Mount Trashmore methane retrieval dispute heads to arbitration

With up to $5 million at stake, a two-year-long dispute over the methane-retrieval system at the Mount Trashmore landfill will be resolved at binding arbitration and not at a court trial that could result in years of appeals.

The dispute is between the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency and EnviroGas LP, Chicago, and was were slated to go to trial in Linn County District Court on Monday.

The agency board voted this week to go to binding arbitration with the company. The company also has agreed, James Brick, a West Des Moines attorney representing the company, said Thursday.

Brick said the two parties did not reach an agreement during an earlier mediation, but the mediator recommended binding arbitration rather than a trial. He said the parties were trying to get the arbitration hearing to commence before April 1.

The central issue, he said, is establishing the value of the EnviroGas-owned system that retrieves methane, a gas that forms as landfill waste decomposes and can be sold as fuel.  He said the debate was over between about $2 million and $5 million.

Karmin McShane, the Solid Waste Agency's executive director, said Thursday that the agency expects the arbitration to provide a fair result so the matter can be put to rest and the agency can move forward.

The methane-retrieval system at the landfill at 2250 A Ave. SW had provided fuel to both Penford Products Corp. and Alliant Energy's Prairie Creek generating station at the time of the June 2008 flood.

The dispute between the agency and the company arose over a contract renegotiation and over the handling of methane gas that was building up at the landfill. In January 2009, the agency went to court as it installed its own flare system to burn off the excess gas, a practice which continues now.

McShane said the agency's plan is to operate the methane system or hire someone else to operate and control the system.