipal solid waste has been discussed in various meetings going back to November and December of 2010. You see, apparently when it comes to decisions about ReVenture Park and their plans to build a gasification incinerator, making decisions without public input and review has become the norm.
If you think that this should change, call and send an email to your County Commissioner and let them know that you aren’t happy with this decision and their actions. Do it before it is too late.
Jennifer Roberts Chair, At-Large 704-336-2574 jennifer.roberts@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
Jim Pendergraph Vice-Chair, At-Large 704-336-2472 jim.pendergraph@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
Harold Cogdell At Large 704-336-3866 harold.cogdell@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
Karen Bentley District 1 704-432-3997 karen.bentley@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
Vilma Leake District 2 704-336-2088 vilma.leake@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
George Dunlap District 3 704-336-4419 george.dunlap@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
Dumont Clarke District 4 704-336-3473 dumontclarke@mvalaw.com
Neil Cooksey District 5 704-336-5400 neil.cooksey@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
Bill James District 6 704-336-2573 Wjames@carolina.rr.com
Will Ambel Drive Become a Regional Garbage and Industrial Waste Dump?
Did you know that the ReVenture Advisory Council and the Waste Management Advisory Board have not reviewed and discussed the ReVenture Superfund to Brownfield agreement? We believe that the Waste Management Advisory Board has a responsibility to the citizens of our County to review this document prior to making a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners concerning the ReVenture Park project. A thorough review of this document in order to provide a recommendation as to its suitability is an essential and fundamental part of the review process to protect the soil and water quality of this site and the health and safety of the residents.
Did you know that the ReVenture Advisory Council and the Waste Management Advisory Board have not reviewed and publicly discussed the ReVenture / FCR Recycled Fuel Facility (RFF) Transfer Station permit application? This is the facility that we were told would accept all municipal solid waste (garbage) for Mecklenburg County along with some yard waste. Apparently, that’s not the entire story.
From the ReVenture / FCR Recycled Fuel Facility (RFF) Transfer Station permit application:
3.2 WASTE ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
“In accordance with 15A NCAC 13B.0402(1), a transfer facility shall only accept those wastes which it is permitted to receive. The RFF shall accept municipal solid waste (MSW) (i.e., residential, commercial and industrial waste), silviculture waste, yard waste, and construction and demolition (C&D) waste generated within Mecklenburg County, Union County, Cabarrus County, Gaston County, Iredell County, and Lincoln County. The daily tonnage rate is subject to change due to fluctuations in the amount of waste delivered to the facility on any given day and seasonal fluctuations. Therefore, the RFF has been designed to handle a maximum average tonnage rate of 2,200 tons per day or 575,000 tons per year.”
http://www.wastenotnc.org/sw_docs/12639.pdf
Have you heard anyone discussing the ReVenture RFF application? Of course not! Where you aware that they are getting permitted to accept garbage from Mecklenburg County, Union County, Cabarrus County, Gaston County, Iredell County, and Lincoln counties1? Will the Ambel Drive site, located just southeast of downtown Charlotte, become a Regional Garbage Dump?
Did you think that it was just garbage that they would be accepting at the site? The permit allows ReVenture to also accept industrial waste which could be mixed into the materials to be burned in the garbage-to-energy gasification incinerator. What is “industrial waste”? Read on…
“Industrial waste is defined as waste generated by manufacturing or industrial processes. The types of industrial waste generated include cafeteria garbage, dirt and gravel, masonry and concrete, scrap metals, trash, oil, solvents, chemicals, weed grass and trees, wood and scrap lumber, and similar wastes. Industrial solid waste – which may be solid, liquid or gases held in containers – is divided into hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Hazardous waste may result from manufacturing or other industrial processes. Certain commercial products such as cleaning fluids, paints or pesticides discarded by commercial establishments or individuals can also be defined as hazardous waste. Non-hazardous industrial wastes are those that do not meet the EPA’s definition of hazardous waste – and are not municipal waste. Industrial waste has been a problem since the industrial revolution. Industrial waste may be toxic, ignitable, corrosive or reactive.2”
Will the Ambel Drive site, located just southeast of downtown Charlotte, become a Regional Industrial Waste Dump?
We don’t want a Regional Garbage and Industrial Waste Dump with 60 schools and youth facilities within a three mile radius. Do we? Do you? If you don’t, then call or email your elected officials and tell them to slow down and review these documents before anyone makes a decision or recommendation!
For more information
Sierra Club Central Piedmont Group website: charlottesierraclub.org/
Incinerator Free Mecklenburg website: incineratorfreemecklenburg.wordpress.com/
Email Sierra Club Central Piedmont Chair at sierraclub.centpiedchair@gmail.com
1. ReVenture / FCR Recycled Fuel Facility (RFF) Transfer Station permit application. wastenotnc.org/sw_docs/12639.pdf
2. Know the Facts: Industrial Waste. safewater.org/PDFS/knowthefacts/IndustrialWaste.pdf
I continue to be surprised by the lack of responsible reporting on the ReVenture project. I have talked to Rhi Bowman and Susan Stabley about this, but they continue to turn to the few vocal citizens opposing the project and report and repeat the many emotionally charged accusations being made. Whatever happened to interviewing science and technical experts about a technical option such as this? How about an air pollution controls expert who knows about the capabilities of control equipment and the health risks when it is installed and operated properly? Are the emissions worse than those from the coal we can’t eliminate (because we refuse to consider burning processed solid waste)? What about interviewing some European environmental ministers, where WTE facilities less high tech than what is proposed here have been used for decades? What about interviewing solid waste managers in Baltimore, where WTE has been used for over 10 years? What about consulting the EPA website of solid waste management alternatives, where you’ll find that landfilling (our only option now) is the very lowest, last, bottom, least desirable waste management option. In fact, both the state and the feds require every municipality to show they are doing everything possible to avoid landfilling. Yet we’re desperately trying to protect that option over a renewable energy option that will NOT be municipally funded.
How can you spread suspicions of McKittrick’s integrity, motives and honesty when you continue to provide such one-sided reporting? I hope some of your readers will look for your sources before they accept what you “report”. While those opposing ReVenture are entitled to be heard, you are giving them the luxury of being the ONLY ones heard. Since none of you journalists are scientists or engineers, aren’t you worried that you’re leading a community charge against ReVenture and toward landfilling and, without the kind of scientific input needed, you might be wrong?
As to the Foxhole Landfill being developed, its about time. That landfill was sited and evaluated for municipal solid waste over a ten year period based on engineering, environmental and transportation studies. Because Ballantyne put on such a display of NIMBY, they forced the rest of us to agree to only bury construction and demolition waste there for 10 years. Only THEN would we would move to burying municipal waste there. We are entitled to use Foxhole for solid waste — taxpayers PAID for that option. Interview Bruce Gledhill and hear this from him.
If we don’t want to open Fox Hole, and we don’t want to use WTE, where is the solid waste going to go between now and the time we achieve zero waste? Maybe you could start some articles about where our solid waste goes now, where it’s headed in the future, and what our municipal options are for anything other than landfilling under current economic conditions. Maybe you could use a basic solid waste mangement textbook and review the options in order of preference. Maybe you could interview Bruce Gledhill about this as well as some practicing engineers or some academics.
There is no justification for the county commission and the local journalists to be geting all their information from citizens opposed to ReVenture. While it’s fine to get input from those opposed, your job is to ferret out the truth rather than sensationalize what is brought to you by those with an agenda to oppose a public project. At the very least, please ask those opposing ReVenture to tell you about how we manage our wastes NOW . Ask them if there are any landfill-associated emissions. Ask them to visit a local cafeteria, hospital, nursing home, or large business with you and talk about the volume of plastics, disposables, and diapers there. Ask the businesses who refused to comply with voluntary recycling programs why the county had to start requiring compliance. Ask them how long they think it will take to get to zero waste. We are all trying to find our way to the safest, healthiest, most sustainable options for our community. I can’t understand why you resist the kinds of interviews that would help the community see the full picture of options before us and interpret some of the rhetoric we’re hearing.