{"id":41060,"date":"2024-01-17T22:53:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T03:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=41060"},"modified":"2024-01-17T22:53:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T03:53:56","slug":"lakeland-commissioners-approve-6-5m-for-coal-plant-waste-final-cleanup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/01\/17\/lakeland-commissioners-approve-6-5m-for-coal-plant-waste-final-cleanup\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakeland Commissioners Approve $6.5M for Coal Plant Waste Final Cleanup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coal Plant Waste is an above-ground landfill that houses the toxic residue of the last generation\u2019s power production.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"947\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Aerial-Map-of-South-Byproduct-Storage-Area-1-1024x947-1.webp?resize=1024%2C947&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41061\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s called the South Byproduct Storage Area a 45-acre, 30-foot tall, grass-covered mound with commanding views of Lake Parker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The landfill contains the byproducts of four decades of coal combustion, including fly ash, bottom ash, and synthetic gypsum, and stabilized flue gas desulfurization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final step is capping the landfill and sealing away its contents under a process prescribed by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency to ensure no pollutants seep into the aquifer and drinking water supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The containment and cleanup come with a $10.7 million price tag. But because the site is jointly owned with the Orlando Utility Commission, Lakeland Electric will only pay 60% of the cost \u2014 about $6.5 million. OUC will pay the other 40%.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"441\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/byproducy-yard.webp?resize=660%2C441&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41062\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In January 2022, the commission hired Geosyntec Consultants Inc. to create&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/24363983-mcintosh_plant_bsa_closure_design_final?responsive=1&amp;title=1&amp;pdf=0&amp;text=0&amp;onlyshoworg=1\">engineering designs for the closure<\/a>. The plans, which were submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, call for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Removing the top two to three feet of dirt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Regarding the area.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Installing vents for passive gas collection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Covering the mound with a 40-millimeter textured membrane barrier and geocomposite drainage layer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adding 18 inches of fill dirt and 6 inches of topsoil.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Constructing berms, channels, and culverts for stormwater management.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And laying 220,200 cubic yards of sod.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mayor Bill Mutz said the city has a responsibility to future generations to ensure the safety of the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is 45 acres of space that has to be sealed and has to be maintained, that has liability into the future,\u201d Mutz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The commission approved paying Geosyntec $313,800 to monitor the project, making sure the final barrier meets all state and federal requirements and certifying the work in a report for the FDEP. The sum is included in Lakeland Electric\u2019s fiscal year 2024 budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coal Plant Waste is an above-ground landfill that houses the toxic residue of the last generation\u2019s power production. It\u2019s called the South Byproduct Storage Area a 45-acre, 30-foot tall, grass-covered&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41063,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41060\/revisions\/41063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}