Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer
The WIN Waste Hudson Falls waste-to-energy facility formerly known as Wheelabrator will close by the end of the year pending October approval from the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), WIN Waste Innovations said Monday in a press release.
The 35 full-time employees at the 93 River St. incinerator will lose their jobs if the closure goes through as planned, WIN Waste Public Affairs VP Mary Urban told The Chronicle.
WIN Waste CEO Daniel Mayo was quoted: “These decisions are never easy, particularly for a facility with such a long history of serving its community. Hudson Falls has played an important role in our company and in the region for decades. After carefully evaluating its role within our portfolio, we concluded that retirement represents the most responsible path forward. We are grateful to the employees whose dedication and professionalism have helped the facility serve customers and communities reliably for nearly 35 years.”
“The decision to retire reflects the facility’s future outlook, not the performance of the people who operate it, and WIN Waste could not be prouder of what the team has accomplished,” the release said.
“Supporting affected employees and their families will be a top priority throughout the facility’s decommissioning, and WIN Waste is committed to providing resources throughout the process.”
The incinerator drew outrage and fierce opposition when it was first built and more recently from critics citing its smell, noise and effect on air quality.
“You are a dirty mess,” one neighbor told company representatives at a nearly three-hour meeting at the Kingsbury Volunteer Hose Company last April.
“You are the biggest polluter in this area. You guys are loud. You’re polluting us. You’re killing us with all your toxins.”
WIN Waste responded at that meeting that their combustion process meets “strict state and federal standards” and is “the EPA’s preferred method for end-disposal.” Company reps said, “By recovering energy from post-recycled trash, Wheelabrator diverts all those tons of waste from landfills, where they would otherwise decompose, releasing methane, the greenhouse gas that has a global warming potential more than 84 times that of carbon dioxide in its first 20 years.”
WIN Waste’s website says that each year the facility converts about 141,000 tons of post-recycled waste into enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 6,000+ local homes and businesses.
The full decommissioning process is expected to take about two years and include “light and heavy demolition,” the release said.
“Light demo will include removal of outbuildings, recovery of all recyclable materials, and preparing main buildings for demolition,” it noted. “Heavy demolition will include removal of the main building, the stack, and the boiler.”
WIN Waste, based in Portsmouth, N.H., operates 12 facilities across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The proposed retirement of the Hudson Falls facility “does not reflect any change in WIN Waste’s commitment to waste-to-energy,” the company’s release said.
It said, “Given the plant’s unique design and long-term operating outlook, retirement of Hudson Falls has been under consideration for several years, as the company has assessed its future capital needs, anticipated federal emissions standards, and the broad availability of nearby transfer and disposal alternatives.
“After considering anticipated changes to federal emissions standards and the significant investments that the facility’s unique design will require to comply with those standards, WIN Waste submitted a request to NYISO on June 10 seeking approval to deactivate the plant.”
The release said, “Despite the facility’s long-term capital and compliance needs, the Hudson Falls team has done an exceptional job over the past three and a half decades, operating the plant safely, maintaining compliance with all applicable requirements, and efficiently converting waste into reliable energy for New York’s electric grid.”
