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646 <br />OUT-OF-COUNTY AND REGIONAL COOPERATION ON SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ISSUES <br />K. Alanis, project coordinator for VEDCO Energy Corporation, owner of the BCH Energy Project in <br />Fayetteville, spoke about this project. They are currently handling approximately 900 tons a day of <br />municipal solid waste from five counties. They transport the waste to their facility. They remove <br />recyclable items such as cardboard, aluminum, plastics, tin cans, glass and will be capturing newspaper <br />from the waste stream. They process the rest of it into Refuse Derived Fuel and ship it to their energy <br />generation facility. The fuel is processed into steam for DuPont and electricity for CP&L. They are <br />actively looking for additional waste because they have additional capacity at the facility. They have a <br />second project in North Carolina called Carolina Energy located in Wilson where they have five counties <br />under contract for 20 to 25 years each. Because of these two projects seven landfills are closing in the <br />area. <br />B.B. Olive asked if the governing boards plan to initiate a fresh regional approach to solve the <br />waste management problem. <br />Commissioner Willhoit stated that he favors a regional approach to management of various <br />aspects of the solid waste stream. However; he is not willing to open the search for a regional landfill. <br />K. Riley asked if the governing boards were aware of VEDCO and if any of them have actually <br />seen the operation. <br />Commissioner Willhoit stated he was aware of it and has seen the video. RDF was one of the <br />technologies considered, but on a split vote, the LOG deleted that from the systems they are doing <br />detailed studies on. <br />Council Member Chilton noted that based on the amount of money paid, there were a limited <br />number of systems that could be studied. He does not feel that Orange County's waste stream is large <br />enough to be compatible with that technology. A RDF facility in Orange County would be tremendously <br />expensive. He is against shipping out of county because he is sure that those people living near VEDCO <br />and the facility in Wilson don't like living near those plants no more than the people do that live near Site <br />17. He does not feel that this is an economical viable option for Orange County. <br />Council Member Capowski noted that VEDCO is charging $37/ton to collect the Brunswick County <br />trash before recycling it which is on the order of what Orange County is paying and he feels it at least <br />bears investigation. . <br />Gayle Wilson noted that they did evaluate both out-of-county waste options and the VEDCO <br />project. This document is a public document if anyone wants a copy. <br />Council Member Joyce Brown asked that reports be done on the health effects for all the <br />technologies that will be considered with proof that these technologies are safe. <br />Gayne Wilson noted that one of the criteria used in conducting these studies was protection of the <br />environment and public health. <br />C. Griffin noted that page ES-4 of the handout entitled "Evaluation of Disposal Options" concludes <br />that the cheapest operation of disposal of municipal solid waste is an in-county landfill. However, if the <br />County achieves a 40% waste reduction, four of the six out-of-county options are cheaper. <br />LANDFILL SITE SEARCH PROCESS CRITERIA AND RELATED ISSUES <br />R. Persley noted that several studies have been done which indicated many health risks are <br />associated with living in close proximity to a landfill and asked how the governing boards could justify <br />siting the new Orange County landfill on Site 17, a site which is in a densely populated area. <br />Gayle Wilson said that at least 6 or 7 wells have been tested near the present landfill by the Health. <br />Department. Two of the wells have shown traces of constituents not in levels above the drinking water <br />standards. None of the wells at the facility show those constituents in the perimeter wells that would <br />indicate that it has moved off site. They are required to test methane at several dozen wells around the <br />perimeter of their facility on a quarterly basis. They are also required to test for methane on all closed <br />structures on the facility. Orange County's landfill was the first landfill in the state, non hazardous landfill, <br />to install ground water monitoring wells in the 1970s before it was required.