Isramart : Landfill to make foray into carbon credits

Isramart news:
LEWISBURG — As Congress continues to wrestle with the details of cap-and-trade legislation, a local landfill is preparing to make a foray into the carbon credit system.

The Environmental Protection Agency describes cap-and-trade as “an environmental policy tool that delivers results with a mandatory cap on emissions while providing sources flexibility in how they comply.”

While there is, at yet, no mandatory cap on landfill gas emissions, the president of East Coast Clean Energy told a small gathering at Carnegie Hall it’s on the horizon.

“The cap-and-trade bill (now being considered by Congress) requires landfills to put in a capture system,” Thomas E. Loehr said. “The cost of those systems will be passed along to the landfills’ customers.”

Before that happens, the Greenbrier County Solid Waste Authority, which manages the county landfill, hired Loehr’s company to construct a gas capturing system. East Coast Clean Energy will bear the estimated $1 million cost of installing the necessary equipment.

As the system captures and breaks down the gas, primarily methane, East Coast will sell the carbon credits accumulated to other carbon-producing industries. The landfill will share in the venture’s profits, to the tune of about $4,000 a year.

“Whatever it costs to operate the system comes out of our end,” Loehr said, pointing out the landfill’s cut comes from the operation’s gross revenue, not the net. “We’re investing all of the money.”

Asked by a member of the audience how the choice would be made between burning off the methane or converting it to electricity, Loehr said, “It’s dictated by economics.”

With a relatively small project like the Greenbrier County landfill, basic economy of scale might prevent the company from installing conversion equipment initially. But Loehr said he expects to generate electricity at the site “two or three years down the line.” Just because the site generates electricity doesn’t mean there’s a market for it, however.

“West Virginia is a regulated state. We cannot sell electricity to anyone except the power company,” Loehr said.

He gave the example of the University of Charleston, which wanted to purchase electricity generated at a nearby landfill. The state Public Service Commission would not allow the transaction.

SWA president John Tuckwiller said he hopes to use the eventual electricity converted at the landfill to heat some of the buildings there.

The landfill is funded through tipping fees, not tax revenue. Currently, the fee is $47.50 per ton, a figure Tuckwiller said is much lower than the charge at landfills in surrounding counties.

Monday evening’s meeting at Carnegie Hall was sponsored by the Greenbrier River Watershed Association, and many of those attending expressed concern about toxins potentially being released by the gas-capturing system.

“Flaring (burning off the gas) may create dioxin, furans and methyl mercury into the atmosphere,” said Leslee McCarty, a GRWA board member.

She asked both Tuckwiller and Loehr if they would spend the money necessary to install scrubbers in the system’s stacks to eliminate such dangerous toxins.

Tuckwiller said the landfill’s budget does not allow for such an expenditure, even with the projected $4,000 in additional annual revenue from East Coast Clean Energy.

Loehr said if it could be proven those toxins were being released into the air above the landfill, his company would “absolutely” take steps to eliminate them.

McCarty said she doesn’t know if the state Department of Environmental Protection plans to address those concerns at an Aug. 27 hearing on the project’s permit application. That public hearing, requested by the GRWA, will be held at 6 p.m. on the Greenbrier Valley campus of the New River Community and Technical College in Lewisburg.