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Waste-To-Energy Plant Growth OK'd By Hillsborough

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By MIKE SALINERO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 7, 2008

Updated: 02/06/2008 11:46 pm

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. The bulk of the money will be taken from a fund set aside to expand 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 is needed to cover soaring costs of materials, equipment and skilled labor.

"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."

Boldissar said the county will not have to increase garbage rates to residents to pay the additional money to Covanta or to finish the northwest transfer station. The solid waste department has money in reserves to cover part of the cost, and will delay a phase of the transfer station construction.

Energy sector prices are escalating because expanding overseas economies require more power, said Dan Strobridge, the county's independent consulting engineer.

"China and India are building power plants like there's no tomorrow," said Strobridge, who said the additional money will not increase Covanta's profit. "What were Third World countries have a fast-growing middle class that are akin to the United States right after World War II."

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 would have been $18 million higher.

Commissioner Brian Blair, who was not on the board when the last Covanta contract was signed, said the agreement was flawed, however, 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 for disbursement without board approval. He said asking commission approval for every equipment purchase would slow the project.

Blair also asked why the commission and solid waste department had opted for a sole-source contract when two other companies, Wheelebrator and Montenay, wanted to bid on the project.

Boldissar said Wheelebrator had wanted to bid on operating the plant, not on constructing the new boilers. Montenay had signaled it wanted to bid on the expansion, but the county decided the company could not make a competitive bid because it would have had to pay for Covanta's proprietary technology in the plant.

Commissioner Al Higginbotham joined Blair in voting no, saying he is concerned about how the county is handling bidding.

Covanta has burned garbage since 1987 at the Resource Recovery Facility at Falkenburg Road. The plant has produced 29 megawatts a day, enough to provide electricity to 20,000 homes and businesses.

Expanding the plant will extend the life of the county landfill by eight to 10 years and add an additional 16 megawatts of daily power production, Boldissar said.

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

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