Garbage, and Leachate, and Gasification-- Oh My! (Part I)

In September 2003, Ontario County was well on its way towards executing a 25 year lease with Casella Waste Systems that would forever alter the character of the landfill in the Town of Seneca. While not officially ‘privatized,’ because title (and environmental permits) for the dump remain in the County’s hands, what was once a 1,000 ton/day (or less) operation has turned into an international waste operation of over double that amount.

While the article in the Finger Lakes Times at the time focused mostly on the heated exchange between then-Mayoral candidates Don Cass and Vince Scalise and County Supervisor, Don Ninestine, the real ‘meat and potatoes’ of the discussion hinged on an examination of Casella’s track record in other communities and the environmental impacts on the immediate and surrounding area that the change would bring.

Augustine was one of the “audience members” that the paper noted brought information concerning Casella’s lawsuits, missed payments, and environmental infractions in the company’s other host communities. But just two days after that meeting, County Supervisors held their public hearing on the transfer of operations, which was approved shortly thereafter.

Much like the ethanol plant discussions of 2008, Augustine was chided for ‘meddling’ in the affairs of communities outside of Geneva’s borders. After all, she was asked, “Isn’t there enough in this City to worry about without trying to tell other people what to do?” In our opinion, regional thinking has been, and will continue to be a sensible, sound, and smart exercise for City Councilors to engage in. And now, six years later, we see all too well the direct, negative impact provincial thinking can have on a community.

As predicted at that 2003 meeting, the landfill has been expanded at a rate that is unsustainable in the long term. A permit modification in 2007 (which some City Councilors also voiced opposition to) raised the annual cap on dumping over 300,000 tons (from 612,000 to 917,000).

Not only will we run out of space to store other people’s garbage (which is the Casella business model), but we will be forced to pursue other avenues for our own trash. So, while the County may be bringing in millions of dollars from the Casella contract at present, there does not appear to be much contingency planning for the future of solid waste in Ontario County.

Although Casella has not made its most recent large payment to the County (to the tune of $850,000), we do not hold out much hope that County supervisors will determine Casella to have breached the terms of the lease and reclaim management of the landfill. And thus the focus of this series of posts is not on that most-prudent of all options, but rather to look at the other matters under consideration with regard to the Casella enterprise.

In the 1980s, the County landfill was a proposed site for an incinerator. An incinerator, as the name suggests, is a facility that burns trash. It was soundly rejected by the community. What Casella is proposing now is not technically an ‘incinerator’, but rather a ‘gasification’ project—which is expected to heat trash to convert it to gas which they allege could be harvested as energy. But whether it’s heated in an oxygen-rich environment (incineration) or oxygen-poor environment (gasification), the environmental concerns are virtually the same: The byproducts of heating streams of trash are toxic emissions and toxic ash. As if that wasn’t enough of a reason not to proceed, Casella is asking the County to help fund this experimental project, by foregoing the previous lease provision that a first-class hydroponics center be developed.

This site, from another gasification firm in Idaho provides an interesting overview of the concept and concerns.

While the Finger Lakes Times has virtually ignored the issue, much has been written in the Canandaigua Messenger about it, and the Finger Lakes Zero Waste Coalition maintains a robust public information campaign and website with additional information. We will not hold our breath for more local coverage before a decision is made, but in the meantime, check out these links to learn more about the proposed project and the effective, mounting opposition:

Messenger post articles on gasification:
http://www.mpnnow.com/archive/x180634229/Boating-group-opposes-Casella-plan
http://www.mpnnow.com/archive/x549599691/Five-things-you-dont-know-about-the-Ontario-County-landfill
http://www.mpnnow.com/archive/x1092982690/Landfill-operator-will-soon-pay-county


Finger Lakes Zero Waste Coalition: http://www.fingerlakeszerowaste.org/FLZW/Welcome.html

One explanation for the local paper’s virtual silence on the matter may be that of the Geneva City Council, which has not yet taken a position on the issue. With regard to the ethanol scare, City Council had made its concerns about air and water quality clear well before the project had gotten to the point that the proposed gasification plant finds itself at. One worksession devoted to the topic generated a list of additional unanswered questions and concerns. At that meeting, and a subsequent Regular Council meeting, Supervisor Evangelista fielded questions but did not make clear if and when the City Council would be formally consulted on the project. At the April 1st meeting, Evangelista and Mayor Einstein agreed that a joint meeting between City Council and the County Solid Waste committee was in order. Either that meeting has not yet taken place or it was not reported on, but the next Council meeting at which a formal position might be taken is rapidly approaching (May 6th). In our next post, we will discuss the issue of ‘leachate treatment,’ what it entails and what connection the issue has to both the gasification project and the international waste management operations happening to the east (Seneca Meadows) and west (Casella) of the City’s borders. We will also look at how a Council position on the issue might be framed within the larger context of the City of Geneva’s ‘green’ initiatives, spearheaded by the newly formed Green Geneva Committee.