5. EDSR 09-11-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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waste officer. Hennepin, Anoka, Sherburne, Stearns and Benton counties all haul waste to the Elk River plant, while the NRG plant in Newport accepts waste from Ramsey, Washington, Dakota and Blue Earth counties. Although Lucas said his county has voted not to extend the current contract, "we've given our assurances that we want to continue processing our waste into fuel." Image problems But, Lucas added, there area "whole number of issues" with the plant, including Financing. Then there are the explosions. The plant still shudders occasionally when small, discarded propane tanks accidentally make their way into the crushing process and explode. "We'll be having meetings in conference rooms [at the plant] ... and everybody will kind of duck" when an explosion occurs, Helliwell said. In the plant's early days, said Helliwell, officials also contended with discarded golf balls -and even bowling balls -shooting out of a roof vent after an explosion. Plant officials quickly erected a wire cage above the vent. The plant's image problems come as Minnesota continues to push a statewide policy that considers landfills a last resort for garbage disposal. "In Minnesota, there was a time when processing facilities accepted ... more waste than landfills," said Sigurd Scheurle, a planning director with the state's Office of Environmental Assistance. Jerry Johnson, coordinator for the Tri-County Solid Waste Management Commission, recalls when 70 percent of the garbage from Stearns, Benton and Sherburne counties was turned into fuel at the Elk River plant. Now, he said, it is no more than half, with more and more becoming landfill. When the processing plants were built, he explained, no one thought they were "going to be [forced] to compete with landfills, pricewise." Mike Kaszuba is at mkaszuba@startribune.com GARBAGE BILL In addition to the basic fees established under a 20-year service agreement that expires in 2009, Hennepin County pays millions in additional subsidies each year to the Elk River Resource Recovery Facility that turns trash into fuel for electric-generating plants. The extra payments help keep the fees charged trash haulers competitive with landfills. Service Additional Agreement County Subsidies Costs Paid