MSW Management | Editorial

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By John Trotti

If there’s a hotter topic on the public’s platter than energy—how to get it, fuel it, move it, and store it...anything but use it—please let me know and I’ll try to figure a way to make it work to our mutual benefit. In the meantime I’m going to reiterate what has become something of a mantra for me; right now we have a wonderful opportunity to recast our public image on the side of the energy angels. For starters you might find this little bit of history enlightening

L.A.’s Unintentional Architect
Los Angeles is the archetype of what has come to be known as urban sprawl, but you may be surprised to learn that the principal force that shaped it was neither the automobile nor blind chance, but rather the famous 19th century robber baron Collis Huntington and his now defunct Pacific Electric “Red Cars” that crisscrossed the basin in a rather haphazard way. You might be tempted to surmise that the routes grew to link the 120+ communities that were part of its network, but that’s not the case...quite the opposite as it turns out. Instead, the bulk of those communities came into existence as a result of the power stations built to produce the electricity required for operations. Every time Huntington built one of his stations, businesses would establish themselves nearby to take advantage of the power. Next, employees of these businesses would settle in the vicinity, followed by merchants, then politicians and administrators, and voila...up from the dirt would spring a city.

Quite often the location of these power stations made little sense to anyone other than Huntington himself. A case in point was the long run from the civic center to the beach at Santa Monica. There was nothing in between but farms in those days, but Huntington had decided that Santa Monica Bay was the perfect place to develop a port. So he built the rail line, dredged the site, and then watched helplessly as it silted right back in. The harbor was a bust, but the Red Cars ran the 20+ miles from downtown to the beach well into the 1960s.

What Has This To Do With Us?
The impetus for the L.A. Basin’s growth was not somebody’s master plan but something vital to the area: power. “Well, power’s not so much the problem these days,” you say. “It’s fuel to feed the power that’s the problem.”

Yes, but that’s only part of the issue.

It’s not merely the fact that roughly 70% of the material in the wastestream is energy bearing; we have the real estate and in most cases undeveloped land adjacent to it to take advantage of it. The $64 question (for those old enough to remember when that was enough to get people to make fools of themselves on TV) is how to get the public to put the NIMBY response to bed and look at some exciting possibilities.

LMOP, LFG, and Beyond
Who’d have “thunk” it, but to most of us who check to make sure the wallet’s still there when someone shows up on the doorstep uttering the first of the three great lies, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help,” EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program has proved to be a wonderful surprise...the model for a variety of partnership programs that the Feds have launched in recent years.

In my humble opinion, you have LMOP to thank for bringing to light the vision that rather than being the unwanted stepchild in the energy family, LFG is in fact a “no brainer” to those who realize it offers an alternative to the fuel price volatility that makes business cost projections an ongoing crapshoot.

Today, LFGTE is an established if minor factor in the nation’s energy equation, but there may be more to landfills than the capture and use of gas products. Why stop there? Why not look for ways to increase the energy yield? Why not, for instance, see if a wind farm on the property makes sense? Why not incorporate solar collectors (radiant or photovoltaic as best suits the situation) into closure engineering plans? Why not dedicate a portion of the wastestream to conversion to storable and economically transportable fuels?

Then, as was the case with Huntington’s Red Cars, the public might just fight its way to your doorstep. Impossible? Only if you don’t give it a try.

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MSW - January/February 2007