Too much garbage to handle?

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The expansion project at Pope/Douglas Solid Waste Management (PDSWM) is one step closer to being completed.

At the September 16, 2009 board meeting, the Pope/Douglas Solid Waste Management Board members passed a motion requesting the Pope and Douglas County Boards pursue temporary bond sales of $18 million for the third unit expansion.

The temporary bonds, according to Pete Olmscheid, PDSWM executive director, will be paid by long-term bonds upon completion of the project.

The long-term bond payments will be made by PDSWM, not taxpayers, he added.

Because Pope and Douglas counties were growing to the point where the waste-to-energy facility couldn’t handle all of the garbage, PDSWM started planning to expand its facility by adding a third waste combustor.

The additional combustor, said Olmscheid, should satisfy the needs of Pope and Douglas counties until the years 2030 to 2035.

He also explained that the engineering of the third unit expansion is about 95 percent complete.

“PDSWM would be ready to break ground now if we had the permit approval from the MPCA,” he said.

Currently, the facility is working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for permit completion. Once the permit is received, Olmscheid said, “We will start building the components of the expansion equipment and then break ground sometime in March or April of 2010.”

The completed components can then be erected and some test burning will possibly begin in the fall or winter of next year.

Olmscheid noted that another public meeting is planned regarding the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) and permit for the expansion project.

The meeting is tentatively set for November 17 at 7 p.m. at Alexandria Technical College.

Tags: douglas county, pope county, news, waste, garbage, incinerator, pdswm