Wheelabrator Bridgeport, the waste-to-energy facility in Bridgeport’s West End serving 25 municipalities in three Connecticut counties, celebrated its 25th anniversary this week. News release:
Wheelabrator Bridgeport, L.P. today marked 25 years of safe, reliable and environmentally responsible operations at an anniversary celebration where current and former employees, customers, and state and local officials saluted the waste-to-energy facility’s role in generating reliable, renewable power for Connecticut residents and municipalities.
Wheelabrator Bridgeport serves the City of Bridgeport and two dozen additional municipalities in Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven counties through its two principal customers, the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA) and the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority. Every day, the plant converts over 2,200 tons of municipal solid waste to energy, generating over 67,000 kilowatts of electricity–enough to power over 64,000 Connecticut homes as well as its own operations.
The facility directly employs 70 Connecticut residents, many of whom live in Bridgeport, and last year created approximately $32 million of economic activity in the region through direct and indirect jobs, purchases of goods and services, and city and state tax payments.
Since opening in 1988, the Wheelabrator Bridgeport facility has:
• Processed over 18.5 million tons of waste–enough material to fill a line of tractor trailer trucks over 5,600 miles long–the distance from Bridgeport to Honolulu.
• Generated 13 million megawatts of electricity–enough to power 426 million homes–more than three times the number of homes in the entire U.S. For youngsters, that’s enough electricity to power over two billion Xbox gaming systems for a year.
• Recycled nearly 400,000 tons of ferrous metal–enough steel to build 56 Eiffel Towers.
• Recycled 4,700 tons of non-ferrous metal–equivalent to 282 million soda cans, which stacked end to end would stretch from the earth to the moon 31 times.
“For 25 years, we have been proud to help the City of Bridgeport and communities throughout Connecticut convert their trash into a clean, renewable energy source and recover valuable materials from the waste stream, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and preserving natural resources for the future,” said Mark Weidman, president, Wheelabrator Technologies. “We salute our employees for their commitment to safety and operational excellence, which has made the Wheelabrator Bridgeport plant an environmental and economic asset to the region.”
“The City of Bridgeport is proud to be a partner with Wheelabrator, a company that has created jobs for our local economy and helped to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “Congratulations on reaching this milestone.”
“Environmental protection and clean, renewable energy continue to be a critical focus for all of us here in Connecticut,” said Thomas Kirk, president and chief executive officer, Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority. “Thanks to the hard work and commitment of a handful of bright, forward-looking individuals three decades ago, CRRA developed with Wheelabrator the state-of-the-art project that is the foundation of the country’s most successful sustainable waste system.”
“On behalf of the 11 member cities and towns of the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority, I want to congratulate Wheelabrator Technologies on their 25th anniversary of providing an environmentally clean and safe solution to the reduction of municipal solid waste for our region,” said Michael Gill, chairman, Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority. “Our relationship with the management and staff of Wheelabrator has been more of a partnership than a client/customer, and we look forward to a continued association with the Wheelabrator team.”
“Wheelabrator has been a model corporate citizen in our region for 25 years,” said Paul Timpanelli, president, Bridgeport Regional Business Council. “The company’s commitment to a quality environment, a quality community and a quality workforce helps to make our region a better place to live and work.”
Waste-to-energy plants use advanced environmental control systems that clean emissions to meet stringent state and federal standards while producing clean energy with less environmental impact than almost any source of electricity, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Wheelabrator Bridgeport has been certified as a Voluntary Protection Program Star Worksite by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This distinction is earned by less than one-third of a percent (.03%) of the seven million regulated workplaces in the nation and is granted to facilities with safety programs and performance that greatly exceed OSHA standards.
“The City of Bridgeport is proud to be a partner with Wheelabrator, a company that has created jobs for our local economy and helped to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “Congratulations on reaching this milestone.”
The 25th Birthday of the Wheelabrator operation contained the Mayor’s comment but his calendar and schedule showed nothing more. That’s interesting because Wheelabrator is #1 valued property on the City Grand List with #1 assessments for the past 5-6 years.
How often do you sue a partner? In this case Wheelabrator that picked up the plant operation after the 25 year CRRA contract was assessed a value that did not make sense to professional experts, familiar with the trash to energy industry who were hired by Wheelabrator LLC so they appealed the City numbers, sent in checks for 90% of taxes for a while, have won a judgement or opinion or two while in Court, but still have not moved the needle on the City legal action to pay additional property taxes.
The controversy is mentioned in annual CAFR audits but little else is heard on the subject. The City continues to press its action to substantiate values even the City expert has admitted are in error. But since the Mayor does not need to be accountable to the public for this story nor for the continuing legal expense, we remain in court with “our partner.” What are the City goals in this case at this time? Are there other more promising issues on which to deploy limited legal resources? If the actual values upheld in court on appeal and after further legal expense is 60% or less than the amount the City has maintained, what will be the effect on the actual taxes due and payable for the following two years to the City by Wheelabrator LLC, the City’s largest taxpayer? Where is this business decision being discussed, debated, defended and communicated? Time will tell.