Flagpole Magazine
written by John Huie
Wednesday February 17, 2010
Commissioners in Elbert County, 30 miles east of Athens, voted unanimously last week to allow a controversial "waste-to-energy" incinerator, despite widespread objections by county citizens. Both newcomers and longtime residents begged commissioners to go slow and study the implications of the incinerator, which would burn trash and wood chips trucked in from as far as 90 miles away. But without a word of discussion, Elbert County's five commissioners voted to go ahead with approval.
Burning the trash and fuel chips, hauled in by some 220 truckloads a day, would generate enough electricity to power some 35,000 homes, says GreenFirst LLC, the "real estate investment" company which would own the facility. It would likely be run by another company, Covanta Energy Corp., which operates over 40 such plants in the United States, Europe and China, and would sell the electricity and charge customers to receive the trash. Metals would be recovered and recycled; ash would be landfilled on-site. The plant will require various permits from Georgia's Environmental Protection Division, but could be completed in late 2013, GreenFirst says.
But incinerator opponents have submitted over 3200 signatures by Elbert County voters to petition for a referendum that could override the commissioners' approval. People were eager to sign, petition organizers said; it took only 10 days to collect all the signatures. If at least 2505 of the signers prove to have been registered voters as of November 2008—that's 20 percent of Elbert's registered voters—then the question will be put on the ballot in accordance with state law, probate judge Susan Sexton told Flagpole.
Numerous yard signs reading "No Incinerator, No Landfill" attest to the concerns of citizens; about 20 spoke to commissioners before last week's vote, with most opposing it or asking that the approval process be slowed down. The meeting was moved to a larger room to accommodate the expected crowd, but that too filled up and many listened to the meeting from an adjacent room. It was broadcast live on an Elberton radio station.
"Y'all seem really just bound and determined to go ahead and do this," said lifetime Elberton resident Hal Reynolds. But "how much do you know about this plant?" he asked. "I don't think that you know all the details; I don't think the people of this county know all the details." Farm owner Bob Matthews, a former district Republican party official, warned that "every piece of land in this county is going to be worth less money," and that will reduce the tax base. "The political repercussions of this, if you rush it through, are going to be astronomical," he added. "Even if you're right, you have not made the case to the people in the county."
But Tookie Swords asked "why Elbert County is so negative of everything" when there are empty buildings downtown, and young people leave once they finish college. "What alternative has anybody offered? I commend you [commissioners] for working so hard to try to get some industry," he said. Lucy Heil feared that she and her husband—who operate a USDA-certified organic farm in the county—could lose their USDA approval as a result of pollution from the plant. To Lisa Hood, the plan was "good-old-boy, backdoor politics," and she questioned the county's "host contract" with GreenFirst. "It's a 30-year contract that y'all are binding us to," she told commissioners. "This was obviously written for the company, by the company."
Bill Daughtry, attorney for the county government, told Flagpole that several concerns of citizens were taken into account as the 58-page "host contract" was being negotiated. Initially the company asked the county to pay for building the plant, he said, but "we didn't feel comfortable doing so, because a number of citizens had expressed concerns about that." The contract went through about six drafts, he said. "I thought it was odd that everyone was saying we were moving too fast" since the project was discussed in public meetings "ad nauseam for the previous six months," he said. Written questions from citizens had been answered, and GreenFirst had held a public meeting one week before the vote, he added.
"We had to do something" to deal with Elbert County's trash, commissioner John Hubbard told Flagpole. Commissioners did not explain their vote, he said, because there "wasn't no need of discussing it with that crowd, those hostile people… That crowd is always against everything happening in this county." But the Winder landfill being used by the county is filling up; and citizens had already said they did not want a new landfill in Elbert County, Hubbard said. Two years ago, "we went out and investigated the landfill deal and talked to citizens—and that was a no-no; they did not want a landfill." Then GreenFirst pitched its alternative, and commissioners and interested citizens were bused to Huntsville, AL to tour a trash-to-energy incinerator there. "Everybody in Huntsville is crazy about it," he said.
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