Director of Solid Waste Timm Schimke says California-based Waste To Energy Group has suffered numerous delays in securing funding, but finally appears ready to proceed. "They have given us documentation showing us they have secured financing for the project, and they have given us a fairly detailed milestones schedule; and they have given us some draft documents of both Community Development and DEQ permit applications. So, the county feels comfortable that progress is being made."

 

The original contract was signed last year, and was set to expire Monday, August 3 because commercial operations are not yet up and running. Schimke tells KBND, "We gave them 18 months from when they signed the contract and that anticipated they would get their funding very quickly after signing the contract; and that didn't turn out to be the case for any number of reasons. I guess I'm learning quite a bit that these projects are not very easy to fund at all. They've had several close calls from different funding sources and those appeared to fall through. Now, apparently they've been successful."

 

Schimke says the contract extension will require Waste To Energy to meet timing and achievement milestones or risk losing the contract. If the project is successful, the county could net at least a quarter of a million dollars a year in royalties.  

 

Read more about the project HERE.