Yes!Weekly’s Jordan Green writes up the debate surrounding the White Street landfill that certainly will continue after Greensboro’s newly-elected City Council is seated.
Green walks ground I had already covered, but identifies another company that perhaps will compete with Ulturnagen and Cisco for the city contract to produce alternative energy from solid waste:
A private Canadian company, Plasco, currently operates a plasma gasification pilot project that processes 85 tons of waste per day in Ottawa, and has signed a contract to operate a 200-ton per day plant in Red Deer, Alberta.
Several municipalities and county governments have explored the possibility of processing their waste through plasma gasification technology. The most prominent may be Los Angeles, whose bureau of sanitation submitted a report in June concluding that the city would no longer pursue the technology.
St. Lucie County in Florida, with a population of 265,108, is moving forward with plans to begin processing its waste with a plasma gasification plant by 2011.
Green doesn’t mention the controversy regarding City Manager Rashad Young’s desire to issue a request for qualifications, which counters the sitting council’s vote to issue a request for proposals. Bottom line is all these companies’ ideas seem to too good to be true. With that in mind, the new council will have to be watched closely as it deals with this issue. However, the key proponent of Ulturagen’s $500 million plan —–Mayor Yvonne Johnson —- will be missing.
