Tire-burning power plant worries some Georgia residents
By The Macon Telegraph
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And the air.
And the solid waste produced by an untested type of power plant.
"Toomsboro's so small, anything you put there environmentally will smother it," Smalley said. "I'm very much against it because I'm afraid it will hurt the restoration of Toomsboro."
She's not alone. Some Wilkinson County residents and leaders are concerned the plant will cause environmental problems for the historic town.
But others say they're confident the plant won't cause any more harm than kaolin mining has already. Supporters focus on the job opportunities and a franchise agreement that could pump millions of dollars into town coffers.
Blue Ridge-based P.T. Technology, named for "Power from Tires," applied for state air, water and solid waste permits for the first plant anywhere to produce electricity using gas from tires vaporized by plasma.
P.T. Power CEO Robert Thomas says the company will bring 75 new jobs to Toomsboro, almost all of which will be filled by locals.
"We need some jobs around here is what we need, instead of people walking the street and bringing us trouble," resident Jenny Pounds said. "We won't know about the pollution until it comes."
Laura Mathis, Wilkinson County manager, said nearby Commissioner Creek is the greatest concern for most people. The creek, which is already on the state's list of polluted waterways, quickly feeds into the Oconee River. A 500-acre parcel planned for Ball's Ferry State Park is only a few miles downstream.
"It bugs me after all these years of working to get the park, all of a sudden this pops up," said Perry Dominy, a former civil engineer who helped build the Tobesofkee recreation areas in Bibb County.
"(The plant) may be the greatest idea that has come along in a long time, but we don't know," said Dominy, who lives near Toomsboro. "And we don't know what it will do to the environment."
"I'd like to know why there aren't any more plants like this in the U.S. or in the state of Georgia," said Smalley, one of the residents from five counties that have worked three years for the park. "It seems to me if it's so good, a place like Macon would get it."
In fact, Joseph Pierce, the patent holder for the technology used by P.T. Power, has tried locating similar plants in other Georgia communities with other business partners.
He said those projects never materialized because they involved using municipal garbage or medical waste as fuel, which was less profitable and tougher to regulate.
However, leaders from Dahlonega and Fannin County tell a different story about why Pierce's proposals were unsuccessful.
"We spent over $150,000 opposing it," said Richard Vollrath, Fannin County Commission chairman. County officials decided Pierce's plant proposal conflicted with the local solid waste plan, which didn't allow importing trash. Vollrath said Pierce's company sued and lost on appeal.
Public outcry ended a similar attempt in Dahlonega about six years ago, Mayor Gary McCullough said.
"You wouldn't want a fly-by-night operation to come in and build close to your city," he said, adding that residents were most concerned about air pollution and "being guinea pigs."
Thomas said his company chose Toomsboro because it's centrally located, near a railroad and the Wilkinson County Industrial Authority wooed it. One of its members, Brian Sappe, sold the company the land.
But Philip Hadarits, a new member of the development authority, isn't yet comfortable with the new technology and wants to know more about the professional histories of P.T. Power officials.
The roughly 60 people who attended a public meeting about the project recently seemed about evenly split between opposition and support, Mathis said.
Toomsboro Mayor Roger Smith said most townspeople favor the plan. "Those who've expressed opposition are those who live outside Toomsboro," he said.
However, those outside Toomsboro may determine the project's future. For the state solid waste permit, the Wilkinson County Commission must provide a letter saying whether the plant conflicts with the county's solid waste plan.
The 13-year-old plan says no tires can be brought into the county, but Wilkinson is updating it this year, Mathis said.
Cleaning up large tire piles, which can become mosquito havens and fire risks, has cost the state millions. P.T. Power has contracts for about half the scrap tires produced annually in Georgia, about four million, Thomas said.
County and state officials officials met Wednesday to discuss whether Wilkinson can revise its solid waste plan to allow the project, but the question wasn't answered, Mathis said. She expects the commission will decide what to do in February.
Commission Chairman Dennis Holder has some environmental concerns and isn't sure how he'll vote. "We got a lot of people putting pressure on us to shoot it on through, but we've got to ask these questions," he said.
Smith said the town is already negotiating a franchise fee with P.T. Power. The company might provide Toomsboro with a one-time payment or a percentage of plant revenue. Smith said the city might receive as much as $1 million a year for a decade.
Holder said the big-money offer seems strange if the plant is harmless.
P.T. Power has not yet asked for tax incentives, Smith said, but Thomas said that might become part of negotiations.
P.T. Power's air, water and solid waste permit applications are being considered by the Environmental Protection Division.
Heather Abrams, manager of the EPD's air permitting program for factories, estimated that the plant would emit about one-tenth of the air pollution caused by Georgia Power's Plant Scherer in Monroe County.
Most will be in the form of steam, Thomas said. The tires will be vaporized using intense heat with limited oxygen, so no smoke will be produced, he said.
Treated water would pick up heat from the plant's boiler, then cool in settling ponds before being released into the creek, said Mike Creason, manager of the EPD's industrial waste water unit.
He said the effluent would contain a small amount of impurities. "I can't see how it would be a threat," he said.
Thomas said the effluent will be cleaner than the rest of the creek.
Although Dominy requested a hearing about the water permit, the state has not decided whether to hold one, Creason said.
Some plant supporters say Commissioner Creek is already polluted by years of kaolin mining.
"Instead of worrying what might happen down the road, focus on the thing that might make us prosper," said Deena Thompson, who circulated a petition in favor of the project at her service station. She had more than 300 signatures last week.
But Dominy said the creek is recovering from the years it looked like milk. "There's no point that, just because it had been messed up before, we should make it an open sewer," he said.
Some residents fear the plant will stack tires six or seven stories high, but Thomas said they'll be stored on a concrete pad under a roof. Most will arrive by train already compressed so no water, insects or vermin can get in them.
The state solid waste permit will limit the number of tires P.T. Power can store, said Tim Earl, EPD program manager for industrial solid waste. The company will also be required to pay a bond that would cover tire cleanup costs if the venture folds.
Smith and Thomas estimated the bond at $250,000 to $400,000.
The only byproducts will be small amounts of salt and the steel belts from the tires, which will be recycled, Thomas said.
