C/eoo- COa Sl-,^ i~/ 'i - J"
w?- UG Should Light Fire Under Area
BY TFRRY POPE
News that a private firm wants to build a thrce-coun
ty trash incinerator at the Du Pont plant in Lcland is a
surprise to Brunswick County officials.
But the Cape Fear Council of Governments should
"get a fire under itself and assist its member govern
ments" in any ensuing incinerator talks, said Brunswick
County Manager David Clegg.
COG pulled together representatives from
Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties last year
to discuss a possible regional solid waste authority.
Under that proposal, wash from the three counties
would be burncid at a Wilmington incinerator with ash
dumped at a local landfill, but nothing concrete has
come from those meetings. Now the regional solid waste
picture is changing.
Vcdco Energy Corp. of Houston has proposed build
ing a steam-generating plant on Du Pont's property in
northern Brunswick County. The unit would bum house
hold trash from Brunswick, Pender and Columbus coun
ties to heat several large steam-producing boilers.
Du Pont would purchase the steam to power its
polyester fibers plant in Lcland.
"At this situation in the game, as far as the solid
waste picture is concerned, nothing is out of the ques
tion," said Clegg. "It's probably a good exercise for the
board (of commissioners) to explore those things."
To make the deal work, Vcdco would need agree
ments to receive household garbage from all three coun
ties to keep the incinerator operating continuously. The
company would build and operate a large recycling cen
ter in Columbus County, where recyclable materials
would be sorted out from the garbage.
Each county would be responsible for collecting and
hauling garbage to the Columbus County station. The
goal is to eliminate about 25 percent of the waste for re
cycling. Two-thirds of the remaining garbage would be
burned while the rest would be buried at the Columbus
County landfill.
Brunswick County begins March 1 under a live-year
contract with Waste Industries Inc. of Raleigh, a contract
that requires the firm to haul the county's garbage to the
landfill in Supply.
"It would necessitate a change in that relationship,"
said Ctcgg. "It wouldn't mean the landfill would be
closing. We'd have to maintain a landfill."
Vcdco is also reportedly working on similar deals
with other Du Pont companies in the North and South
Carolina region, including sites in Bladen County, Pitt
County, Lcnior County and Florence, S.C.
The firm's reliance on area garbage to make a profit
"probably puts the counties in a good bargaining posi
tion to tell them how we want the process to be done,"
STAFF PHOTO BY DOUG RUTTER
THE N.C. BOARD OF TRANSPORTATION is expected to transfer $4,000 in emergency funds Fri
day to protect and repair Ocean Boulevard East at Holden Beach.
Fund Transfer On DOT Aqenda
A fund transfer involving emer
gency repairs made iasi faii ai uic
eastern tip of Ocean Boulevard at
Holden Beach should receive formal
approval this week from the N.C.
Board of Transportation.
The board will be asked to transfer
$4,000 from its emergency reserve
fund to the secondary road mainte
nance fund when it meets Friday at 9
a.m. at the Holiday Inn Bordeaux in
Fayette ville.
The state spent $4,000 in October
for additional sandbags and repairs
to the street following a severe storm
and series of abnormal high tides,
said Doug Bowers, division engineer
with the N.C. Department of
Transportation.
Waves have been eroding Ocean
Boulevard East and threatening
homes in that area for several years.
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Part of the road is closed to traffic.
Town ivianager Gary Parker said a
dredge company contracted by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is ex
pected to pump about 80,000 cubic
yards of sand onto the east end be
fore winter ends.
Parker said the project should get
under way in laic February or early
March. Sand wiii be taken from
Lockwood Folly Inlci and pipelined
to the strand near the end of the road.
"With that sand going out there
both the DOT and homeowners may
get some protection for a little
longer," Parker said Tuesday.
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Incineration Talks
said Clegg.
The county would issue local building permits while
the state would issue air quality control permits and
monitor emissions. The proposed $32 million plant
would also add to the county's tax base. But Clegg said
an eye should also be kept on its environmental impact.
"1 never have liked incineration," he said. "Simply
to incinerate is not the point. 1 have a real serious prob
lem with particulate emissions."
On the plus side, the company would already have a
built-in customer for the steam plant and would help to
extend the life of the county's landfill in Supply.
Counties would pay dumping fees per ton of garbage
while recycling profits would be split between the coun
ties and Vcdco.
"If the waste stream is cut that dramatically, we could
probably continue to 1999 without having to line any
new (landfill) cells," said Clegg.
The concept of steam -generated power is not new to
Brunswick County. The Cogentrix plant in Southport
generates steam power for the Archer-Daniels Midland
Corp., but it doesn't bum garbage.
Brunswick officials say they want to learn more
about the proposal, which so far has only been presented
to the Columbus County Solid Waste Citizens Advisory
Committee.
The committee is also considering a proposal from
Chambers Development Corp. of S.C. to build and to
operate a 100-acrc regional landfill in Columbus County
that would last an estimated 12 to 15 years and cost ap
proximately $20 million.
"The bottom line is, it's something that we should
look at," said Clcgg. "We can't continue to handle
garbage in a 1940s mentality in the 1990s with all of the
new regulations that arc in place."
State laws mandate that counties cut the amount of
garbage entering landfills 25 percent by 1993. For coun
ties that fail to meet that guideline, fines will likely be
imposed.
"The taxpayers arc not going to stand for that." said
Clcgg.
Holden Owners Will See
Dip In Flood Insurance
McluCr. Bcach hcrinf>",n'i|'c ran
cxpcct to see another dip in Hood in
surance premiums starting in
October.
nisrruinls thrnnoh Ihr Federal
"" ? ? ? - ? - ? o
Emergency Management Agency's
Community Rating System will
jump from 5 percent to 10 percent
this fall, said Building Inspector
Dwight Carroll.
That means anyone who renews a
flood insurance policy or takes out a
new policy after Oct. 1 can save 10
percent on their premiums.
Holdcn Beach qualified for a 5
perccnt reduction last October
through the Community Rating Sys
tem, which is designed to reward
homeowners in communities that go
heynnrl minimum federal flood pro
tection requirements.
Towns can cam points and qualify
for larger reductions in insurance
nremiums hv talcino dene In lower
i -j o r w
the risk of flood damage.
Holden Beach Commissioners ap
proved a repetitive flood loss pro
gram Monday night as pan of the ef
fort to further reduce insurance costs.
Carroll said only 3 percent of the
buildings on the island have sus
tained flood damage more than
once. The program is designed to
keep floods from damaging the
same building over and over.
The building inspector also has
sent out brochures on hurricane
safety in Holden Beach homeowners
and set up a scction in the local li
brary on flood protection.
Sunset Beach homeowners also
were rewarijo/j with 5-percent dis
counts last fall, but the town didn't
qualify for a larger reduction this
year.
Town Administrator Linda Flue
gcl said the town can't get enough
points to qualify for a bigger dis
count
"We would have to do something
like retrofitting, and 1 don't have
anything to retrofit," she said.
Ocean Isle Beach has applied for
a 5-percent reduction in flood insur
ance premiums that would take ef
fect this fall.
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irSIHElAW
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