Minutes 04/26/1977 - Laserfiche WebLink

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176 Recovery System would be coming on line. At that time the Incinerator should still have a useful life of 15-25 years. Presently the Incinerator is operating with an air emissions variance from the State Air Pollution Control Board ($APCB). If the SAPCB were to revoke the variance it would be up to the City to have expensive stack emissions testing done to prove that emis-sions were within the allowable limits. If stack emissions were not within allowable limits or if stricter air pollution limits were to be imposed by the SAPCB or ~PA, extremely expensive modifications would have to be made to the Incinerator if its continued use were desired. (The addition of,electrostatic precipitators alone would cost $500,000- $750,000). The Incinerator presently receives approximately 64,800 tons per year of residential and commercial refuse. Incineration achieves 61.8% reduction, therefore, 24,700 tons per year of residue must be landfilled at the Craney Island Landfill. Incinerator operating and maintenance costs (including landfilling residue) were approximately $387,000 per year · while debt service adds another $78,000 per year. This equates to $7.18 per ton for solid waste disposal. The landfill presently receives approximately 54,600 tons per year; 24,700 tons of incine rator residue and 29,900 tons of bulky wastes (white goods, construction/demolition wastes, shrubbery and tree trimmings, etc.). Its operating costs are $154,000 per year or $2.45 per ton. At the present rate of use,~the landfill has a remaining life of approximately 20 years. The proposed Plan has been developed over the past three years through the efforts of the Technical Committee, and the SVPDC Staff. Consultants have, through a feasibility study, shown the economic viability of the Plan. The Southeastern Public Service Authority (SPSA) has been created; a bond counsel and investment banker have been retained; the navy has agreed to forego its construction plans and negotiate with SPSA for the purchase of steam and electr~ ~i$~; letters of intent between SPSA, the jurisdictions, and the Navy have been prepared; permissive legislation has been enacted by the General Assembly; construction meth~d~have been studied; and a financial plan has been developed. Briefly the Plan is as follows: (1) All solid waste and some bulky waste would be transported from eight jurisdictions ~o a central processing plant adjacent to the Norf61k Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. ~ ~ While some jurisdictions would haul to a transfer station, Portsmouth would haul di- rectly to the Processing Plant. CZ) At the Processing Plant, waste materials will be shredded, metals (ferrous and aluminum) ~emoved, and the combustible fraction mechanically conveyed to a SPSA power plant ad- joining the Processing Plant. (s) Steam and electricity produced by burning the combustibles and coal in the proportion of 90% and 10% respectively will be sold to the Navy. Electricity will be provided during peak load hours so that the Navy will not have to pay Vepco significant demand charges, thus making this Plan financially attractive to the Navy. Participation by the major jurisdictions in the SVPD is required to proceed with the Resource Recovery Implementation Plan. Physically this means providing all solid wastes generated within the boundaries of the participating jurisdictions to the SPSA who will operat the Resource Recovery System. Financially, participation means pledging the jurisdiction's full faith and credit to guarantee a portion of the initial phase of the bond anticipation notes to be sold by the SPSA to finance the design of the system. The City of Portsmouth is being asked to pledge its faith and credit in the amount of $526,000. The completion of this initial design phase (50%) represents a mile-stone for a "go/no go" decision based on firm cost estimates at which time Portsmouth may be requested to pledge its full faith and credit to support $202,000 of second phase (50% design) bond anticipation notes. Upon compte~ tion of the 30% or 50% design phase and when a decision to start construction is made, a long term revenue bond issue in the amount of $154,557,000 would be offered by the SPSA, with no pledge support by the jurisdictions. The Revenue Bond would not be chargeable to any jurisdiction's bonded debt limit. The long term revenue bonds would be paid off with revenues from the sale of recovered metals, dump fees paid by participating jurisdictions and private haulers, and from the sale of steam and electricity to the Navy. Portsmouth's only long term contribution would be in the form of a dump fee which in current dollars would be $2.00/ton and in 1982 dollars is estimated to be $3.90/ton. This would be paid from the annual operating budget for refuse disposal, as is done now for operating the City's Incinerat The Plan is not without financial, technical, and operational risks. However, unlike many new private ventures into resource ~ecovery, the financial risk is lessened because of a guaranteed, stab~ financially sound customer for the first ten ~e~rs in the Navy, plus dependable revenue in the form of dump fees from the jurisdictions that comprise the SVPD and who have no other agency but SPSA to provide a solid waste disposal service. Manufacturers' representatives and engineering consultants have attested to the fact that technology is sufficiently advanced to the point that bo~ler manufacturers can guarantee boiler performance in compliance with air emission regulations; innumerable, ~ighly reliable boiler installations exist. The most serious risk is of inefficient or unreliable operation of the system. The most vulnerable section of the system is the Processing Plant where solid waste shredding and separating occurs. The widespread use of shredders attests to their reliability and as sn example, the