At a time when so many state and local governments are looking to turn public services over to private contractors to save money, Fairfax County is considering going in the opposite direction.
The County Board of Supervisors has been discussing the possible purchase of the I-95 Energy/Resource Recovery Facility, more commonly known as the Lorton incinerator, in closed-door meetings since May, according to a letter sent by Charles Forbes, assistant director of the division of solid waste disposal.
Covanta Fairfax Inc. currently owns and operates the 20-year-old facility and has a contract to dispose of a portion of Fairfax County’s waste. Under the contract, the county has the option of purchasing the facility at market value when the service agreement expires in 2016.
County officials and Covanta are at odds over the value of the facility. County officials say it’s worth about $250 million, while Covanta says it’s worth as much as $600 million, according to Supervisor Pat Herrity.
The county has had discussions with Covanta about extending its contract to operate the facility. Records show that Fairfax County and Covanta have been negotiating a new tipping fee, the per-ton charge the county pays Covanta for disposing of the garbage. A new contract could extend Covanta’s operation of the facility to 2032.
The county and Covanta are about $2.50 apart on the tipping fee. If the facility processed the guaranteed amount of trash under the proposed contract — 850,000 tons of trash per year — that difference would amount to about $2.1 million annually.
Officials on the Board of Supervisors have not disclosed why they are considering buying the facility beyond that they are exploring all options provided to them in the contract, including extending the contract with Covanta.
“That’s what’s so baffling to me, is why we’re even going down this path, ’cause I don’t see a benefit,” Herrity said. “I’d rather spend those sparse capital resource dollars on school construction and renovation than operating a trash-to-energy resource plant that is operating just fine today.”
Calls to several other board members were not immediately returned.
County officials have begun an appraisal process to determine the facility’s value. Once the process is complete, the county will have 90 days to decide whether they will purchase the facility, according to Forbes’ letter.
If the Board of Supervisors decides it wants to consider purchasing the facility, it would then hold a public hearing.
In 2009, the county paid about $30 million in disposal fees to Covanta at a rate of $32 per ton, though the county gets some of that money back when Covanta sells the power it generates to Dominion Power.
The plant has the capacity to process more than 3,000 tons of waste per day.
The energy produced by the facility can power about 75,000 homes while reducing the waste to about 20 percent of its original mass.
