City files for bankruptcy after losing law suit with developer, same fate for Mascotte?

Please see the article below which can be found at:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/mammoth-lakes-bankruptcy_n_1646692.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D175621

Mammoth Lakes Bankruptcy: Small Ski Town Faces $43 Million Tab

LOS ANGELES -- Councilmembers in a small ski town high in California's Sierra Nevada voted unanimously Monday to file for bankruptcy, the second local government in the state to recently make that decision.

Mammoth Lakes is facing a $43 million judgment that's more than twice the town's budget. Papers seeking Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection could be filed in court as soon as Tuesday, according to Marianna Marysheva-Martinez, the assistant town manager.

The city of more than 8,000 people about 300 miles north of Los Angeles has lacked sufficient revenue to pay $2.7 million in obligations, and a state court has ordered it to repay its largest creditor, Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition.

The town lost a property development fight that left it with a $30 million legal judgment in 2008. Mammoth Lakes had tried to back out of a 1997 agreement that gave a developer the right to develop a hotel and buy land in return for improving the local airport.

The town fought that judgment but lost its final appeal to the California Supreme Court. The tab has grown to $43 million interest and legal fees – a figure more than twice the town's annual budget of $18 million.

A poor snow season also hurt the town's finances because it caused a dip in tourism. The town now faces a deficit of $2.2 million to $2.5 million in its general fund budget.

While the city is under Chapter 9 protection, agencies including police and fire services will remain intact, town officials said.

The filing will make Mammoth Lakes the second local government after Stockton to use a new state mediation process before filing for bankruptcy.

The new union-backed law aims to protect public employee contracts by making it harder for municipalities to file bankruptcy and requires local governments to enter an evaluation process with its bond holders, creditors, employee unions and retirees for up to 90 days in an effort to avoid Chapter 9 protection.

Still Ignoring the Life Boat, City Drowning

The article below was taken from WFTV Channel 9 in Orlando.
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June 4, 2012

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. —

City officials said that property values in Mascotte have tanked, and most Lake County cities saw a 4 to 6 percent drop.

Mascotte's property values tumbled18 percent, and city leaders said they will start looking for ways to make up for the budget shortfall.

Nearly every home in Mascotte is barely worth what it could fetch in 2004, and that will cost the city plenty, officials said.

"To our budget, you're probably looking at about $395,000," said city manager Jim Gleason.

That's how much less Gleason will have to work with to balance the city's $2.7 million spending plan. The financial slide has lasted four years, and officials said most departments have already been cutting as much as possible.

Now, a few more jobs are about to go.

"We've got some personnel cuts through attrition, so we'll save some money, about $61,000 in the enterprise fund," said Gleason.

Gleason said he cannot propose cuts in either police or fire departments, even if he wanted to because several positions were funded through federal grants.

"We could end up owing the federal government back over $400,000, maybe $500,000 in fire and $160,000 in police. So, I have to leave their manpower at a certain level or it costs us," Gleason said.

Gleason believes he can still keep the city of 5,000 residents above water, but it will take some tough choices.

One of the options council will look at is a $5 per month hike in the fire service fee to every home.

Gleason said the increase would raise $120,000.

Currently, Mascotte residents pay $60 a year.

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The link below will take you to WFTV's website which contains the video of the story:

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/officials-mascottes-property-values-tumble-18-perc/nPLnT/

Landfill Gas To Energy

We celebrated Memorial Day thinking about all the men and women past and present who have served this great country. Our freedom is the most precious of all that we have. It made me think about the freedom of choice. Why don't we choose the things right in front of us for the benefit and survival of the City of Mascotte? Why do we let loud voices scare us into positions that are not in our best interest? I added the information below to the blog today, I was looking at articles about gas energy from landfills and came across this information. Do the Mascotte Council Members understand this information? Maybe because of the loud voices bullying them, they have not been able to focus on it. This project is green energy and has so many positives. This project serves the people in so many ways and provides funds desperately needed for the City. Let your council know, you need them to make sound intelligent decisions based on facts not emotions. Our survival depends on strong leadership that can understand the facts and do what is best for the City.

Availability

Every year, U.S. residents and companies discard mountains of waste – an estimated 251 million tons of it in 2006.²⁶

Texans threw away 30.5 million tons of garbage in 2006. Even after removing construction waste and water treatment plant sludge from the total, this means that an average of 5.8 pounds of solid waste for every man, woman and child in the state was thrown away each day. This waste was deposited in one of 187 landfills actively accepting waste.²⁷

According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), landfills suitable for transformation into power-generating sites are those that have more than 1 million tons of refuse, are at least 40 feet deep and are in areas receiving more than 25 inches of rainfall annually. TCEQ estimated that 59 Texas landfills meet these criteria.²⁸  

By any estimate, Texas has potential for using this untapped energy source. The State Energy Conservation Office estimates that if the 70 largest landfills in Texas were fully developed for energy production, about 40 billion cubic feet of methane could be put to use generating nearly 200 MW of electricity, powering more than 100,000 homes in Texas.30

Environmental Impact

Using landfill gas as another source of energy reduces the release of methane into the atmosphere and thus the accumulation of greenhouse gases. Landfills operators are required to meet air quality standards, so recovering energy from methane can help them offset the cost of meeting federal requirements.35

According to EPA a three MW landfill gas project producing electricity generates the environmental equivalent of removing 25,000 cars from the road; planting 35,000 acres of trees; or preventing the use of 304,000 barrels of oil.36

Using landfill gas as another source of energy reduces the release of methane into the atmosphere.

Sometimes, pipelines carrying landfill gas traverse sensitive environmental areas. Methane gas is transported from the Arlington, Texas, landfill via a four-mile pipeline to the Fort Worth Village Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. This pipeline passes under River Legacy Park, a 1,300-acre Trinity River greenbelt, forest and floodplain area.37

Subsidies and Taxes

A federal production tax credit of one cent per kWh is available for energy produced from landfill gas. Chapter 28 contains more information on biomass subsidies.

Other States and Countries

Pennsylvania serves as a model state in the development of landfill gas. The state has 24 landfill gas-to-energy projects, representing a relatively high percentage of all Pennsylvania landfills.44 In 2006, EPA named Pennsylvania as the State Partner of the Year for its work in promoting the use of landfill gas as a renewable energy source. Pennsylvania developed a landfill methane database and wrote a landfill gas development primer.45 Landfill gas is included as part of the state’s alternative energy portfolio standards, and the state has provided an estimated $3.8 million from several different programs to benefit landfill gas projects.46

Massachusetts has 15 landfills producing about 51 MW of power across the state. In Massachusetts, one megawatt powers about 1,200 homes. Many of these projects began in the 1990s when the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection began promoting landfill gas as a renewable fuel source. The state was looking for ways to diversify and expand its energy portfolio so that it did not rely on a few sources for energy. Landfill gas to energy projects benefited the state in two ways: they decreased the methane emissions from landfills (which improved air quality), and provided the state with a renewable fuel for generating power. More landfill gas to energy projects are in development and are expected to generate an additional 9 MW of power for Massachusetts residents when completed.47

Outlook for Texas

Given the rising costs of oil and natural gas, landfill gas presents an attractive and relatively untapped energy source. Yet it has not been a major focus for research and development in the state.

Some new technologies in this area are being studied, however, such as “landfill bioreactors,” in which water is added to the landfill to speed up the process of decomposition. Other companies are exploring ways to thoroughly clean the gas that landfills produce. Cleaning the gas separates the methane, which is the main component of natural gas, and CO2, which can be sold separately for commercial purposes.

Richard DiGia, vice president of operations and construction for DTE Biomass Energy, has said that landfill gas is very attractive for electric generation compared with other renewable sources of energy because of the capacity. “As long as we keep landfilling there’ll be landfill gas,” he stated.48

With 186 landfills actively accepting waste and an estimated 50-plus candidate sites that could develop landfill gas, Texas has an opportunity to turn much more of its waste into cash.

Developing landfill gas facilities makes sense only if private or public entities can use, buy or sell it. Gary Bartels, general manager of the city of Arlington’s landfill for Republic Waste Services, pointed out the advantages of having private companies as partners: as private entities, they can qualify for federal landfill gas production tax credits, lowering the break-even threshold for the operation.49

Two interesting posts I found:

EPA Site with good Q&A About Landfill Gas Energy:

Mascotte has an opportunity to have energy from landfill gas produced from the proposed project, the EPA discusses this type of gas energy in link below:

http://www.epa.gov/lmop/faq/lfg.html

Great Use of Landfill After Closure:

Landfills have a limited life. I came across a use of a closed landfill similar to what is being proposed for the Mascotte site. Visit the Mount-Trashmore Park link below:

http://www.vbgov.com/government/departments/parks-recreation/parks-trails/city-parks/pages/mount-trashmore-park.aspx

Firestorm In Mascotte

Citizens of Mascotte:

I have been following the Mascotte Council’s consideration of a Waste Management landfill facility to be located within the city limits. The council and the city have been sued by the landowner for lack of due process and other issues associated with their decision to deny the proposal. A proposal that would have brought over $10 million of new revenue to the city and created 30+ permanent direct jobs and many construction related jobs and many indirect jobs. A project of this magnitude with a fortune 200 company would no doubt breed many other revenue producing opportunities for the City. I also understand the proposal included a new sports field complex and annual money for special events in the city.

So why did the Mascotte council turn this down? Why in a time of financial crisis at the city where the very survival of the city is in doubt did the council turn this proposal down? I think whoever cares about the City of Mascotte continuing as a City with its own council, police, fire and public works and ability to govern itself should be asking this question, Why?

I have asked the question and here is my take. I think a majority of the council wanted to approve the project for all the benefits stated but were bullied by Lake County and loud voices apparently from land owners with other agendas. These opposing parties were able to get a few citizens to oppose the project using fear tactics. The applicant addressed all the fears in its presentation materials but the loud voices drowned out the facts with emotion.

I have posted below on the blog site several links with examples of green energy from landfills.

Green energy from landfill: http://thinkgreen.com/bmw-drives-forward

More Green energy from landfill: http://americancityandcounty.com/waste/will-countys-landfill-gas-energy-plant-turns-garbage-gold

More Green energy from landfill: http://www.alliedwastekent.com/Divisional%20Documents/RS-Naturally-Sm-Bro-3.pdf

More Green energy from landfill: http://www.abc27.com/story/18309808/waste-management-mahoning-landfill-to-produce-green-energy-from-everyday-waste

I have looked at some of Waste Management’s materials and information. They proposed a state of the art facility in Mascotte.  The amount of state and federal oversight for the permitting, operation and closing phases of a project like this are extensive.  They estimated a 20 year life to the operation phase after which the site would be a green area suitable for a park. They showed examples of closed landfills that became parks in other cities.

The fact is people produce waste that must be processed.  The Lake County council understands this and is moving to meet the need of the citizens.  Meeting that need is profitable for Cities and Counties that have the opportunity to do so.  Mascotte had the opportunity to meet that need and get the revenue from  it. To have the number 1 waste company in the world choose a site in Mascotte was a God send.  All the citizens of Mascotte who care about the survival of the city should let the city council know that they support them approving this project.  I hope it is not too late.

Now I am just a simple man but this situation reminds me of a story I heard in Church that seems to fit here.

A man was on his roof top waiting for rescue form the flood waters that had invaded his neighborhood and chased him to his roof top. A neighbor came by in a canoe and invited him to get in, the man said no, I am waiting on the Lord, He will save me.  The water continued to rise to his waist,  A little later a power boat with fireman and other rescue people came by and invited him in, the man said no, I am waiting on the Lord, He will save me. The water continued to rise up to his chest, At that point a Helicopter hovered over him, dropping a rescue basket down with instruction to get in, the man said no,  I am waiting on the Lord, He will save me.  Well the water continued to rise and the man drowned.  He stood before the Lord and asked, Lord, I don’t know what you were thinking, I trusted that you would save me from that flood and you let me drown.  The Lord then said to the man, my child, I sent a canoe, a boat and a helicopter to rescue you, why did you not get in?

Below is the contact information for the City of Mascotte City Council

Mayor: Tony Rosado 352-352-434-2719  tony.rosado@cityofmascotte.com

Mayor Pro Tem: Brenda Brasher 352-324-2290 352-324-2264 brenda.brasher@cityofmascotte.com

Louise Thompson 352-429-8199 louise.thompson@cityofmascotte.com

Stephen Elmore 352-551-9480  stephenelmore@yahoo.com   stephen.elmore@cityofmascotte.com

Barbara Krull 352-429-0873 barbara.krull@cityofmascotte.com

City of Mascotte web site: www.cityofmascotte.com

Will County's landfill gas-to-energy plant turns garbage to gold

Public-private partnership builds power plant at landfill to generate green energy and revenue

Wed, 2012-04-25 10:39

American City and County

Late last year, Will County, Ill., opened a landfill gas-to-energy (LFGE) plant that is generating 4.8 megawatts of power, enough for 3,000 homes in the surrounding area, and has room for expansion. Built through a public-private partnership and with the help of federal grant dollars, the project is turning methane gas from the landfill into electricity that is sold to the local utility, generating revenue for the county.

Will County built its Prairie View Recycling and Disposal Facility in 2004 and contracts with Waste Management of Illinois to operate it. When it was built, plans called for the eventual construction of an LFGE plant to put the landfill’s methane gas to use. In 2010, the county received a $3 million Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and entered an agreement with Waste Management to build the plant. The county dedicated $1 million from the grant, and Waste Management contributed $8 million to the 7,000-square-foot plant’s construction.            

Opened in December 2011, the LFGE plant is equipped with three 20-cylinder, 2,233-horsepower Caterpillar engines. As the landfill grows and produces more methane, more engines will be added, and the plant will increase its power output. When fully equipped, the plant is projected to power 7,800 homes annually.

Will County owns the rights to the landfill gas and sells it to Waste Management to use at the plant. The company also shares the profits from the sale of the electricity with the county. The revenue stream for Will County is expected to be $441,000 for the first year and should grow to average $1 million per year when more engines are added. The county will use the revenue to fund other green infrastructure projects. “Not only will this plant help protect our environment by creating a green energy source, it also creates a new revenue source that can now pay for important green infrastructure projects in the future without placing an additional burden to county taxpayers,” says Will County Executive Larry Walsh.

Source URL: http://americancityandcounty.com/waste/will-countys-landfill-gas-energy-plant-turns-garbage-gold