SPSA hears WTE proposals

By Tracy Agnew (Contact) | Suffolk News-Herald

Published Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Southeastern Public Service Authority board of directors on Wednesday heard from two companies that have been negotiating to purchase the waste to energy plant in Portsmouth.

Covanta Energy and Wheelabrator Technologies made presentations to the board of the debt-ridden waste management authority. Both companies are vying to purchase the plant in Portsmouth, which converts trash into energy by burning the waste.

Covanta Energy, based in New Jersey, claimed they will offer a purchase price that will allow SPSA to retire its debt by 2017. The authority owes about $240 million. Neither Covanta nor Wheelabrator, however, would disclose potential offering prices.

Covanta already has two facilities in Virginia, one in Alexandria and one in Fairfax. The Alexandria plant along processes 975 tons of municipal solid waste per day, producing 23 megawatts of renewable energy. Covanta said it is nearly done with the research process, and hopes to make an offer within 60 days, indicating the dollars are already set aside. They also said they hope to maintain long-term employment of existing SPSA employees.

Wheelabrator said it already operates 16 facilities similar to the one in Portsmouth, mostly on the east coast of the United States. The closest one is in Baltimore, Md. Wheelabrator is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Waste Management. Wheelabrator took in $868 million in 2007, and stressed that they are involved in their host communities through civic involvement, educational programs, charitable contributions and environmental responsibility.

Both companies are certified through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Voluntary Protection Programs. The programs promote worksite safety and health.

The proposals are not related to ReEnergy Holdings’ bid to buy SPSA. The board of directors has rebuffed ReEnergy’s offer twice, saying that the negotiations to sell the waste to energy plant prevent them from selling the entire entity to someone else.

Following the presentations, a staff member updated board members on legislation in the General Assembly session affecting the authority. One bill, introduced by Delegate John Cosgrove (R-Chesapeake), would reorganize the authority’s board of directors if passed. Under the bill, HB1872, each member locality would nominate three individuals – each having general business knowledge and not being an elected official – to fill its position on the board of directors. The governor of Virginia then will appoint one person from each of the lists to serve. Each term will be four years long, and nobody will serve more than two consecutive four-year terms. The original bill also requires a vote of at least 75 percent of the board members to take out more debt.

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