Mill Seat Landfill to become energy producer

Mill Seat Landfill to become energy producer

A facility that will burn landfill gas to produce power will be constructed at the Monroe County-owned Mill Seat Landfill in the Town of Riga. The plant will produce between 4.8 and 6.4 megawatts of energy derived from the garbage decomposition process.

Word of the approval of the construction of an $8.5 million plant came following the unanimous vote by the Monroe County Legislature on May 9. Waste Management, the company that leases and operates the landfill, and Monroe County will split both the construction costs and proceeds of the electricity sales.

"Riga should receive some benefit from the energy production," Town of Riga Supervisor Pamela Moore said. "First, as a matter of environmental justice this is only fair. Second, as a matter of law, I believe an amendment to the Host Agreement amendment is necessary."

Moore said the county doesn't share her opinion on the amendment of the Host Agreement. "That's fine because (County Executive) Maggie Brooks and I have an understanding that while we may not always agree on an issue, we have agreed to always talk. The action the legislature took was between the county and Waste Management pursuant to their lease for the operation of the landfill. Riga is not a party to that lease. Our issues are separate."

In e-mail correspondence with the editor, Councilman Robert Ottley wrote, "As for changing the Host Community Agreement to give the town additional revenue, I would say that I am not an attorney, and I can not say if we have any rights to revenue under the existing agreement or not. I do know that the agreement will be up for negotiation in about five years and that this will no doubt be an issue that needs to be negotiated at that time."

Resident Bill McCombs said he isn't opposed to the methane production but does fault the county - and more specifically Legislator Robert Colby, who represents Riga - for not engendering good will by offering any public information meetings to the residents of Riga before voting on the construction of the methane plant.

Colby said an informational meeting could have been planned in the town if the legislators had received any requests from the residents.

"We did meet with Supervisor Moore previously but those discussions centered around amendments to the host agreement," Colby said. "No one came, or sent any correspondence to the legislature prior to, or during the public hearings last week."

"I've never read the host agreement but I am relying on our supervisor's expertise as an attorney when she said we need to renegotiate the contract," McCombs said.

The Mill Seat Landfill currently burns off its methane gas as a way to reduce odors and to comply with air pollution regulations. The creation of landfill gas occurs naturally when organic matter decomposes and is comprised of about 50 percent methane gas, which is the primary component in natural gas.

Ottley also wrote in his e-mail that he strongly supports the project of producing electricity from the gas from the landfill. "I do think that Riga will benefit from this project in a couple of ways. First, it is good for the environment. Second, it could make this site more attractive to certain industries that could utilize the water, sewers and potentially heat energy that will be produced from the generation plant. These industries will bring a tax base to help with the Byron-Bergen School district and most importantly these industries will bring jobs to our community," he wrote.

Colby said information on the scope and environmental impacts of the energy production project was made available at prior public meetings that were held in the town.

Moore said she is looking forward to more dialogue with the county on methane plant construction, which is slated to begin production by year's end.

Note: Westside News first covered this topic in the March 5, 2006 issue. Visit www.westsidenewsonline.com to read that article.