Highlights:
- Stanislaus County, California voted yesterday to adopt new operating agreement with Covanta Energy that will transfer sole ownership of the plant to Covanta by 2027.
- In exchange, Covanta will assume 75% of all liability and risk associated with potential fees tied to emissions.
- A related vote from last month raised the tipping fees Covanta will charge to bring the waste to the facility. The county will also be required to bring at least 243,000 tons of waste to the facility annually.
- Covanta can back out of the deal by giving notice by the end of 2014
- The facility can process 800 tons of waste per day and generates up to 22.5 megawatts of energy that is sold to PG&E. See more details on the facility
From the article:
Soon after Stanislaus County proudly unveiled its state-of-the-art garbage-burning facility in 1988, state waste officials toured the $121 million plant and proclaimed it "the garbage dump of the future."
It was the Central Valley's first waste-to-energy plant and only the third in California, although officials predicted they would begin sprouting everywhere.
Twenty-four years later, it's still the valley's only municipal incinerator. And there still are only three in California.
Tuesday's vote on a new operating deal, by leaders of the county and its partner, Modesto, suggest they're not crushed at the idea of someday getting rid of it.
"I just don't think the county and the city need to be in the business of speculating in energy," county Supervisor Terry Withrow said.
Approved unanimously Tuesday by the county's Board of Supervisors and the Modesto City Council, the contract affirms the operator's right to sole ownership of the plant, near Crows Landing, by 2027.
