Sludge Watch ==> Detroit: Sludge plan splits Council and Residents

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Here is a variation on a debate that is taking place all over North America: 
What to do with sludge?
The plan for Detroit is to close the old incinerator (check .... good 
idea...
old incinerators =bad emissions)
Dry some sludge for land application (bad idea...drying concentrates 
contaminants...sludge is too contaminated to be safely used to fertilizer 
crops, and the dried sludge goes into spontaneous combustion and the plants 
often have huge fires.....)
Put in a new incinerator (whether that is good depends on what pollution 
emission controls are used...is this a plant that will have mercury capture? 
  Is the particulate control state of the art?  What do they intend to do 
with the ash?)

DETROIT

Sludge plan splits council and residents
Firm would make fertilizer
October 9, 2007

BY ZACHARY GORCHOW

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Union leaders and some residents of southwest Detroit denounced Monday a 
proposal to build a privately run facility that would reprocess into 
fertilizer the sludge that's left after the water is wrung from sewage.

But at a Detroit City Council hearing on the issue, a number of residents 
also said they support the proposal because it would bring jobs, save 
taxpayer money and reduce pollution.

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If approved, Houston-based Synagro would be in charge of disposing of the 
183,000 tons a year of sludge produced by the plant. Currently, the Detroit 
Department of Water and Sewerage incinerates almost all the waste, except 
when heavy rain overwhelms capacity and the excess material is taken to a 
landfill.

The proposal angers union leaders fearing displacement of city workers -- 
even though the contract calls for such workers to be retrained for other 
duties in the department.

John Riehl, president of AFSCME Local 207, which represents water and 
sewerage workers, said he doubts the city's commitment to retrain.

"Losing 140 jobs ... is very detrimental to our community," Riehl told the 
council. "Our city's workers are the backbone of many neighborhoods."

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said the city was ignoring its privatization law, 
which is designed to allow privatization in limited circumstances. Council 
staff members said, however, that the law does not apply because the 
proposal is a change in an existing contract and not a new pact.

Councilwoman Monica Conyers asked why the city couldn't simply build and run 
the plant.

But Stephen Kuplicky, acting assistant director of wastewater operations for 
the department, said the 25-year contract with Synagro would save the city 
$28 per ton of the sludge and is more environmentally friendly.

"At least it tries to give back and recycle as opposed to disposal, which is 
just a dead end," he said.

Some residents, weary of pollution from the industry that dominates the area 
-- especially the yellow plume from the sludge incinerators -- said they 
feared what the new plant would bring.

But Pam Racey, vice president of development for Synagro, said the new 
technology would cut pollution by 65% to 75%.

About half would be incinerated, one-third reprocessed into fertilizer and 
the remainder sent to landfills.

"What we're proposing is what's considered the best available control 
technology and process," she said after the meeting. "It produces greatly 
reduced emissions" and improves fuel efficiency.

Lisa Goldstein, director of Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision, said her 
group has toured a facility like the one Synagro would build and spoken to 
state workers who regulate that plant. They reported a significant reduction 
in emissions and odors.

Detroit's incinerators are 70 and 50 years old.

Goldstein urged the city to shut down its incinerators once Synagro's plant 
opens. The contract leaves the door open to the city's incinerators 
maintaining limited use.

The new facility would cost $100 million to $125 million. It would be built 
on the site of a former Coca-Cola plant, adjacent to the city's wastewater 
treatment plant. .

If the council approves the project, it would take six to 12 months to get 
the required state permit and another 27-30 months to build the plant.

In 1998, a company called Minergy Detroit LLC offered to convert sludge from 
the wastewater treatment plant into a glass aggregate, but the company ran 
into financial problems and never built the plant.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071009/NEWS01/710090384/1001/NEWS