06-19-84 CCM - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES JUNE 19, 1984 PAGE 3 financial feasibility of the facility. So a portion of the estimated 25% rejects may be pulled out, if the ferrous market is good. Otherwise they would be discarded. The counties are participating in recycling programs that do not make money, but are participating to ( keep materials out of landfills. So the possibility exists that the county would consider pulling out the ferrous metals, even on a break-even basis. If the RDF facility is located in Lake Elmo, it is anticipated that the RDF would be produced here and transported by truck to Red Wing. Fraser asked what the advantage was to having the RDF facility in Lake Elmo if the RDF would have to be trucked to Red Wing. Wouldn't there be other sites that would be more advantageous? Mr. Wood stated that the EIS looked at several locations and also identified several issues that had to be addressed relating to solid waste processing facilities. There could be other locations for a RDF facility, but they would be no better than the one in Lake Elmo. Fraser stated that one of the big advantages in talking "mass burn" was the proximity to 3M, and if 3M is no longer a consideration, and if it is going to Red Wing, someplace closer to Red Wing would be more advantageous. Mr. Schelli stated that the power plant at Red Wing can only handle about 900 tons per day of RDF. If at some point, the RDF processing plant produces more RDF than that, there conceivably could be built on the Lake Elmo site a boiler to burn RDF and produce steam to sell to 3M. That is an advantage to the Lake Elmo site. The RDF facility is totally enclosed.. There is dust collecting equipment throughout the facility so there is no dust going outside of the facility. All of the equipment is inside the building so that reduces the noise potential. Mr. Wood stated that the best way for the City Council and staff to judge this type of facility would be to see it first-hand. Mr. Wood offered to arrange a visit to either the plant in Madison, Wisconsin or Ames, Iowa for the Council. The reason that RDF is being considered is that NSP has recently expressed interest in participating in the combustion of RDF. They may have some motives for pursuing that, but the economic analysis to date indicates that that may be the best way to go. Although Mr. Wood could not give a precise figure on the price differnce between a RDF facility and mass burning facility, he has seen figues in the St. Paul paper indicating a RDF facility would cost from 16 to 22 million dollars and a mass burning facility would cost from 45 to 60 million dollars. A meeting was scheduled for July 10, 1984 at 7:00 p.m. in the council chambers for the Section 32 landowners and the Waste -To -Energy staff.