Category Archives: Solid Waste

Incinerator forces Harrisburg to sell off parking lots

After defaulting on its incinerator bonds, Harrisburg, PA, gets even more desperate and starts selling off pieces of itself.

William Alden wrote in huffpo 15 June 2011, Harrisburg’s ‘Bad Deal’: City Forced To Pursue Parking System Lease Despite Fears:

The finances of Harrisburg, Pa., are so desperate that local officials are considering a deal they fear will ultimately make the city more miserable.

A state-appointed panel, charged with crafting a financial recovery plan for the city, announced this week that Harrisburg must pursue the sale of public assets to help resolve its fiscal crisis. The nearly-bankrupt state capital, weighed down by debt more than four times the size of its budget, “is not in control of its own destiny,” the state team said in a report.

Three years ago, confronted with a similar budget shortfall, the city considered leasing parking garages and meters in exchange for quick infusion of cash, but that deal was never approved. Last month, the offer resurfaced when New York-based developer LambdaStar expressed renewed interest. Some city leaders harbor a growing fear that Harrisburg will be forced into a deal that will bleed its coffers over the course of decades, after it surrenders valuable assets to a profit-driven company with the power to raise rates on a captive base of customers.

But those misgivings may not matter, as a budget crisis chokes Harrisburg into submission.

“This is a situation where Wall Street will get paid, and the little guys on Main Street, taxpayers, are going to get stuck holding the bag,” Harrisburg City Council Member Brad Koplinski said.

Couldn’t happen here, right? Our local governments would never hastily approve bonds that could force raising taxes or default, would they? Oh, right: they already did.

-jsq

Trash and biomass —Dr. Noll

This comment by Dr. Noll came in today on Got trash? Need disposal? Good luck. I ran across the picture at the same time. -jsq
There are some interesting parallels/similarities in regard to the discussion of trash and biomass.

There is no doubt mankind produces trash, as there is no doubt that we need energy. What we keep forgetting, though, is an honest reflection on how we can be less “waste-ful”, both in terms of energy and trash.

Thus, instead of reducing the amount of trash we create by Continue reading →

Got trash? Need disposal? Good luck.

So, as David Rodock reported this morning in the VDT solid waste management was a discussion topic for Lowndes County Commissioners, even though it wasn’t on yesterday’s work session agenda.

Interesting that a meeting was held after the work session. I was at the work session, camera in hand, and you can see what transpired there with talk of the jail , the possibility of Sunday alcohol package sales, oh and the animal shelter all during the County Manager’s Reports.

Nothing has been said (in public) about solid waste disposal since the public meetings where the pubic was told by Chairman Rod Casey and County Manager Pritchard that the county staff had “examined every option” and there was nothing that the public could possibly suggest that hadn’t already been considered.

The proposed plan (VDT Article August 29, 2008 Lowndes County’s proposed solid waste plan in effect Jan 1) was basically curbside collection (where no vendor could meet the proposed price cap suggested by the county) and what we ended up with was pay for drop off permits (VDT Article May 13, 2009 Solid waste disposal permits now available).

Joe Pritchard remembers those meetings like this (Update 25 Sept 2013 to add reference, “Commissioners want Lowndes out of the trash business” by David Rodock in the VDT 24 May 2011):

“I went through eight public meetings, better described as floggings, where the public just vented every ounce of frustration they ever had relating to solid waste over that time period,” said Joe Pritchard, county manager. “That was not a pleasant process. Yes, we need to come up with a way of notifying the public, but I’m here to tell you, that public meetings is not it.”

So, the problem (disposing of garbage costs money) still exists and the county has known that for years. Yet, here we are on the cusp of a crisis again and Commissioner Raines says

“My mind’s made up and I’m willing to call an emergency meeting tonight if we need to”

Why hasn’t the county been soliciting input during these two years that they knew the system was out of balance? Why must everything be a crisis?

-Gretchen

Europe has clean incinerators; why can’t we?

Elisabeth Rosenthal write in the NY Times about Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash, but U.S. Lags:
Far cleaner than conventional incinerators, this new type of plant converts local trash into heat and electricity. Dozens of filters catch pollutants, from mercury to dioxin, that would have emerged from its smokestack only a decade ago.
Here’s the catch:
Denmark now has 29 such plants, serving 98 municipalities in a country of 5.5 million people, and 10 more are planned or under construction. Across Europe, there are about 400 plants, with Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands leading the pack in expanding them and building new ones.

By contrast, no new waste-to-energy plants are being planned or built in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency says — even though the federal government and 24 states now classify waste that is burned this way for energy as a renewable fuel, in many cases eligible for subsidies. There are only 87 trash-burning power plants in the United States, a country of more than 300 million people, and almost all were built at least 15 years ago.

That means the biomass plant proposed for Valdosta is not that kind of clean incinerator.

Got Junk? Got Code Enforcement?

For entertainment, I read daily the Rant and Rave in the local newspaper. Now, I know some people here think that what’s written there is so horrible that they can’t stand it. Others think it is just for those too afraid to say something in public. Nonetheless, I read it nearly daily as I find it an interesting window into our area.

Lately, there have been several people writing in about the advertising signs posted around both Valdosta and the county. They note that the messaging on these signs is in direct conflict with Valdosta’s new litter campaign slogan. I can only assume they mean the yellow “Got Junk?” signs.

For example Continue reading →