Ethanol Plant to be Discussed

freetime · **Posted:** Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:37 pm

The quarter billion dollar garbage to ethanol plant planned for Schnieder will be discussed on JED's show on WJOB Thursday morning starting at 6:45 AM.
Jeff Langbehn, the director of the Lake County Solid Waste Management District, will appear.
The Times is running an excellent series of articles this week, outlining some of the questions about the plan.
The last time the district planned a waste disposal facility for southern Lake County, taxpayers were stuck with a$9 million payout to the proposed operator when the district backed out of the deal.
Langbehn will be taking questions from listeners. Might be very interesting.

freetime · **Posted:** Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:22 am

Whuttya know?
Langbehn backed out of his radio appearance today.
Meanwhile, the Times' excellent in-depth coverage of the plant and related issues continues with another few stories today.
Keep your eye on this story. It's going to get VERY interesting. Every Lake County resident is likely to be impacted in thew pocketbook, and an irreplaceable natural resource may be at risk.

may1846 · **Joined:** Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:24 pm **Posts:** 632

I heard him on WJOB and thought that he explained the whole issue very well. I support the idea after listening to him.

freetime · **Posted:** Tue May 18, 2010 9:05 am

Would May be supporting this scheme if Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott's proxy on the Lake County Solid Waste Management District Board hadn't voted in favor of it?

Sunday, the Times published another expose on the garbage-to-energy plan which raised more serious questionsa about the $280 million deal

Now it turns out there was no "support team expertise" as the Powers bid on the plant claimed. One by one, the Times found the 8 companies listed either denied they had anything to do with it, or did not return calls. Here's the story:

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake ... d709b.html

So what does OUR representative to the Waste Board, McDermott, have to say about this??
Or is he way too busy playing county politics to know what is going on with it?
I don't think he has even attended a meeting of the Waste Board, let alone done any investigating of this proposal. (Mike Pannos says get it done, and it somehow happens)
I wish we had a full time mayor to look out for our interests!

freetime · **Posted:** Wed May 19, 2010 2:04 pm

The town of Griffith, apparently not asleep at the wheel like Hammond, has switched its position on this sleazy deal and now opposes the county plan.
Griffith joins Merrillville in coming out against the plan in recent days, and following the Times excellent coverage of the matter. Here's the story about Griffith from today's paper:

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake ... 7f4fe.html

Haven't heard a peep out of Hammond. How come? Maybe the mayor hasn't studied up on it yet?
Or maybe he thinks this is all just Lake County business as usual, and he's happy to help his powerful Democratic buddies make a few bucks?

bigdog · **Joined:** Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:49 am **Posts:** 334

The reason you haven't heard a word out of Hammond Free, is because a friend of the Mayor R.P. The Manager for the building trades, who also is on the Mayors 60 member governing board and visited Arkansas,to see one of these plants in operation,is all in favor of this plant. Agendas are all over the place.

freetime · **Posted:** Wed May 19, 2010 2:47 pm

Yes there are many agendas and lots of money at stake.
But I am afraid the citizens of Hammond will get screwed in this deal.
For example, what will it cost us to get our trash the 40 miles to the plant? Who will get that hauling contract? What happens if the plant doesn't operate as it should, and then we have to scramble to find a new dump?
Anyway, it is important and I can only wish we had someone looking out for OUR interests too.
Merrillville and Griffith are making us look like chumps.

Mark · **Joined:** Sat May 01, 2010 12:19 pm **Posts:** 3

Freetime ~ From what I've read, Powers Energy will build it and reap the profits, if there are any. The Lake County taxpayers will actually OWN it though, so if there are no profits then the taxpayers will be on the hook. Someone has sold us out.

freetime · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:39 pm

The Solid Waste District has a way of doing that to taxpayers.
I've never understood their contention that the arrangement will somehow protect us.
I'm suspicious of the whole proposal. There's too much money involved for anything in Lake County to be on the up and up.

ken jakubczak · **Joined:** Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:04 pm **Posts:** 489

Freetime, not to worry. Moderate republicans have been on top of this issue from the beginning. Although we are big believers in the trash to ethanol concept. The way this contract is drawn up is a losing proposition for Hammond. Your concerns are valid and they have been addressed.

Part of the reason the thing is all twisted up is that Hammond transports it's garbage across state lines. Thus interfering with inter-state commerce. If you kept up with the news article, Johnny Perez was interviewed and he stated we would stay with the lowerst cost option. Which currently, means dumping in Illinois.

freetime · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:53 pm

I hope Hammond's proxy on the Waste Board, Kathy Kaz, is in agreement. They'll be coming up with that measure soon to commit all trash in the county to Schnieder.

ken jakubczak · **Joined:** Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:04 pm **Posts:** 489

I believe councilwoman Pucalik is Hammonds representative on the county municipal waste board.

I would say the lack of communication on her part is discouraging. I would hope she is representing the best interest of the city, but as far as I know, she hasn't asked for any information on how we do the job or what our cost structure is.

The simple way to make it profitable for a municipality like Hammond is to have transfer stations that can haul large quantities of garbage. Less trips to the dump and less trucks rolling through communities like St. John and Cedar Lake. Our garbage trucks are older models, don't hold a large quantity of trash and only get about 4mpg.

The tipping fee Powers offers is attractive, especially if the cost is the same over 20 years. The expensive part for us, is getting it there.

Free, reading over one of your previous posts, I'd like you to know, that I took it upon myself to inform Mayor McDermott on what I thought of the proposal. I told him it was a losing proposition for the city. That's what commissioners are there for.

There is not a monster behind every door.

Just my thoughts.

freetime · **Posted:** Fri Jul 23, 2010 1:22 pm

Thank you.

Early on I had asked the mayor about this. They were still scouting for a site at that point. He said Stan Dostatni was not fully comfortable with the plant for Hammond, so it wasn't being pursued.

I thought that was a better plan than going after the project prematurely. I'm glad you talked to the mayor about this. I was concerned this was happening without the city's full participation.

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