Kee pushes for a hearing for select waste disposal companies

District 2 Councilman Jim Kee attempts to persuade community leader Goldie Wells of the viability of alternative technology approaches to handling the city's solid waste.

After about two and a half hours of discussion today about solid waste options and the possibility of reopening the White Street Landfill to municipal solid waste, the Greensboro City Council ended up about where it started.

“I’m suggesting staff and the consultants go back,” City Manager Rashad Young said, “… and come back with a process to evaluate where we are now that will evaluate cost and impact.”

Previously, after being asked by District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade to come up with a process that would provide a solution for disposing of the city’s solid waste while enhancing the White Street Landfill, Young assessed the political temperature of the room, saying, “There’s a very dramatic difference on council between what is enhancement and what is impactful.”

The city received nine proposals in March that outlined various methods of handling the city’s trash, including several traditional landfill options that would reopen the White Street Landfill, some of which would expand the service area to achieve cost savings; and some that involved alternative technologies such as pyrolysis and plasma gasification both at White Street and another location. The city currently takes its trash to a transfer station at Burnt Poplar Road, where it is loaded into trucks and transported to a landfill operate by Republic Services in Montgomery County.

HDR Engineering consultant Joseph C. Readling told council that a traditional landfill approach that entailed reopening the White Street Landfill would be the most cost effective option for handling the city’s solid waste, and that the city could save an estimated $100 million over 25 years by doing so.

“You solicited for two reasons,” Readling said. “Some folks thought you could probably save some money by reopening the landfill, and you felt that there’s got to be a way to do this better than burying the garbage and letting it sit there and rot in the ground. That’s what you baited the hook with, and what you got back is all over the board.”

Council members’ efforts to forge a path forward were also across the board, with a surprising split emerging between District 2 Councilman Jim Kee, who represents the residential areas near the White Street Landfill, and at-large Councilman Robbie Perkins, who has taken a vocal stand against reopening it.

Attempting to articulate guidance for staff in developing criteria for evaluating the proposals, Kee told Young: “It means not reopening White Street Landfill, and it means creating jobs for District 2.”

Those two goals could be difficult to achieve together: The only site mentioned in the proposals in District 2 is the White Street Landfill, and Readling said alternative technologies are yet unproven. As an indication of the viability of alternative technologies, HDR’s report to council states, “If alternative technology is most important, while minimizing cost of service, consider landfill-based system at White Street with future [waste-to-energy] facility.”

Perkins, who has long expressed support for a long-range plan to develop a regional compact for solid waste likely utilizing traditional landfill technology, was the first to stake out a position.

“We need to keep doing what we’re doing now,” he said. “We need to look at alternative technologies, but we’re not there yet.”

Mayor Bill Knight, who has long advocated exploring the potential cost savings of reopening the White Street Landfill, did not articulate a more explicit position, but rather reiterated that based on the cost savings estimated by the consultant, “That to me is enough cause to say we need to take a hard look.”

Kee challenged Perkins.

“I don’t think we’re going to have the luxury of not doing anything," he said. "You’ve got an at-large community in Greensboro that’s going to read tomorrow’s paper that we’re going to spend $250 million in solid waste disposal over 25 years, and we could save $100 million. And we have District 2 that does not want to be the host of the city’s trash. I am not in favor of reopening the White Street Landfill, but we cannot sit idly and disregard other possibilities that can bring tax savings to the city, but perhaps economic development, which is definitely needed in Greensboro. I suggest we refine this list, take it to the community, maybe add something to it if we need to and have these companies come in and give us a detailed presentation, to the council, to the staff.”

Kee said that an Environmental Safety Advisory Committee that he convened recommended closely examining three companies that are proposing alternative technology approaches to solid waste disposal: Cico, Ulturnagen and Waste Connections. All three companies propose to set up operations at the White Street Landfill. Kee’s list did not include MRR Southern, which proposes to dispose of the city’s municipal solid waste at a waste-to-energy facility at an industrial site in southwest Greensboro.

“I don’t see the problem with having these companies come in and show us what they can and cannot do,” Kee said.

Knight said he likes the idea of receiving presentations from Cico, Ulturnagen and Waste Connections. The proposal did not appear to gain traction.

Young said some of the proposers have promised community members more than what they outlined in their initial proposals.

“There’s some concern about moving forward with a subset of proposals for evaluation when we have change already,” he said. “We have to give everyone the opportunity to change what they say they’ll do, too. There’s been some conversations that took place – not with us – but with the community. Commitments have been made that differ from what they submitted.”

Young raised the question to council of whether it would create an issue of fairness to allow certain groups that have made modifications and changes to their proposals to be considered, while others were not also given an opportunity to submit revised proposals.

Goldie Wells, Kee’s predecessor as District 2 representative on council, was identified as the author of the recommendations by the environmental safety board. Called to the podium by Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan, Wells made remarks that were somewhat at variance with Kee’s.

“It would cause too much unrest in our community in these times to talk about reopening the landfill,” she said. “We have looked at, and the consultant has given us, a blurb on each one of those companies. Some of the providers have no proven track record.

Wells said Waste Connections is the only proposer among those that say they have the ability to use alternative technology that has an actual facility in operation.

After the conclusion of the briefing, Kee approached Wells, and they argued about the viability of alternative waste technologies.

“That consultant brought out information about these risks,” Wells said.

“I’m privy to some information that Councilman Perkins is not privy to,” Kee said.

Wells rejoined, “These companies have not proven themselves.”

Kee said in response: “That’s the same argument about minority contractors.”

Wells later said that Kee’s interest in companies proposing to handle Greensboro’s waste through alternative technologies in District 2 is motivated by a desire to create jobs, indicating that there’s no guarantee about how many people will be put to work.

“All of that is speculation,” she said.

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Conduct your own analysis. Start with the proposals. Then look at the evaluation.

Additional documentation: Environmental Safety Advisory Committee Report to Councilman Jim Kee