Garbage-to-ethanol plan advances
Post-Tribune
SCHNEIDER -- The Town Council took another step Thursday toward locating a $250 million garbage-to-ethanol plant in this tiny town's borders.
In a special meeting Thursday night, the council's unanimous vote to approve a fiscal plan submitted by Powers Energy One of Indiana sealed the annexation deal that will allow Powers to apply for permits from the state's Department of Environmental Management and Department of Natural Resources to construct the plant that is expected to process 10,000 tons of municipal waste daily from Lake County, surrounding counties and Chicago.
Schneider Council President Richard Ludlow said he expects Powers to apply for permits within the next few weeks.
Ludlow said there was no solid data on a construction start date, adding, "But this is a big step forward."
In a surprise announcement Ludlow said the plant, originally expected to create 150 to 200 jobs, is now expected to hire 300 to 350 employees.
The fiscal plan calls for the town to receive 3 cents for every gallon of ethanol produced, or roughly $4.8 million a year, once the plant is fully built out and running at capacity. The town will receive another $7.4 million in property taxes.
The only cost to the town, Ludlow said, would be about $9,000 to provide water and sanitary sewers for employee bathrooms.
The Evansville-based Powers has committed, by contract, to foot the bill for the entire project, but the company has yet to reveal its investors. The contract also calls for Powers to turn over the plant to the Lake County Solid Waste Management District as soon as it is operational. It will process Lake County's waste for the next 20 years.
Ludlow said based on concerns that the plant becomes tax exempt, the contract includes language calling for Powers to make annual payments equal to the property taxes. The town has offered Powers a tax abatement of about $4 million over 10 years.
The fiscal impact plan calls for no increase in emergency personnel to the town, no added solid waste, traffic control, no impact to streets storm drainage or administrative services.
A yet-to-be-released schematic of the proposed plan showed the 276-acre plant, nearly 40 acres of which would be under roof. The DNR is requiring that the building be above flood level, so Powers must raise the land 7 feet. Water will be stored in a 25-acre pond onsite and reused in the ethanol-making process. Ludlow said Powers is working with Northern Indiana Public Service Co. on plans to install solar panels on the massive roof to supply electricity to power the plant that will use a patented process never before used on a large scale to turn garbage into ethanol. Powers officials say the process is non-polluting, and have committed not to take any water or discharge any water into the Kankakee River, which sits about a mile and a half to the south.
Powers is turning nearly half the total acreage on the south end of the site into a wildlife sanctuary.
The plant, once completed, would be nearly the same size as the town itself, town officials said.
Garbage will be sent on existing rail lines, but mostly by truck from U.S. 41 to the site on the town's north side, between Parrish Avenue and U.S. 41. Powers is buying the land on contract from the Huber family, which owns a sod ranch on the west side of U.S. 41.
A new road from U.S. 41 will connect to 236th Avenue under an existing viaduct, then cut north along the east side of the plant property to keep truck traffic from interfering with local traffic.
Councilman Richard Wright said truck traffic would not change from what it is now, except that trash will come to the plant instead of going to the Newton County Landfill. The contract calls for a $19 tipping fee over 20 years compared to about a $40 tipping fee charged by the landfill, Wright said.
"There will still be a lot more meetings going down the road," Ludlow said.
"I'm all for it," resident Jerry Wright said after Thursday's meeting. Wright, 78, no relation to the councilman, said he's lived in Schneider for 52 years. "I've read all the information on the bioethanol process. They claim it works. We're gonna find out," he said. "This town needs something."
