Stanislaus County, Modesto in no hurry to respond to financial troubles of garbage burner

How did Stanislaus County and Modesto respond to the December letter from Covanta Energy, warning that the garbage-burning plant was losing money every month and may need to close by June 30?

The county and city asked for more time in a Feb. 29 response, sent almost three months after Covanta’s urgent Dec. 1 letter. It suggests the county and Modesto are not in a hurry to negotiate with Covanta.

“It is crucial that Stanislaus County and the city of Modesto carefully evaluate all possible options,” says the letter to Covanta from county Chief Executive Officer Jody Hayes and City Manager Joe Lopez, which was obtained by The Modesto Bee.

The city and county need to explore strategies, consider the community impact, talk with regulatory agencies, explore legal issues and assess the feasibility of proposed scenarios, Hayes and Lopez wrote in the letter.

The city and county promised they will respond to Covanta “within a reasonable timeframe” and then reach out to schedule a meeting for further discussions.

A Covanta spokesperson did not have a comment Monday, other than referring to the county and city letter asking for more time. An effort to reach Hayes was not successful.

The Stanislaus Covanta plant near Interstate 5 is the last remaining garbage incinerator in California, and chances are it won’t survive too much longer in the state’s regulatory environment.

The state had two garbage burners before a contract between New Jersey-based Covanta and Long Beach was terminated due to financial losses and the plant closed at the end of January.

Covanta told the county in December that the Stanislaus plant was dealing with $23 million in additional costs through 2027 because of the state’s elimination of renewable energy credits for waste-to-energy and stricter air regulations.

Covanta’s Dec. 1 letter said the company, the county and Modesto could agree to cease plant operations June 30, or earlier. The company offered the option of a significantly higher tipping fee to keep the plant running. The fee charged for dumping garbage at the plant would need to cover the increased expenditures for cap-and-trade and maintenance.

The county is a partner with Modesto in a current 15-year contract with Covanta, which runs until 2027. Covanta had hoped to discuss financial issues with the county in mid-December and intimated in the Dec. 1 letter it could meet the conditions to terminate the contract early. The plant generating power for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has been a destination for household trash from Stanislaus County and its cities for 36 years.

At this point, it is not clear if the county and Modesto will continue with garbage burning. The officials closely involved with analyzing the options are not talking.

“I have not received any communication from the city and county on what they want to do,” said Modesto Councilman Chris Ricci, who sits on the waste-to-energy executive committee composed of city and county representatives.

Ricci said the waste-to-energy executive committee has yet to discuss the recent issues around the garbage burner. A group with an ongoing interest in solid waste management and recycling said it hasn’t seen the issue on agendas for four different county committees concerned with solid waste.

Plant is no longer viable, critic says

“It is no longer viable for (Covanta) to do business at all in California,” said Bianca Lopez, president of the Valley Improvement Projects environmental justice group, speaking to county supervisors last week.

The group is urging the county to set a goal for zero waste, a strategy adopted by an increasing number of metro areas to reduce municipal waste through reuse, recycling and conservation.

If the Covanta plant were to permanently shut down, the county would fall back on Fink Road Landfill for disposal of waste materials that are not diverted for recycling and composting. That would shorten the landfill’s projected lifespan and require getting state approval for more landfill space.

Ricci said the city and county should explore a zero-waste strategy similar to what’s been adopted in Monterey. “We are already about 80% of the way there,” Ricci said. “We have the (recycling) cans. We are in a good position to do it. The problem is that it’s not cheap. But as you can see from the letter from Covanta, burning trash is not cheap, either.”

The Monterey city website says its zero-waste program asks businesses, households, schools and other organizations to analyze waste generation and redesign to eliminate most of it. In just one of many examples, an ordinance prohibits retail stores from giving customers single-use plastic carryout bags.

In addition to the typical household recycling containers, families are advised to reduce junk mail and be smart consumers by purchasing products with minimal packaging or by emailing documents, rather than printing and mailing them. Monterey figures that concerted efforts by different sectors can achieve 90% waste diversion from landfills.

The Valley Improvement Projects (VIP) plan for Stanislaus County proposes a transition from incineration to waste reduction as defined by the Zero Waste International Alliance: “Zero waste is the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse and recovery products, packaging and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water or air that threaten the environment or human health.”

In Southern California, Long Beach is moving forward with an organics processing facility to replace the Covanta waste-to-energy plant that closed there. The new facility will convert food waste to an organic soil amendment and renewable natural gas, helping Long Beach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to PRNewswire.

Any proposal to replace the Stanislaus garbage burner with a processing plant emitting pollutants would be met with opposition, said VIP President Lopez.