Back in Feb. Rialto OK'ed an Energy Plant, approved Landfill site. Ok'd for new use, I wonder where they are on the plans?????? BSR

I am wondering if they have started to put together the power plant that they talked about putting together in February. The reason that I am asking is because the money that they get in grants, and Utility bills can and will save the city in the long run. They will and can fund the Police Department's 3% @50-years-of-age Retirement plan that the Rialto Police Assoc. has been asking for.

If the City of Rialto was the give the Police Department a Retirement Plan of 3% @ 50, they could ultimately give them an increase in the Hiring Incentive and keep that would not only fully fund the Neglected Police Department, but it would build Moral even more and allow the Current Officers to get a Break, Once they get some more help then the Current Officers that have worked through this crisis can take a well deserved Vacation. When you have worked so hard so long it is hard to take the time off like that and not feel guilty, right now they feel kind of regretful, but they also feel some relief, because the Police Department has been saved.

I hope they get the Power Plant up and running soon. But I Know that with as fast as Rialto City works, and engineering, we will not see the power plant until 2009!!

BSRanch...

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Article Display Date: 2/23/2006 12:00 AM
Rialto OKs energy plant approved
Landfill site OK'd for new use
Robert Rogers, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
RIALTO - The city is looking to fuel its future from where it threw yesterday's garbage.

The City Council voted unanimously to allow Atlanta-based Enertech Environmental Inc. to build a renewable-energy plant on a landfill site. The plant will collect solids extracted from wastewater produced by Rialto and other cities and process it into energy.

Included in the deal is Enertech's pledge to pick up most of the $5 million tab to clean up the landfill, which from 1979 to the mid-1990s collected 105,000 cubic yards of street sweepings, asphalt, wood chips and other road debris.

At the very least, Rialto will be rid of dead-weight land that presents a potential liability for the city, said Economic Development Director Robb Steel. Steel said he has grappled with what to do with the site for three years.

At best, Enertech will generate more than $8 million for the city over the next two decades through savings on waste transport, taxes and immediate land-closure savings.

''They're paying the city money for an opportunity, and we're paying for the landfill closure. We either do it today or sometime down the road, and Enertech is one of the rare users willing to take (the land) on,'' Steel said.

The city could opt to either clean up the site for $5 million or close the landfill for $3.1 million.

The ''closure in place'' option includes burying the site under 12 feet of dirt and installing a drainage system to protect groundwater, while the cleanup option involves a more extensive excavation that could include sorting, relocating, blending and redepositing volatile materials.

Instead, under the deal with Enertech, the city must contribute $500,000 toward the cleanup effort. The city Redevelopment Agency will contribute $2 million. Enertech will pick up the remaining $2.5 million.

If all goes as planned, Enertech and the city hope to settle on a bid for the landfill cleaning by April and begin construction of the plant in July or August.

If a 15-month construction schedule goes as planned, Enertech could be accepting biosolids - the heavy materials extracted from wastewater - from Rialto and other area cities by late 2007, Steel said.

Clifford Gould, Enertech's vice president, told the council Tuesday evening that his company uses patented technology to turn sludge into a usable coal substitute and that demand for Enertech's ''E-fuel'' ensures the facility will process waste transported from other area municipalities.

Gould said total capital investment in the facility will be $100 million and that operation of the plant will require 15 to 20 full-time employees, although there is no guarantee the workers will come from Rialto.

A few residents, along with council members Ed Scott and Joe Sampson, posed questions about the possibility the plant will cause a foul odor, but Enertech's executives assured them the plant and the trucks would not emit any gases.

Sam Pedroza, environmental planner for the Los Angeles County Sanitation District, said Enertech has created a buzz in renewable energy circles with its patented ''SlurryCarb'' technology, unique in the industry because it does not remove moisture during waste processing.

But Pedroza said he's not surprised by Enertech's emergence.

''Already, our sanitation district is the 20th largest energy producer in the state,'' he said. ''Alternative energy is going to continue to grow.'