Covanta Energy may have another shot with New Hanover County’s defunct incinerator.
After thumbing down an earlier version of the proposal with that waste-to-energy conversion company last month, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners on Monday will hear a presentation on a new agreement that, according to staff, addresses a cost control the previous deal lacked.
Specifically, it’s with “flow control,” the county’s ability to ensure the waste stream goes to the landfill or incinerator as opposed to a competitor that might impact revenues.
Covanta had proposed to refurbish the county’s defunct incinerator to burn off a substantial portion of the local garbage stream and buy time against the six years of permitted space remaining at the county’s landfill off U.S. 421. The $32.6 million price tag meant the county would have to increase tipping fees at the landfill to around $90 or more from the current $59 per ton of municipal solid waste.
Talks had placed the county’s cost for Covanta to operate the incinerator, once reactivated, at just less than $12.5 million per year, fixed for a 20-year period.
If private Covanta took over the incinerator and the county lost its flow control–a concept that has been challenged in the courts, county staffers note–then a competing trash dump with lower fees could lure waste haulers away, and the county might have to dip into tax dollars to cover the difference for debt and future operations.
“We’ve got to close that loophole,” County Commissioner Rick Catlin said.
According to information presented to the board, staff might have done that. “Per commission direction, staff has negotiated a termination provision in the sustainable energy facility contract with Covanta that specifically addresses flow control, and staff has identified an operational change that improves flow control concern,” stated a memo in the board’s latest agenda packet. The contract was not included with it.
According to the board’s agenda, staffers on Monday will expect commissioners to hear about the new provisions and provide direction on changes the board may consider at a later date, likely at its Nov. 13 meeting.
A reactivated incinerator would be one component of the county’s solid-waste future, as the current landfill has a short remaining lifetime. The growing county is working toward permits–a potentially years-long process–to expand the dump onto an adjacent 90 acres, enough space to handle about 45 years of waste. But the incinerator, which would burn off a large portion of the trash stream and convert it to energy, could extend the expanded landfill’s life to 90 years or more, the county says.
County commissioners, with a 3-2 vote in September, turned down the last Covanta contract presented to them after expressing the cost control concerns. Ted Davis Jr., who at the time was the board’s chairman (he resigned to accept appointment to the N.C. House), said he could not in good conscience support the deal because “the taxpayers have always come first for me since I’ve been a commissioner.”
Commissioner Jonathan Barfield, who now is the board’s chairman, cast one of the votes in favor of the earlier contract. With time running out on the current landfill and no other certain plan on the ground, he said it was “time to move forward.”
Although the five-seat board is not expected to finalize a Covanta deal Monday, it may only be a three-member body for the presentation. Davis’ seat remains vacant, and officials said Commissioner Jason Thompson may be absent related to a surgery.
Due to scheduling conflicts, the board has canceled its agenda-review meeting that was set for Thursday afternoon. Agenda-review meetings usually involve preliminary discussion about items, like the Covanta deal, slated for the board’s agenda.
Catlin said he’d planned to meet with staffers ahead of Monday’s meeting for more understanding about the proposal.
Contact Ben Brown at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
