The Hernando County Commission reached the decision to have a feasibility study done to further analyze the Alternative Waste to Energy Project at their public meeting on December 13, 2016.
The decision was reached after multiple members of the county commission and present members of the public agreed that they need more proof of a positive impact in order to not only prevent a fiscal loss to the county, but also to protect the taxpayers.
From the beginning of the discussion, it was clear that the commission wanted to have further studies done to calculate any potential risks they were not seeing.
County Commissioner Nick Nicholson began the discussion by expressing the need for language to be added to the contract to clearly state that the financial institution funding the project can do a rate study, as well as reiterating that the commission will only sign the contract if the study comes back positive.
“I personally believe that the financial institution that’s going to be writing the check and funding the project should be the one telling us if it’s feasible or not,” Nicholson said as his reasoning.
Nathan Mundy, the president of Freedom Energy Hernando LLC, appeared in front of the commission to “give the facts of the project and answer any questions.”
Mundy began by mentioning some of the waste to fuel facilities he’s owned and operated in the U.S. and Europe to demonstrate that this waste to fuel process works. “I owned and operated a facility that we ran at Disney World; a waste-to-fuel facility that we operated and kept 90% of the waste out of the landfill for less than the cost of landfilling,” Mundy said. “We’ve also developed similar systems at the Department of Energy Savannah River Site up in South Carolina, and we did some projects over in Italy; and for 27 years this has been my space. I’ve developed, built, owned and operated waste-to-fuel facilities. These are just a few of my clients. These are people that I’ve done business with over the years. We have partnered with a PPS group out of Kansas City, and they are one of the preeminent biomass development and engineering companies in the country.”
In a phone conversation with Mundy, he confirmed that a previous waste-to-fuel facility he owned and operated worked with Disney World for five years from 1997 to 2002. He also mentioned he supports having a feasibility study done.
He then mentioned that the county’s current waste collection fee is $54.50 per ton of waste. The Freedom Energy contract states that they will handle 99,600 tons of Class I waste per year and divert 80% of it from the landfill for fuel for a 20-year set rate of $39 per ton of waste processed.
Mundy also mentioned, for the first time, a 5% product rebate to Hernando County being included in the contract.
Mundy went into further detail explaining that they want to build a $20 million facility, with their own money, to convert waste to fuel that they will sell to their markets. He mentioned he hoped to do other things in the near future with the waste if the plan is approved. “Our goal is to take this and internally build a demonstration platform for emerging technologies [used for renewable energy],” he said.
In the phone conversation with Mundy, he expressed that there are positive results in more ways than environmental. “We sell our fuel for less than what we pay for coal or tires, it’s not only an environmental drive, but it’s an economic drive as well,” he said. He also mentioned that this project would also create a lot of jobs and sustainable infrastructure.
According to Mundy’s LinkedIn page, some of his past clients dealing with renewable energy include: The Department of Energy, Reedy Creek Energy Services, Universal Studios and Duke Power. His LinkedIn also mentions he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from The Citadel, and that he has been working in the renewable energy field since 1990.
Mundy reiterated the fact that they needed no county funding, there would be no lease put on the lands they put the facilities on, and that the only thing the county would pay for is the processing of the waste. “If you pay us for 99,600 tons a year, and we don’t process that, then we’ll either give you a credit [for when there’s a tonnage overage] or give you the $39 back,” he said.
The equipment Mundy wants to use in the facility can process a minimum of 50 tons per hour, which allows them to process everything Hernando does within an eight-hour shift, according to Mundy. He also mentioned that they can eventually make deals with other counties to process their waste as well; but that was pushed to a later discussion when concerns about overflowing the landfill were mentioned, and it was found that it was not mentioned in the presented contract.
The commissioners showed their concerns about protecting taxpayers and a lack of research supporting the project. Their concerns were further brought on by the mention of one potential investor wanting to put Hernando County’s name on conduit private activity bonds used to finance the project. Mundy assured them that they would not use that investor if the county had an issue with it.
The public comments were mostly concerning the lack of time given to review the contract, and they agreed, to an extent, with the commission that they should have a feasibility study done and analysis given at a later public meeting.
Two feasibility studies will be conducted now. One will be by the investor, and the other by the county. Both parties will pay for their own studies respectively.