Waste to Energy

Yes, that would be a logical, sensible, affordable, cost effective way to eliminate two problems at once.
Therefore, this being the VI, it will never happen.
The sole purpose of any entity controlled by the VI government (WAPA, etc.) is to distribute money to themselves and their friends.

Common sense would dictate that on an island, you need to find a more effective alternative to a landfill or shipping the waste off island to become someone else's problem.

They have been employing waste to energy technology in Europe for 100 years and have some 450 plants operation today. I think this has enabled them to eliminate most of the issues! There are about 90 facilities in the U.S. today and they seem to be operating effectively also.

All you need to do is to spend a day at any landfill and see what gets disposed. If you think about it, every single thing that you purchase in your lifetime gets thrown out at some point and the majority of it is NOT recycled but buried in a landfill. Multiply that times 320 million people!

Also, we have enough garbage on the sides of the roads in the Virgin Islands to fuel a waste to energy plant for years!

Lee County Florida has just such a system - IT WORKS!

from http://www.leegov.com/gov/dept/SolidWaste/Facilities/Pages/WastetoEnergyFacility.aspx

The Lee County Waste-To-Energy Facility

All of the household garbage collected in Lee and Hendry counties eventually ends up at the Lee County Resource Recovery Facility, also known as the Waste-To-Energy Plant.

Creating Energy

At this facility's mass-burn combustion system, waste is combusted at temperatures above 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The energy created during the combustion process is transformed into electricity. Once the waste is combusted, all that is left is an inert ash residue about 10 percent of its original volume. The Resource Recovery Facility is also equipped with an automated recovery system that efficiently removes ferrous and non-ferrous metals from the ash; the recovered material is recycled. This ash is then disposed of at the landfill in Hendry County.

Construction & Expansion

Commercial operation of the plant began on Dec. 1, 1994. Construction was completed two months ahead of schedule and $10 million under budget. In January 2006, construction began on a third combustion unit capable of processing 636 tons per day (tpd) of garbage. This expansion project was completed in the summer of 2007 with a first fire achieved on Aug. 18, 2007. The Waste-To-Energy facility can mass burn 1836 tpd of garbage and produce up to 53 gross megawatts of power, which is enough electricity to power the rough equivalent of all the homes in the city of Bonita Springs.

Pollution Control

The Resource Recovery Plant is equipped with extensive air pollution control systems. It is the first operational plant in the United States to be built with a permanent activated carbon injection system for controlling mercury emissions. The environmental control systems were designed with the new, more stringent, Clean Air Act in mind, and emissions have met the proposed standards without any modification. Facility emissions are continuously monitored and strictly regulated by state and federal agencies.

All aspects of the plant are monitored from the central control room 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Awards & Recognitions

The Lee County Resource Recovery Facility is a sound, long-term, environmental and economic solution to solid waste disposal. It has won prestigious awards recognizing excellence in design, construction and operation of power generation systems throughout the world.

However, the WTE they planned a few years ago, incorporated shipping waste by barges from STJ/STT to STX to provide a miniscule amount of energy for STX at an extremely high cost by people that had no track record, whatsoever, of having built any type of WTE plant, ever.
We won't have to get into the toxins WTE plants emit on land, air, ocean, the roof tops for your cisterns, your garden, plants, etc.

This was a "golden parachute" deal for Cornwall and Hugo Hodge.
It was not approved due to huge public dissent.

How about clean energy for the future instead of old concepts.

Hey, decades ago they used to just burn the trash at the dump site which is now Sugar Bay Resort.
Think about how toxic that was, especially since it was located on the east end of STT and where our prevailing winds came from!

Size of the plants are an issue. Mass burn likely isn't feasible, maybe something like plasma or a smaller gassifier.

Nimby issues are another problem, not many people are going to he happy with a garbage burner in their back yard.

Alanna33 you hit upon the problem with everything, which is that the government only gives out contracts to their "friends".
As you state, contracts are awarded "by people that had no track record, whatsoever".

There are solutions to all of the VI's problems, but those in charge only care about enriching themselves and their "friends". Look in the newspaper to see how request for contract bids are awarded (look at fine print at the bottom), contracts do NOT go to the lowest bidder, just the bidder they want to select (their "friends") all other bids by experienced firms are tossed out.

Waste to Energy plants no longer have problems with emissions of toxins as you fear as the burn temperatures are so high in modern systems.

I think it could work but it would have to be some type of hybrid organization. The company would need a track record of successful operation elsewhere while still recognizing this is not like any where else. From plant construction to operations they would need to plan for the "uniqueness" of here. Since STX is sort of centrally located we could become the place other less forward thinking islands ship their waste to. Done properly it could be a benefit to the whole region not just STX.

Alanna33 you hit upon the problem with everything, which is that the government only gives out contracts to their "friends".
As you state, contracts are awarded "by people that had no track record, whatsoever".

There are solutions to all of the VI's problems, but those in charge only care about enriching themselves and their "friends". Look in the newspaper to see how request for contract bids are awarded (look at fine print at the bottom), contracts do NOT go to the lowest bidder, just the bidder they want to select (their "friends") all other bids by experienced firms are tossed out.

Waste to Energy plants no longer have problems with emissions of toxins as you fear as the burn temperatures are so high in modern systems.

What happens with the waste from a WTE plant? How does one get rid of that?

What continues to elude me, is not so much the giving out of contracts to friends or those willing to "pad pockets for approval", it is that there never seems to be proper due diligence in checking the backgrounds and track records of the Principals involved that come to the VI Government with all these schemes. And schemes they are. Make no mistake about it.

I now am amazed that the failing entity known as GERS loaned TIBAR any money.
If that company has a such good history and track record, (lack of criminal backgrounds in their past, for instance) why could they not get traditional financing for a lower interest rate as someone else mentioned? It'll be interesting to see how that all works out (or not)!

Tibbar has no experience in power production. They claim to have a JV of some kind with someone who does.

What happens with the waste from a WTE plant? How does one get rid of that?

This will answer your question, Alana

http://www.energyrecoverycouncil.org/waste-energy-ash-reuse-a2974

(tu)

Alanna33 you hit upon the problem with everything, which is that the government only gives out contracts to their "friends".
As you state, contracts are awarded "by people that had no track record, whatsoever".

There are solutions to all of the VI's problems, but those in charge only care about enriching themselves and their "friends". Look in the newspaper to see how request for contract bids are awarded (look at fine print at the bottom), contracts do NOT go to the lowest bidder, just the bidder they want to select (their "friends") all other bids by experienced firms are tossed out.

Waste to Energy plants no longer have problems with emissions of toxins as you fear as the burn temperatures are so high in modern systems.

What happens with the waste from a WTE plant? How does one get rid of that?

According to the statistics generated by the WTE plants, 90% of the waste is burned creating a residual waste of 10% of the original mass.
This is simply then placed in the landfill.

Of the two principal authors of their environmental assessment report, didn't one of them, their chief financial officer, for instance, go to prison for environmental crimes or had to settle through the courts to keep it quiet? If one looks up the Principals and their backgrounds, it's interesting to see what you can find.

According to the statistics generated by the WTE plants, 90% of the waste is burned creating a residual waste of 10% of the original mass.
This is simply then placed in the landfill.

From the link that I posted:

Nearly 3 million tons of ash, or more than one-third of all residues, are being reused annually as landfill roadbed material, daily and final landfill cover, road aggregate, asphalt-mixture, and even in the construction of artificial reefs and cement blocks.

STX Companies and Corporations doing business there do not have such a great track record of non pollution of that island as can be seen in this article: http://stthomassource.com/content/news/local-news/2014/06/14/territory-wins-environmental-lawsuit.

Companies such as these:
The companies sued were owners and operators of the alumina refining plant, St. Croix Alumina LLC.; Alcoa World Alumina LLC; St. Croix Renaissance Group LLLP; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Virgin Islands Alumina Corporation; and Century Aluminum Company. Also named as defendants were Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corporation and Hovensa LLC.

The companies operated on the southern coast of the island in Estates Anguilla, Pearl, Hope, Figtree and Jerusalem.

Of the two principal authors of their environmental assessment report, didn't one of them, their chief financial officer, for instance, go to prison for environmental crimes or had to settle through the courts to keep it quiet? If one looks up the Principals and their backgrounds, it's interesting to see what you can find.

Alana, please read my original post. We are all aware of the poblems with the first proposer.
The question was, given due diligence and a company with a proven track record, are we
ready to revisit the opportunity of a WTE facility on STX?

I actually was speaking of TIBAR not the WTE guys that certainly had their own legal issues.

Imagine the gobs of money the GVI could make on tipping fees from other islands as we burn their waste.

I was in favor the last time and would support it again wholeheartedly.

I lived near a WTE plant in the states and had no issues with it at all.

We have a waste to energy program now, It's called WAPA. They waste our money and give us a small amount of energy.

anything with common sense that would result in lower electrical cost will never truly be implemented here because wapa is government , and they love to milk things for all their worth

Like viNGN will soon be milking our access to the internet.

What is the winning number for the next lottery, oh omniscient one?

😛