Sludge cleanup accord close
Failed operation piled coal ash at city landfill
1:10 AM, May. 23, 2011
Environmental regulators and Wilmington officials are close to a cleanup settlement for the site of a troubled sewage sludge recycling operation off East 12th Street, with state officials acknowledging that the enterprise might have been a long and costly mistake.
Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control in 2009 refused to renew VFL Technology Corp.'s permit to recycle city sludge by mixing it with large quantities of coal ash and other industrial castoffs, ending the operation.
Shortly before the permit ruling, Delaware barred VFL from receiving new shipments of mostly out-of-state power plant ash at its site near the East 12th Street exit of I-495, citing possible soil and groundwater pollution and the chronic absence of customers for a million-ton-and-growing backlog of material.
“It’s another reminder of the importance of taking into account all the long-term consequences of decisions,” said DNREC Secretary Collin P. O’Mara. “It may have been seen as a cash injection [for the city] at one time, but the long-term costs are far greater.”
Word of the looming agreement comes just ahead of a public hearing tonight at the Rose Hill Community Center near New Castle on management of the shutdown of the Pigeon Point Landfill, which received more than 2 million tons of the ash and sludge, including thousands of truckloads illegally dumped at the city-owned landfill by VFL.
Although city officials declined to comment in detail on the issue, O’Mara said state officials are hoping for an agreement this year on a proposal to build a 4 megawatt power plant fueled by landfill and sewer plant gas near VFL’s site. The plant would use excess heat to dry Wilmington’s sludge, making it cheaper to manage.
Wilmington owns the regional sewage treatment plant, which serves nearly all of northern New Castle County. It produces about 50,000 tons of sludge yearly – material that is now trucked to north central Pennsylvania at an annual cost of about $2.8 million.
The closed sludge recycling operation, dating to the early 1990s, never found significant markets for its products, billed as soil substitutes or construction fill. Until later years, it also was never closely monitored by DNREC or other state or local agencies.
In late 2008, however, DNREC ordered VFL to remove most of its stockpile at East 12th Street and called for preparation of hazard reports, cleanup plans and long-term monitoring agreements.
Wilmington and Headwaters Resources Inc., VFL’s parent company, quickly challenged the requirements in a still-pending Environmental Appeals Board action.
Although VFL and Headwaters received large sums for hauling ash, industrial incinerator residues and other materials into Wilmington, VFL operated as a subcontractor at the privately managed city wastewater plant and was not required to provide the city with financial reports.
City officials insisted they were never privy to the company’s profits from depositing the material on public land without landfill charges, and never sought a share of profits on behalf of wastewater plant customers.
John Rago, communications director for Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker, said little about the current talks. “We are in discussions with DNREC and we are hopeful for an agreement,” Rago said.
O’Mara said DNREC is reviewing groundwater data and other reports from the 17-acre site. Plans now call for a soil cap to keep rainwater from pushing pollution deeper into soils, and installation of groundwater monitoring wells.
Headwaters filed a new closure plan for the site in February, and it has already been approved by the city, according to Environmental Appeals Board records.
Power plant
Rago also had little to say about the power plant proposal developed by Honeywell Inc., a contractor hired to reduce the city’s energy requirements and its production of greenhouse gases, pollutants linked to rising global temperatures and climate shifts.
“This is still in development and we have no update at this time,” Rago said in a written statement.
Details from Honeywell’s plan were not available, but O’Mara said New Castle County participation in the expense remains an issue under discussion.
The problem “does show the need to have more foresight when these types of relationships are entered into,” O’Mara said.
“It’s a cautionary tale in some ways,” O’Mara said. “We need to look at the full life cycle of some of these operations.”
Public remarks in a city meeting in March indicated that the new option, expected to cost about $40 million, would use landfill and sewage plant gas to power a 4 megawatt generating plant at East 12th Street, providing enough electricity to meet almost all of the wastewater plant’s needs. Excess heat would be used to dry the sludge into chunks that can be used for fertilizer or cement kiln fuel, reducing the daily output weight from 125 tons to 20 tons.
“They’re running the financials right now, seeing how to make it work,” O’Mara said. “We’re going to continue to push them to try to make a decision quickly, so that the discussion doesn’t lead into next year.”
City officials have said Honeywell would have a 20-year contract to operate the power plant and sludge drying system if it proves to be a money-saver for Wilmington. The operation would be eligible for federal clean energy incentives that could drive operating costs down and potentially provide new revenues for the city.