Waste Incinerator Proposed For NELHA

[JerryCarr]

Along with environmental concerns, I also have a big concern about the financial costs of waste to energy. Our county government does NOT have a good track record of estimating the construction costs or operational costs of big projects. If the County and the contractors are telling us it will cost $100 million, we can probably count on it costing $150M or more. As far as the energy production angle is concerned, the best I can say is that it would reduce our oil consumption by a small amount. $100M worth of solar arrays and wind farms would reduce our oil consumption by a much larger amount without producing noxious emissions.

We should try a crash course in reducing the amount of rubbish we generate in the first place. Add some stringent compulsory recycling and judicious use of on-island landfills, and we might not need an incinerator.

Cheers,
Jerry