5. EDSR 09-11-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Across the nation, the once-promising technology has also largely stalled. A 2004 survey by the Integrated Waste Services Association, a Washington, D.C.-based industry group, showed that there were 89 waste-to-energy plants in the nation, a decrease of nine plants since 2002. No new refuse-derived fuel plants have been built since the mid-1990s, said Maria Zannes, the association's president. Lower landfill costs have "stopped the growth of the industry," Zannes said. Politics In Hennepin County, politics may have played a large role in the plant's creation. Former Commissioner John Derus said in a recent interview that he led the push to help Anoka County build the Elk River plant in part to limit the size of Hennepin County's garbage burner that was being built in downtown Minneapolis. Derus opposed the downtown burner, which loomed over neighborhoods he represented. Hennepin County Board Chairman Randy Johnson opposed the Elk River plant when it was built and said he remains skeptical of the technology. He recalled recently that "some of John's good personal and political friends" were among the Anoka County officials who were pushing the project. Anoka County, Johnson said, realized it needed Hennepin County's large flow of garbage to make the plant work. Former Anoka County Commissioner AI Kordiak, who left the County Board in 1986, said he remembered that "John [Derus] asked me if we would sign a joint powers agreement to get the project going, and we did that." Though the project went forward, key players said they remained lukewarm. Former Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Andrew said he voted for the project, but said "there were many questions about the wisdom of moving forward on it." The project, he said, was vigorously debated in private among the county's commissioners. "It's a dog," he said, when asked about the plant in a recent interview. . Limited contribution When it opened in 1989, the Elk River plant was seen as one of several technological advances in garbage processing. But even then, the plant's contributions were limited and it has remained a minor player in the region's trash management plans. Even as Hennepin County generated 1.6 million tons of garbage in 2002 -and recycled 39 percent of that total - 221,000 tons of garbage were processed at the plant. The county's downtown garbage burner, which is generally seen as a more efficient disposal system, annually converts 365,000 tons of garbage into electricity. Elk River plant officials, however, said the facility has done exactly what it was supposed to do. "We like to think we do a good job. We can achieve very, very high numbers," said Helliwell, who has managed the plant since 1997 for NRG Energy Inc., a former subsidiary of Xcel Energy. In fact, a 2003 independent analysis of the plant said the facility "had met or exceeded each and all of the performance standards," and added that it had met its contract goal of turning at least 75 percent of the garbage it received into refuse-derived fuel. The plant sends most of the fuel to a nearby power plant in Elk River. "[The] technology has not really changed that much," said Dave Lucas, Sherburne County's solid