An Augusta committee tapped the brakes Tuesday on a proposed waste-to-energy plant in south Augusta citing uncertainty about the proposal.
The city Environmental Services committee voted 3-1 to oppose issuing a letter of consistency for the project with the city’s existing waste management plan. Commissioner Brandon Garrett voted no.
Engineering and Environmental Services Director Hameed Malik, who previously found no inconsistency with the project, recently returned with a new set of questions for developer Renovatio Solutions about its impact.
About 150 people attended a community meeting about the project Aug. 29 at Diamond Lakes Regional Park, where some said city audiovisual equipment was inadequate for Renovatio to give a presentation.
The answers cited an environmental impact assessment intended for a real estate purchase, Malik said. In addition, the technology to be deployed is in use at only one U.S. facility, he said.
Moreover, the project “has great waste diversion potential” for the Augusta landfill, which relies on hauled-in garbage for revenue, he said.
Commissioner Tony Lewis, who represents the area along Dixon Airline Road said community members remain dissatisfied with Renovatio’s answers.
Twenty-seven people, most of them members of historic Spirit Creek Baptist Church, which is located .8 miles from the site, attended the meeting Tuesday to oppose the project.
Commissioners heard from Joe Szczepkowski, sales manager for Hitachi Zosen Inova, the Swiss company that makes the equipment.
At the firm’s Kompogas facility in San Luis Obispo, Calif., expired food, kitchen scraps and yard waste is converted to compost, liquid soil amendment and natural gas.
Hitachi Zosen Inova owns and operates the facility in San Luis Obispo, built another in Escondido, Calif. and has one under development in Minnesota, Szczepkowski said.
The Augusta initiative includes buying a materials recovery facility, or MRF, used to separate waste streams into recyclables and organics, he said.
Attorney Ben McElreath, who is developing the project with Jamaican clean energy enthusiast Wesley McLeod, said it’s the type of project being touted by the Biden Administration as a way to reduce greenhouse gases while creating clean energy.
The initiative will divert an estimated 16,270 tons of garbage currently going to the landfill, based on a hauler’s 2022 report, according to McElreath’s presentation.
It also intends to take in 10,000 tons per year of woody waste from a lumber company, he said.
After processing, Renovatio will forward on to the landfill 18,409 tons per year of unusable byproduct, such as 13,513 tons of solid digestate that can be used as landfill cover, he said.
The net gain in landfill fees in the first year will be $77,645.
Mayor Garnett Johnson said he’d like to see the outfit’s performance in other locations prior to giving it city approval.
Ellis Godbee, senior pastor at Spirit Creek, said the community is opposed to the Dixon site being used for the intended purpose.
“Unwanted waste or residue, whatever you call it, trash, waste, it’s the same matter,” he said. “How’s it going to impact the ambiance of our church and the safety of members and the community?”
Lewis said he and state Rep. Lynn Gladney would help Renovatio find another location..
Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle, who was on the commission when it began negotiations with Allied Energy Services to build a waste-to-energy plant at the county landfill, noted the unrelated project ended poorly.
That project, intended to convert wood and plastic from trash into fuel pellets used for manufacturing, fell apart after founder and former University System Regent Dean Alford was indicted for racketeering and theft involving fraudulent state contracts and documents.
“He’s spending some vacation somewhere right now,” Guilfoyle said.
The recommendation goes to the full commission, where six votes could reverse or approve it.
