Plasma-arc decision put off in Marion

MARION - Marion City Council members failed to reach an agreement Thursday night for a cutting-edge waste-to-energy plant that backers hope will still be operational by year's end.

After discussing the proposed contract with Plasma Power LLC for nearly two hours in closed session, the council voted unanimously to table the deal, instructing City Manager Lon Pluckhahn to continue negotiations with the Florida-based company.

Pluckhahn said council members raised “three or four” points to be addressed with Plasma Power. He said the council hopes to call a special meeting Tuesday to consider a revised contract.

Rich Tarrant, chairman of Florida-based Plasma Power, declined to comment after the meeting. He met with Pluckhahn as soon as the meeting adjourned.

The delay frustrated Charlie Kress of Marion, who's a board member of the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency and treasurer of wastenotIOWA, a non-profit group that's advocated for the plasma project.

“We're very excited,” Kress said before the meeting. “We've been studying this stuff for years and years.”

Plasma Power wants the city to commit to providing 250 tons of garbage a day to its facility, where it would be converted through a plasma-arc process into a gas that would fuel boilers. Kress and others in Marion hope plasma-arc, which passes a gas through powerful electrodes to create a high-temperature torch, would end the need to landfill garbage at the waste agency's Site 2 on the city's northeast edge.

“Plasma Power's been here all week, they've met with each of the City Council people,” said Kress, who said he didn't know enough to be optimistic or pessimistic over the delay.

“I have no idea, because they can't tell us the details,” Kress said.

Pluckhahn said Plasma Power wants a contract by Thursday to begin engineering work on its facility. He said the company must have “some level of operations by the end of the year” to qualify for federal tax credits.

A plant the size of the one envisioned by Plasma Power would be unique in North America, said Chaz Miller, director of state programs for the National Solid Wastes Management Association.

While there are pilot projects, “I'm not aware of any operating facilities using plasma technology using 250 tons a day,” Miller said.