Look elsewhere to reduce carbon gases | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

To the editor: Gold and precious stones could not induce me to say derogatory things about the mewing’s of the Bainbridge Islander NIMBYS who want “clean power” from Bonneville instead of from PSE’s Colstrip while doing nothing about our own carbon footprint.

June 4, 2016 12:34 pm

To the editor:

Gold and precious stones could not induce me to say derogatory things about the mewing’s of the Bainbridge Islander NIMBYS who want “clean power” from Bonneville instead of from PSE’s Colstrip while doing nothing about our own carbon footprint.

The shift of power source from the one to the other does nothing for the environment save for a sanctimonious feeling about having no carbon-based power.

Instead, the city council might look at our own carbon footprint and study ways of generating power from our own waste stream which is trucked off the island at some expense and which may be used to generate (at least) 1.4 megawatts of GREEN power at the Don Palmer transfer site off Vincent Road.

There are four primary waste streams for consideration:

• The municipal waste water treatment plant at Hawley Avenue: Three 25-ton truckloads of “residue” are trucked down to Tacoma a month at $1,500 a load. (The city has recently approved a $75,000 contract for the next year)  This is prime material for a biodigester/fuel cell.

• The septic tank pumpers that go down to the Central Kitsap Treatment Plant at a cost of $420 for a 25-ton load for “decanting” at a facility that can generate 350-plus KW of electricity and still emits CO2. This material is also a prime source of free fuel for a biodigester.

• The six trucks that currently go down to the OVTS (Olympic View Transfer Site) across from the airport, with their 16 ton loads to offload do so at $69 a ton. Some of the solid waste (i.e. food waste) can be sorted out for a biodigester. If even three out of the 12 trips a month could be saved, this might be worthwhile.

• The 4,210.39 tons of yard waste currently trucked off the island at $46 a ton, mixed with other waste, could be used in a biodigester.

Financially, this alternative makes a great deal of sense (at least more than buying out PSE) as a 1.4 MW plant could be financed through a low interest loan through a power purchase agreement with PSE with financial incentives from both PSE and DOE. Further, this additional power would take some of the strain off PSE to allow replacement of aging equipment.

I would urge the Bainbridge city council to work out a mutually beneficial agreement with Bainbridge Disposal with the city owning the fuel cell and Bainbridge Disposal owning the biodigester.

ROTH HAFER

Bainbridge Island