Request for Advise, Insight, Comment on Locating Wood Burning Power Plant in Urban Industrial Area

[Emery Graham <"egraham"@ci.wilmington.de.us>]

Request for Advise, Insight, Comment on Locating Wood Burning Power Plant
in Urban Industrial Area

This listserv has been very useful. I'd like to get some feedback from
its members regarding a proposed project that meets the following
description. This is an open question and I'd like to get as
broadranging a set of comments as possible. I'd like to know if there is
technology available to mitigate any environmental negatives that might
be associated with this type of plant.

The project would be located in a small river based municipality, in a
brownfields, environmentally impacted, minority, and low/moderate income
area. From a market perspective the location is ideal in that the local
power company will buy the power, a compressed gas company will buy the
carbon dioxide, a greenhouse project will use cogenerated steam. I'd
like to know what the environmental impacts are likely to be. The
nearest residents are within a half mile of the proposed project site.

The project is a small (22 megawatt) energy and carbon dioxide plant
that uses clean wood salvaged from construction debris, used pallets, and
residential landscaping material as fuel. This material is currently
being disposed of in area landfills.

The project has number of advantages for the citizens of Wilmington:
i) it creates approximately 65 jobs
ii) it saves rapidly diminishing space in landfills through recycling
waste wood materials, and 
iii) emissions from this environmentally friendly project is but a fraction
of those emitted by conventional coal or oil fired power plants.

Thanks In Advance,
Emery