Town, Waste Options to meet with DEP about second landfill "cell"
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
The head of the Lakeville office of the Department of Environmental Protection has called for a meeting there where director David Ellis will discuss Nantucket's landfill issues with the selectmen and representatives from Waste Options, the landfill operator.

The focus of the April 20 session will be on building the island's second lined cell as quickly as is feasible in light of the fact that the first cell will be full by the end of this summer. The request to talk coincides with the recent settlement reached between the town and Waste Options over an arbitrator's Nov. 20 decision awarding Waste Options approximately $1.2 million for its costs to ship construction refuse off island, a change in permitting for landfill compost and funds withheld from a portion of the volume discount for trash processed by the company. While the settlement of $761,317 is substantially lower than the arbitration award, which the town appealed, Waste Options president Whitney Hall said he is glad the battle is over.

"We have accepted it. That's the resolution of it and we felt it was important to get this behind us and move on to the issues at the landfill," Hall said. "The whole arbitrator's settlement was to give us our out-ofpocket costs, but we have accepted less to move on."

Hall said the main thrust of the meeting is on getting the second cell completed. Because the matter of responsibility for cell materials was part of the arbitration dispute, the project is behind schedule and DEP wants to hear both parties' plans for this work. The island's Department of Public Works has already begun providing fill for the cell from excavation related to upgrading the Surfside Wastewater Treatment Plant. That fill is supplementing material being mined by Waste Options from the initial unlined cell, commonly referred to as "the old hill." The company is responsible for the new cell's construction and the town must pay for liners, piping, pumps, tanks and other equipment.

Since last July's DEP ban on deposits of construction waste in any state landfill, the first cell has been used for deposit of plastic residuals from the composting process. Part of the upcoming conversation will center on a plan for disposal of the baled plastic when the cell reaches capacity while the second cell is being finished. This situation links to the topic of gasification at the landfill which also will be discussed, at least in generic terms, said Hall. Waste Options has looked into a few different types of gasification technology and their costs, but is not ready to present a plan to the town. This process, which disintegrates nearly any type of material and can produce electricity, is supported by DEP, said Hall, and could be financed by the company with expenses recouped from tipping fees, among other possible means.

If a gasification plant is built, the residuals from composting as well as residuals not broken down in the unlined cell and most non-recyclable items could be disposed of through that method. It is a technology that appeals to the island's Energy Study Committee, not only as an effective, clean way of eliminating almost all the island's trash, but as a power source.

"I am in favor of a wind farm because we could buy electricity at a reduced rate and not be connected to mainland grids, but of a more immediate nature, if we get gasification and it's technologically feasible, that could produce electricity at nine cents per kilowatt hour," said Energy Study Committee member Robert Schwarzenbach. "No one knows what the rate would be from the wind farm, but it would probably be more costly. To generate power here is a very attractive option. That is going to be done because we have to do something with the waste."

Schwarzenbach also encourages the further examination of putting wind turbines at the landfill, noting that the town of Hull has already done that and other towns are considering it for their recycling facilities.

"There is a lot of wind blowing there and no one is looking at the recycling facility," he said. "The question is whether we could site some wind machines there without their being very noisy. The energy from the wind machines could be used by the recycling facility coupled with energy produced from gasification. The [proposed electric aggregate] would buy all the net energy not consumed from both

sources and use it on the island." I