Assembled in the Columbia Borough council chambers for the joint meeting of the Columbia borough council and the Municipal Authority were the seven councillors and four Authority members – Ray McCarty was absent. Council president Mike Buery convened the meeting at 6:02 pm; the meeting was convened at 8:12 pm.

Others in attendance for the presentation of information were representatives from Tetra Tech, Columbia Borough’s Wastewater Manager, John Bender, the mayor, the acting borough manager (newly returned from medical leave), the assistant secretary/treasurer and fewer than five citizens. Tetra Tech is worldwide provider of consulting, engineering, and technical services with over 13,000 employees and revenues exceeding $2.5 billion.

After a presentation from three TetraTech employees followed by comments and questions from citizens, councillors, municipal authority members, the mayor, the acting borough manager and the wastewater manager, in separate balloting, the Municipal Authority members and the councillors voted to not pursue the $300,000 grant agreement with the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Finance Agency.

On the separate issue of transferring the proceeds from the sale of the Sewer Collection System, each entity voted to transfer the $8.6 million to the Borough’s Capital Fund.

During the two hour meeting, a broad array of topics relevant to the proposed “pre-preliminary” presentation about using the current wastewater treatment facility as an anerobic digester system prompted numerous suppositions, claims, questions, suggestions and … well, more questions.

Among the statements, questions and comments heard at tonight’s meeting were these:

• There was an observation made that a LNP – Always Lancaster reporter had inaccurately reported what was said in this article.
• The payback period on the estimated $2,327,275 digester system was put at 16 years. This report states, “The typical simple payback for a biogas plant may be about seven years as long as the existing government incentive program is available and biogas energy is produced continuously without interruption except for scheduled regular maintenance. Some experiences in North America show that biogas energy production is often interrupted due to unforeseen maintenance and process related issues.”
• The anerobic digester would generate an estimated 92 kW per day.
• Among the benefits of constructing the system: retention of quality jobs
• The proposed $300,000 grant from the Alternative and Clean Energy Program Digester Project requires a matching $300,000 of borough funds.
• The feedstock chain for the proposed site was unclear. “Feedstocks refer to the crops or products, like waste vegetable oil, that can be used as or converted into biofuels and bioenergy. Each feedstock has advantages and disadvantages in terms of how much usable material they yield, where they can grow and how energy and water-intensive they are.”
• Is the anerobic digester program dead? Not yet, more details will have to be provided.

This British Website claims, “The key to a viable and sustainable anerobic digester project is a secure supply of quality feedstock. Common feedstock streams are described below and include:

• Food and Drink Waste
• Processing Residues
• Agricultural Residues
• Crops
• Sewage Sludge

Columbia news, views & reviews consistently and regularly encourages citizens to attend meetings so they can hear, see and question what’s being said during transactions. Reading reports or listening to second-hand information from someone who may have been at the meeting provides, at best, superficial and selective accounts of what actually transpired or was said.

Columbia news, views & reviews does record all public meetings and offers copies of the meetings. If you want a copy of the audio recording, send an email to 17512@mail.com.