City Council Candidate Questions Week 2 – Biodigester

Each week we will be bringing you a candidate profile.  When we met with the five individuals seeking a seat on City Council this November we also gave them a list of questions.  Our questions were broken down into various topics of interest for the City of Lowell.  Each week we will be publishing our question(s) and their responses in their entirety giving our readers the opportunity to be introduced to one candidate but also see all candidate views on different subjects.   We thank all of the candidates for taking time to answer our questions and look forward to sharing their responses.

Answers to our question(s) will be show in alphabetical order by last name.  This week’s questions are about the biodigester.  We asked each candidate the following questions:

Would you support restarting the biodigester either as an energy producing facility or a water treatment plant for Litehouse waste if you felt assured there would be no odor?

If not, what do you think should be done with the facility should the property be placed back in the hands of the city?

Response from Greg Canfield.

I don’t think it’s economically feasible to generate energy at a competitive rate with this facility. I would do everything possible to help out Litehouse, one of Lowell’s success stories, an employee owned company that provides employment for about 400 people but I don’t see how we can guarantee the neighbors and community that it would be odor free, when we the city, are not the operators.

The owners of the Biodigester are required under the terms of the contact to remove it at which time the property reverts to LL&P control.  I would hope that another tenant would be interested in the building, keeping it on the tax role and providing revenue to the city.

Response from Jake Davenport.

No, I would not support it. The people of Lowell have made it clear that they do not want this facility operating within the city. After all the issues we had with it the first time around, it would be foolish for the city to attempt to revive this project again, especially when city residents do not support it.

 

 

 

Response from Mike DeVore.

  1.  I truly believe in the technology and benefits of a Biodigester. Convincing me that the one we have, as it sits, could ever function as odorless is a tall order. The City and it’s residents have been used as a test subject for this failed operation for too long. 

    Lies, misinformation and cutting corners have put quite the stain on the City and Lowell Light and Power. But I also believe that supporting Litehouse and helping them recover some of the loss so they can continue to function as one of the City’s most valuable businesses is very important.

2.  N/A

Response from Mark Ritzema.

1)  I am a firm No on restarting the biodigester in any way, shape, or manner.

2)  I think that the digester should be dismantled and the property revert back to the city.

 

 

Response from Jim Salzwedel.

  1.     Right now, the biodigester is not operational and the City is not considering issuing a permit to begin operating it again.  The City and Lowell Light and Power are working with Litehouse to explore other options for wastewater treatment with possible solutions to be shared at a public meeting.  I would not want to subject our citizens to any such similar experience in the future and much discussion with our citizens would need to take place.

    While I agree alternative methods of energy is an important topic and an area of environmental technology that needs to be explored, our first attempts to do so proved to fail, for a number of reasons.  At this time, I would not favor restarting the biodigester and do support the City’s present stand on the matter.
  2.     What to do with the facility if returned to the City would require much discussion on the part of city council, the public, and those most well versed in environmental matters, i.e., the safe removal of the biodigester.

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