Biosolids

Some would say the average politician is full of . . . eh . . . biosolids.  Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  Politicians are, however, very aware of the green associated with them.  We’re not talking about the green waste that is sometimes mixed with biosolids to make compost.  Rather this is the greenback variety that can add up to hundreds of millions of wasted taxpayer dollars.  That is where the second part of this story begins.

The average person doesn’t think of the disposal of biosolids as political or controversial.  Dare we suggest, the average person doesn’t think of biosolids at all.  But they should.  Taxpayer money is being flushed down the toilet with those biosolids and being used to line the pockets of those promoting green technology with claims that border on snake oil.  Those Wall Street-funded snake oil salesmen have been very successful in convincing government jurisdictions to buy into what they have to offer, whether it works or not.  That seems especially true with entities such as the Orange County Sanitation District, the city of San Bernardino, and the city of Rialto.

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This is the first in a series of articles detailing local governments’ failed and costly attempts to deal with one byproduct of wastewater treatment plants–biosolids.  SlurryCarb, the sludge-to-energy technology in question, has already cost taxpayers in Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties hundreds of millions of dollars without creating a single BTU of usable energy.  But that has not stopped politicos from investing millions more in tax dollars into the failed process.  We will examine the politics behind this questionable environmental technology.

As contracts with EnerTech, the company behind the most recent attempt at implementing the technology, are being reviewed, government officials are considering throwing more taxpayer money at the project with no guarantee the technology will ever be developed.  In our cash-strapped state where municipalities are terminating employees and demanding union concessions, some are raising questions as to the impetus behind their thought process.

To read the rest of the story, click here.