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Minutes - Regular Meeting Solid Waste Advisory Board April 2, 2009 Approved May 7, 2009 didn' t have any dates but was told it took considerably longer for the new site to get the site procurement. Once the site had been procured the vendor selected, the financing arranged and the design complete which is where they are now, they are estimating two years for permitting the facility and three years for construction. The facility is being constructed for two counties . One has 500 - 600 / tons of MSW per day the second has about 900 tons . They did a cost analysis for 500 ton capacity, 900 and 1 , 500 combined . What they found was it' s not economically viable at 500 tons, 900 tons was marginally viable and they had a good operation at 1500 tons / day . The cost of that facility will be about $500 million . Covanta Energy and Waste Management/ Wheelabrator are two contractors who are heavily involved both in this country and across the world in the construction and operation of WtE facilities . Covanta Energy stated that the minimum size for a facility was about 1 , 000 tons / day . They are convinced as well that Mass Burn is the only way to go in WtE . They estimated that it takes about four years for the permitting and construction after a site and vendor are selected and financing, procurement and design are complete . They do not build facilities for others . They agree to come in with the entity to develop and build the facility for the owner . We have talked with them extensively and hope to have a representative here to speak to the SWAB next month to see what their ideas are for Orange County . Waste Management/ Wheelabrator representatives came here and spoke in February addressing some of our issues and what their perspective was . They are the vendor for the construction of the new facility in Maryland . When they were here they thought it would take about four years to permit and construct that facility . The official word is it takes about five years . They agreed and stated that Mass Burn is the only viable alternative that is currently available . Based on what they heard at the meeting, whether or not Orange County builds WtE, they think the transfer station is inevitable . Integrated Waste Services Association is a trade association of both operators and owners of WtE facilities that represents 69 of the 87 operating facilities in the country so they have a good broad sense of perspective and experience . They noted that there have not been any new facilities constructed in the last 10 - 15 years . There have been some expansions of existing plants and replacement facilities of existing plants . They estimated two years to permit and three years to construct. Energy Answers is a company that builds and operates WtE facilities . Their difference is they have a process by which they actually process the MSW into pelletized form and burn that in the boilers opposed to raw MSW which is Refuse Derived Fuel . They do some sorting and take out some recyclables then put it through a pelletizing processing . Their belief is that they get better efficiency with the 2