Resolution passed for garbage-to-ethanol plant for Lake County

BY BOWDEYA TWEH, Times of Northwest Indiana
Bowdeya.Tweh@nwitimes.com

CROWN POINT | Lake County officials passed a resolution at a Thursday meeting approving the contract for Evansville-based Powers Energy One to build an $80 million facility to process garbage and produce ethanol.

The Lake County Solid Waste Management District's 27-member board voted for the measure 14-4. The plant would take waste material from county municipalities and potentially other areas, separate material that cannot be converted into ethanol and distill the garbage using a process creating fuel.

Before construction can begin, a site has to be chosen in a city willing to host the plant, and the Indiana Department of Environmental Quality would have to make sure the site meets environmental requirements. A statement was added to the resolution before it passed requiring city approval before locating a processing center.

The resolution's supporters touted the potential for the projects to bring jobs and money to a region being affected by a down economy. The president of the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council, Chris Hernandez, thanked the board for its due diligence on the project and said he looked forward to getting some of the members of his organization to work.

The board also reviewed proposals from Genahol-Powers 1 LLC and Indiana Ethanol Power LLC, but approved Powers Energy One's proposal a few months ago.

About 75 people attended the meeting, at least 20 of whom held yellow sheets of paper reading "No site no contract." Representatives from other environmental groups made pleas to delay a vote on the project. The Rev. Dwight Gardner, of Trinity Baptist Church in Gary, said since a site hasn't been chosen for the project, it would not be rational for the board to approve the project.

"It's unfair, it's unjust and it may be a corruption of the process," Gardner said. Gardner also argued that the plant could bring more pollution to an already deeply polluted area.

The Rev. David Blakely was concerned there could be a foul stench coming from the plant since it processes garbage and he didn't think it would sit well with residents who lived near it.

Some cities such as Gary have contracts with Allied Waste to collect and process garbage. Since the city can't break the contract, representatives wondered if Powers Energy One would be able to get enough garbage to make the processing worth the expense. Also, there were fears the method of ethanol production may not be feasible because it may take multiple gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol. The output from the plant would be untreated water and with the contract, one board member complained there wasn't a stipulation requiring Allied Waste to build a water treatment facility.

A representative from Powers Energy One who attended the meeting said it was the company's intent to construct a water treatment plant.

Before the vote, board consultant J.W. Spears said some of the project's detractors have major misconceptions about how efficient and clean the plant would be. Spears said the plant would not eliminate the need for traditional curbside recycling, and since there are few projects like it, environmental officials would have strict requirements to certify it.

"It would have the highest level of air pollution controls in the state," Spears said.