At their meeting Monday, the New Hanover County commissioners unanimously greenlighted a contract between the county and Archaea Energy that would generate revenues from the county landfill while making it more environmentally friendly.
 
The contract allows Recycling & Solid Waste Department staff to dig wells in the landfill that will trap methane gas. Archaea will build the necessary infrastructure to harvest and process that methane into renewable natural gas for sale to Piedmont Natural Gas, according to Joe Suleyman, director of the Recycling & Solid Waste Department.
 
Suleyman told the commissioners he was “really excited” about bringing the contract for their approval.
 
“This represents probably the pinnacle of my 25-year career in solid waste,” he told the board. “We’re taking a liability, which is our landfill gas that is composed primarily of methane, and we’re monetizing it – without spending a single penny.”
 
The project would not have been possible 10 or 15 years ago when most waste in the landfill was inert incinerator ash, which does not generate much methane as it decomposes, Suleyman explained. With the closure of the county incinerator, and the deposit of large amounts of organic material after Hurricane Florence, the gas potential rose.
 
Normally, landfill gas is flared off, but the proposed renewable route is much greener in two respects: it prevents methane from being released into the atmosphere and it generates income.
 
The contract gives Archaea Energy two years to construct its facility, complete all testing and run a pipeline from the new facility to the existing Piedmont Natural Gas pipeline along N.C. 421.
 
“All that infrastructure is Archaea’s responsibility; we don’t have to spend a single penny to make this happen,” Suleyman told the commissioners. “We don’t have to go to DEQ (the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality); that’s all Archaea’s responsibility.
 
“And the cherry on top,” Suleyman continued, “Is that once this is complete, and we provide them with the landfill gas that meets the criteria – and we believe we can consistently meet that – Archaea will pay New Hanover County $300,000 per year, plus, for the first 10 years of the contract, $3.08 per MMBtu (One million British Thermal Units, a typical natural gas measure).”
 
For the second 10 years, Archaea will pay a percentage of gross revenue, according to Suleyman.
 
“We are fully in compliance today with state and federal landfill regulations but how can we turn our backs on such a fantastic opportunity as this?” Suleyman said.
 
Once Suleyman’s department determined the project was feasible, it had to decide on one of two possible paths: to clean up the landfill gas and sell it for use in a turbine generator to produce electricity, or to take what the director described as a “relatively new road.”
 
“After looking at all the incentives available today, it was a no brainer,” he continued. “Through this agreement with Archaea Energy, we’ll convert it to renewable natural gas. You can’t tell the difference between this and natural gas you get from fracking or drilling.”
 
Department staff will be involved only in auditing the project’s financial statements. Suleyman said consultants hired by the department to evaluate the project have estimated potential revenue of between $900,000 and $1.2 million annually.
 
The commissioners thanked Suleyman and his staff for their efforts over the past year-plus in scrutinizing and evaluating the proposed contract. Suleyman assured them that the contract contained many layers of protection for the county, for everything from hurricane damage to work stoppages.
 
Commission chairman Bill Rivenbark asked how long the gas generation project would last.
 
There isn’t enough history on projects like this to know for sure, Suleyman responded, but the contract is structured for a 20-year initial term with two five-year renewals.
 
“Thirty years gets us into the post-closure period for the landfill,” he said.
 
To a question from Commissioner Jonathan Barfield about where the project revenues would go, Suleyman explained that the money will go into his department’s fund, since the landfill must pay for its own operations by levying tipping fees.
 
“We’ll apply this revenue towards our post-closure funds so we don’t have to dramatically increase fees as our landfill nears capacity,” Suleyman said.  
 
In other business, the commissioners approved two rezoning requests.
 
The first was a request on behalf of James Stone with Ashton & Avery LLC, the property owner, to rezone about 11.5 acres of land at 3400 Castle Hayne Road from a residential to a regional business designation. The owner wants to locate a 22,000-square-foot Tractor Supply Co. store with a garden center and outdoor display area on the property.
 
After a discussion about traffic, property access and buffering between the land and a neighboring residential development, the board voted unanimously to approve the rezoning.

The second request came from Cindee Wolf of Design Solutions, on behalf of the property owner, Bayshore Estates Inc. The owner wants to rezone about 2.74 acres at 7620 Market St. from a residential to a neighborhood business designation, to allow the construction of a two-story commercial structure. The building could potentially house retail, office or restaurant tenants.
 
The property lies along a portion of Market Street that is being developed into a super street, with limited turn access. The property owners requested the parcel be removed from the Special Highway Overlay District (SHOD), promising to abide by SHOD restrictions as the corridor is upgraded.
 
Commissioners again approved the project unanimously.
 
Monday’s meeting also included a tribute to fellow commissioner Deb Hays, who died suddenly March 26.