Catoosa County officials delayed a decision, March 15, on a venture that may save hundreds of thousands dollars in solving a methane gas problem at the former county landfill.

The delay came after Cogeneration Technologies, Inc. of Ooltewah, Tenn. posed new questions in a written proposal to the county to construct methane extraction wells.

Michael McCullough, Cogeneration Technologies president, offered the Catoosa County Board of Commissioners and Catoosa County Solid Waste Management Authority an option of collaborating with the company to use the gas produced to create energy.

Methane is a byproduct of rotting garbage.

Catoosa was on the verge of spending about $400,000 to satisfy Georgia Environmental Protection Division require-ments, after already spending $200,000, but another option became available when Cogeneration made a proposal in February.

“We need to get the contract done and get the gas out of the dump,” said Commissioner Ken Marks. “We are getting closer everyday and getting further behind every-day. We will get it worked out.”

Commissioner Bobby Winters emphasized to fellow commissioners that someone needs to drill the wells as soon as possible.

The proposal

Originally McCullough said his company will provide $350,000, which the county may apply toward the installation of 16 new methane extraction wells that Catoosa is being required to install and pay a lease fee of $1,000 per month for the space.

According to commissioners, the company will now install the wells based on a design provided by the county engineer.

The company will require an approximate 90x90-ft. area to build a building and install equipment that will help con-vert the methane gas into a form that can be sold as energy to Tennessee Valley Authority via North Georgia Electric Membership Corp., he said.

The two-year old company currently operates a similar operation at Chattanooga’s Summit Landfill.

If approved, Catoosa will be the company’s second facil-ity, providing two megawatts of electricity each hour and generating about $500,000 in revenue each year, McCullough said.

Cogeneration will operate the system for the county.

As a result of the effort, Greenhouse gas credits and tax credits are possible for the company and county to split, he said.

Site one at the landfill will produce methane for the next 20 years, according to McCullough, and the company is seeking a 12-year agreement with the county.

Once approved, it will take a minimum of six months until energy can begin flowing, he said.

Concerns

County attorney Clifton “Skip” Patty said that he has a number of concerns about the proposal.

“There is no guarantee,” he said.

Patty said if the 16 wells do not get rid of the methane mi-gration problem then the county will share in the cost of installing additional wells.

“The board should determine the primary goal,” he said. “If the primary goal is to prevent methane migration.”

Patty also said that Catoosa may have a problem with granting exclusive rights to Cogeneration in future opera-tions on Site Two at the landfill without competition from other companies.

Patty advised a public hearing on the proposal.

Darrell Webb, principal engineer for Advance Environmental Management of Norcross, Ga.— the company hired by the county to combat the problem— said the deal should be looked at as a way to eliminate the cost of putting in the wells.

“The objective specifically is to stop off-site migration,” he said. “(Cogeneration) is going to take the gas a try to generate electricity. Are the additional wells going to solve the problem? I can’t say it is going to solve the off-site migration. If it does not resolve it we will have to put in more wells.”

Webb said permit modifications could cost the county about $10,000.

County Manager J.D. Byrd said officials should be able to move forward on the deal rather quickly.

Previous methane solutions

The commission and Waste Management Authority originally approved the construction of a methane gas burn-off system in 2002 at an estimated cost of $200,000.

The system consists of numerous extraction wells dug into pockets of suspected methane gas around the landfill, then piped to a motorized vacuum that feeds a flare that safely “burns off” the gas.

But the gas is still traveling underground through the soil and cracks and fissures in the rock and exiting on nearby residents’ land, according to environmental tests.

Operation began in the summer of 2003, but after the system proved inadequate, the county began operating the system constantly rather than part-time