Jasper attempts to address concerns of citizens with new lease agreement details released today

A press conference was called to announce some additional details to the ongoing lease agreement between Jasper Clean Energy (Twisted Oak and its constituents) and the City of Jasper over the Jasper Power Plant.

Mayor Bill Schmitt explained that in the course of the negotiations Jasper Clean Energy has agreed to accommodate stricter emissions standards than required. The stricter standards will be a condition in the proposed lease agreement. The plant is required to comply with the recently approved Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards for “minor” sources, but will actually operate under the stricter standards of a “major” source. (the standards are explained at the end of this story)

According to Wayne Schuetter, President Utility Service Board, “We will monitor the emissions through IDEM on probably a quarterly basis. If they are outside  then they will be in noncompliance with the lease and will have to fix the problem or cease operations.”

The lease will also include restrictions on the use of switch grass as a source of fuel for the power plant.

“Switch grass has been removed from the list of acceptable sustainable crops we can burn. It will be restricted to miscanthus.” Mayor Schmitt explained that closed-loop crops will remain on the proposed lease agreement to accommodate better varieties of the miscanthus that may come from the research institutes, but the use will be upon approval of the city.

An issue that has repeatedly been broached by Pastor Dr. Chris Breedlove and the Concerned Citizens group is whether members of the Jasper Utility Service Board or current City Council will be employed by the Jasper Clean Energy. In the current lease proposal a provision has been added that would disallow any city employees or officials from seeking employment with Jasper Clean Energy or any board for Jasper Clean Energy within one year of voluntarily leaving employment of the city.

“This will ensure that individuals who may be involved in the negotiations of the project will not directly benefit, and also to avoid any appearance of impropriety.” Mayor Schmitt said. “This does not include current power plant workers being employed by Jasper Clean Energy.”

A non-compensated Coordination Committee will also be formed of two designated representatives of the city. According to Wayne Schuetter, the Coordination Committee will act as a conduit for communication between the city and the Jasper Clean Energy Center. They will also be conducting inspections and compliance investigations on behalf of the city.

The city and Jasper Clean Energy have also tentatively reached an agreement on the proposed rent of the Jasper Power Plant. The annual rent will be $425,000 and will start with the onset of construction (phase 2 of the current plan). During phase 1, Jasper Clean Energy will pay $60,000 quarterly until entering phase 2.  Additionally Jasper Clean Energy will pay the City of Jasper a royalty of $1.50 per megawatt hour of production.

The rent and royalty payment is expected to generate an annual income of $537,000.

The Mayor reiterated that this is still a proposal, nothing has been agreed to, but if the Jasper Clean Energy center did move forward, the current employees of Jasper Power Plant would become employees of Jasper Clean Energy. The savings from the payroll and the additional income of the rent and royalties from the Jasper Clean Energy center could turn into an additional income of $1.2 million dollars.

This could have a positive impact on the rate payers of Jasper as rates have been expected to rise due to the Cross State Air Pollution Rule announced yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency. Under this new rule coal burning facilities are being required to add more safeguards against the release of soot and smog emissions.

Currently the negotiations continue; one thing being addressed is the security agreement. The security agreement would address what monetary compensation the city would have in the event the Jasper Clean Energy Center closed, whether for non-compliance of the lease terms or financial problems, leaving the facility inactive.

No date for the lease agreement or public forum has been discussed. Mayor Schmitt declined to set a date at this time but emphasized that a public forum would occur before any vote was made concerning the lease agreement.

The following is written directly from the press release provided by the City of Jasper but has been formatted for legibility.

Voluntary compliance with “Major” source emission standards

The Jasper Clean Energy boiler due to its low level of emissions will only be required by US EPA regulations to satisfy the emission permit requirements for “minor” sources in its air permit application with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The proposed lease agreement will hold JCEC to a “higher environmental standard” and require the JCEC to voluntarily operate to the new more stringent MACT “major” source standards for the five key emission levels, including particulates.

The proposed lease further requires the JCEC to continuously monitor key combustion performance parameters. In the event JCEC exceeds monitored emissions limites during normal operations,JCEC will be requiredto verify it is operating wihtin its volunrary emission limites or reduce operations until it can demonstrate it is able to operate within the voluntary emission limits.

The voluntary limits for the five key emissions are:

• PM 0.030#/MM Btu
• HCL 0.035 #/MM Btu
• Hg 0.0000046 #/MM Btu
• CO 490 PPM
• TEQ (dioxins/furan) 0.005 ng/dscm

Methods for monitoring and measurement are as described in detail in the Boiler MACT rule.