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County leans toward expanding burner
Published 8:50am Wednesday, August 20, 2008Despite opposition from some groups that want to see less garbage, and not more refuse, brought to the Perham Resource Recovery Facility, the Otter Tail County Board of Commissioners is leaning in support of a proposed expansion of the refuse burner.
The expansion plan, outlined Tuesday morning when the county board held its weekly meeting in New York Mills, came from Perham City Manager Kelcey Klemm. Steam heat form the refuse burner currently is supplied to Perham industrial customers Bongards and Tuffy’s.
“Bongards is committed here for the long haul,” Klemm said. “But right now, while 60 percent of its steam heat comes from refuse boilers, another 40 percent comes from a natural gas auxiliary boiler. Expanding the refuse burner would be good for Perham, participating counties (Otter Tail, Todd and Wadena) and Bongards themselves.”
Bongards, known as Land O’ Lakes until 2003, produces 1.3 million pounds of cheddar, Monterey jack, Colby, Colby jack, reduced fat and mozzarella per week — plus 750,000 pounds of whey protein and whey powders. The plant has 95 employees, including 84 production workers.
Close to 600 farmers are either direct members, trade members or member cooperatives of Perham-based Bongards.
Tuffy’s, the other industrial customer which receives steam heat from the refuse burner, manufactures dry and moist dog and cat food and treats at its plant in Perham.
Klemm said Tuesday that the City of Perham, with the backing of counties that haul refuse to the burner, is in line to receive a $2.8 million grant for refuse burner expansion. Additional equipment would come from the Fergus Falls incinerator that closed at the RTC campus on the north side of town.
“We’d likely need more refuse than what Otter Tail, Todd and Wadena counties currently provide,” Klemm said. “We have strong possibilities in adding Becker, Hubbard, Cass and/or Clay counties.”
The Perham refuse burner currently process 118 tons per day, equivalent to 35,000 tons of refuse per year. Following the expansion, that would increase to 200 tons per day, equivalent to 55,000 tons per of refuse per year.
Bongards representatives, who also addressed the county board Tuesday in New York Mills, said demand for dairy processing will only increase. In turn, they said, will be increased demand for steam heat.
“Expansion of the refuse burner, in my estimation, is a workable situation,” county board chairperson Sydney Nelson said. “At the same time, we as a county board have to look at the ramifications of incurring more debt. And if we as a board did decide to go forward, we strongly believe a refuse burner governance board needs to be in place.”
Nelson assured Klemm, Bongards and other refuse burner expansion supporters that a final decision will be made by the county board before the end of September. That’s when Klemm and the City of Perham need support from the various counties in order to finalize the grant agreement with the State of Minnesota.
Otter Tail, Todd and Wadena counties are contractually obligated to the refuse burner through 2022. Perham currently receives $84,000 per year as an administrative fee for managing the facility. About 14 employees (part of Perham city government) work at the Resource Recovery Facility in Perham.
A fourth county, Stearns, has a contract that runs only through September 2009. At that time it’s likely they will begin disposing of refuse elsewhere. Becker County (Detroit Lakes area) and Cass County (Walker area) previously expressed interest in hauling refuse to Perham.
Refuse expansion protesters Bob Lohman and Colleen Donley carried signs outside the county board meeting Tuesday. They take issue with economic development coming at the expense of additional refuse coming into Perham. They also disagreed with slogans such as “garbage is good” and “garbage is economic development.”
Proponents, however, maintain that refuse in Perham can be burned in a safe, controlled, monitored and tested environment.
