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News
Golden LEAF Grant helps Robeson County Seize Landfill Windfall
posted with permission of the Robesonian
Win as in windfall
Our only yellow light as it relates to a planned ethanol plant at the county landfill is this: If it sounds too good to be true ..., well, you know the rest.
On Tuesday, the county Board of Commissioners gave SOLV-IT Technologies its permission to construct the plant. And why not? Here are the upsides:
- The county will use a $690,000 grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation to construct a system at the landfill that will harness methane gas that will be used to power the plant. Eventually the county would have been required to install the system anyway to meet regulations that seek to lessen greenhouse emissions that fuel global warming.
- SOLV-IT has promised a $5 million initial investment in the county, and the plant is expected to generate at least 15 good-paying jobs.
- The county will receive a 6 percent royalty, which will add as much as $400,000 a year to it coffers, almost the equivalent of a single cent on the tax rate.
- The plant will look locally to buy corn that will be used to produce the ethanol, giving local farmers another sales outlet.
- Each year the plant is expected to produce up to 4 million gallons of ethanol, a cleaner burning fuel that could help this country wean itself from Mid East oil.
- By harnessing the methane gas and lowering greenhouse gases, the county will accumulate marketable “carbon credits” that can actually be sold. County Manager Ken Windley estimates that could add as much as $2 million to the county coffers within a decade.
We can't identify any downsides, except our prevailing worry that the project is too good to be true.
The county has done its job, and now it is up to SOLV-IT Technologies to execute its plan. If that happens, the winners will be all around.
Win as in windfall
Our only yellow light as it relates to a planned ethanol plant at the county landfill is this: If it sounds too good to be true ..., well, you know the rest.
Time to give back
The life of a nonprofit is hard and uncertain.
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For additional information, please contact
Valeria Lee or Mark Sorrells
Golden LEAF Foundation
1.888.684.8404 or 252.446.1916
Email: info@goldenleaf.org
Golden LEAF Foundation
301 N. Winstead Avenue, Rocky Mount, NC 27804
252-442-7474 phone 252-442-7404 fax 888-684-8404 toll free
www.goldenleaf.org
email: info@goldenleaf.org
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