Story originally printed in the Vernon Broadcaster or online at www.vernonbroadcaster.com
Published - Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Dairyland halts landfill plan
Dairyland Power Cooper-ative announced Monday that it is indefinitely suspending its efforts to site a coal ash landfill in Vernon County.
The cooperative said a different coal blend, in addition to new recycling opportunities led it to discontinue plans to site the landfill, which would have required 600 acres of land and likely displaced about 20 people.
Organized opposition groups Monday were celebrating the announcement, rumors of which began circulating Sunday night throughout the community.
Chuck Doerr, a member of ARCH (Asbury Ridge Community for Hope), one of two grass-roots groups opposing the landfill, said the news "on the surface sounds great," but he remained wary.
"I have to wait to see exactly what they have planned," Doerr said. "We've put a lot of work into (ARCH) and we're not going to be bluffed.
"That said, I'm excited about Dairyland saying they're interested in recycling or reusing the coal ash," Doerr continued. "I hope it leads to more jobs."
Scott Leum of HOPE (Harmony Township Oppos-ing Pollution of the Environment), the second grass-roots group opposing the landfill, said he was happy with the announcement.
"The community got behind us, people put signs in their yards -- this was not a political issue -- it was about the community," Leum said. "The community spoke and Dairyland listened. It's a great day."
Leum said that HOPE's work is not done.
"I want to make it clear that we can breathe a sigh of relief, but it's not over," Leum said. "We still have to find a reuse for the coal ash… The effort we have put into opposing the landfill we can use to work with Dairyland to find a reuse. The community and Dairyland working together -- I couldn't think of a better outcome."
In making the announcement, Dairyland Vice President Charles Sans Crainte said the new plan will significantly reduce the amount of scrubber byproduct by using a different coal blend at the Genoa plant. While it is apparent that the opposition Dairyland faced from residents in Vernon County played a part in the decision to look for alternatives to using high-sulfur coal, economics also played a large part in the decision.
"International demand for high-energy coal, which is currently blended at the Genoa plant, has increased dramatically in the last six months, impacting prices and availability for this type of coal for our facilities," Sans Crainte said.
Sans Crainte said the price of high sulfur, high energy coal has nearly doubled in the last six months.
"However this decision does come without compromise," Sans Crainte said.
Sans Crainte said because the Genoa facility will burn almost exclusively Powder River Basin (low sulfur) coal, less electricity will be produced because it wasn't designed for the modified coal blend.
"Despite this reduction," he said, "we have determined it is in the best economic interest of our members to pursue this strategy."
Sans Crainte said Dairyland is in the fortunate position of having other power production facilities coming online in the near future that will allow the cooperative to offset the loss of production due to the lower sulfur coal blend. The cooperative will supplement the electricity loss with a recently added 20 megawatt wind farm in Winnebago County, Iowa, from the recently completed Weston 4 plant near Wausau, and from a soon to be completed biomass facility in Caseville. Dairyland owns a 150 MW share of the $752 million 500 MW Weston 4 plant and has agreed to buy power from DTE Energy Services the owner of the E.J. Stoneman plant in Cassville.
Dairyland officials coupled Monday's announcement with a commitment to develop recycling alternatives for the scrubber byproducts. Sans Crainte said Dairyland will put "requests for proposals" for a recycling facilities and expects to get viable proposals. Dairyland's Director of environmental affairs Don Huff said Dairyland will continue to develop all recycling options including using coal combustion waste as an agriculture lime or as an "engineered fill."
"We... will be looking to the community for support in the development of facilities for recycling," Sans Crainte said. "Our ultimate goal continues to be to find recycling opportunities for as much of the material as possible. While the future still not certain in this regard we feel much more confident than a year ago that a recycling market that can be developed."
Brian Rude, Dairyland's director of external affairs, said as Dairyland moves forward it will be crucial that residents in Vernon County support its efforts to develop a recycling facility.
"We are going to need to have community support for the recycling alternative," Rude said. "We are probably going to have to site a recycling facility somewhere in Vernon County."
Dairyland has stated in the past that such a facility could require as much as 25 acres. In an interview following the press conference, Sans Crainte said the decisions "buys time" to develop recycling alternatives so if the economics change and high-sulfur coal again becomes more affordable there will be methods of handling scrubber waste.
"This is a victory for all of Vernon County," Carl Volden, of HOPE, said. "Not only did they suspend looking for a landfill, but it appears Dairyland is on the path to find a responsible solution for reusing their waste."
Volden said a possible facility that would turn the coal ash into an aggregate that could be used in other products was an interesting proposition.
"Dairyland has asked us to work with them on this and we certainly plan to do so," Volden said.
Dairyland Power announ-ced in September of 2007 that it would be seeking land to site a new landfill to store coal ash. The ash, which would include mercury and other pollutants, would come from the Genoa coal-fired power plant. It would be generated by newly-installed scrubbers that are intended to reduce air pollutants. Through the law of eminent domain, Dairyland Power could try to legally force Vernon County residents from their own land to build the landfill. There were three sites under consideration, two in the town of Harmony and one in the town of Viroqua, adjacent to the Vernon County Landfill.
Rude said everyone involved welcomed the decision.
"The local officials we talked to today are pleased, as we are pleased," Rude said. "This has been a trying process for all of us and I think it will be a welcome bit of news, especially in Vernon County."
"We thank cooperative and community members who listened, offered constructive ideas and have trusted in Dairyland's long history of working with members," Sans Crainte said.
"Now with the plan to build a landfill indefinitely suspended, we can open a new chapter in this book," Leum said.
All stories copyright 2006 Vernon Broadcaster and other attributed sources.