TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hillsborough Approves Expansion Of Waste Plant

ADVERTISEMENT

By MIKE SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

TAMPA - A $13.6 million expansion of Hillsborough County's waste-to-energy plant will go forward despite opposition from a county commissioner who said the contract is flawed.

County commissioners voted 5-2 to approve money for the expansion, which will increase the plant's capacity from 1,200 tons of waste burned a day to 1,800 tons. Much of the cost will be paid for at the expense of a planned expansion of the northwest garbage transfer station.

Covanta Hillsborough Inc., the company that runs the plant and will be the general contractor on the expansion, said the extra money was needed to cover soaring costs of materials, equipment and skilled labor. The county signed a sole-source contract with Covanta in 2004 that contained an escalator clause to deal with changing market factors. The county chose that type of agreement because a fixed maximum price contract was many millions of dollars higher.

"There have been unprecedented pricing increases in the energy field, especially in the power-plant construction industry," said Barry Boldissar, the county's solid waste chief. "It takes specialized skills; equipment is specialized. All this has resulted in those significant price increases."

But Commissioner Brian Blair, who was not on the board when the last Covanta contract was signed, said the agreement was flawed, putting all the risk of price increases on the county. Blair also charged that Covanta wanted the bulk of the money moved into a disbursement fund that would shield it from commission scrutiny.

"This gives $13.6 million to the project with no oversight by the board because it's going into contingency fund No. 1," Blair said.

Tom Smith, head of environmental services at the solid waste department, agreed the money would go into the contingency fund without board approval. He said asking board approval for every equipment purchase would slow the project.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT