DEP Halts Use of MUA Landfill Methane Gas at Woodbine Center

SWAINTON — The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has stopped the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) from sending methane gas from its sanitary landfill to be burned at the Woodbine Developmental Center (WDC) because of expired air pollution permits on part of the state Department of Human Services.
For the last 11 years, MUA has sent methane gas from its sanitary landfill in to the Woodbine Developmental Center, run by the state Department of Human Services, a home for the disabled. The methane gas is used for heat and hot water in the winter, and to create coolant in the summer.
Charles Norkis, MUA executive director, told the Herald Jan. 6 that the reusing the methane landfill gas is much better for the environment than burning oil.
The landfill will still produce the gas and the MUA will still need to get rid of it, whether by using it to power the developmental center, or light and flare it off without any recovery at all, Norkis said.
“Oil burns ten times dirtier than landfill gas,” Norkis said.
The developmental center used one million gallons of oil per year prior to the connection of a methane gas line. The MUA spent about $300,000 to retrofit boilers at the Woodbine Developmental Center to be able to use both methane gas from the landfill and oil, as required by law.
Norkis said methane gas saves the state between $150,000-$200,000 each year. He said the MUA sells the gas to be used at the developmental center at a discount, but it still serves as a source of revenue for the MUA, while also saving the state money.
Department of Human Services has lapsed permits and problems meeting permit limitations set by the DEP, unrelated to the MUA, Norkis said. One problem, however, was directly related to the amount of sulfur dioxide in the landfill gas.
Amounts were OK when the developmental center first began burning the landfill gas but, Norkis said, as the landfill acquired more construction and demolition materials, the amount of hydrogen sulfide, which combusts into sulfur dioxide, went over the limit of what permits allowed.
A few years ago, the DEP worked with the Department of Human Services to enter into an administrative consent order to switch to a cleaner burning oil, Norkis said. The agreement to clean the gas up included a deadline of Dec. 31, 2009 to meet permit limits.
The MUA committed to cleaning up the gas and spent about $600,000 to place a scrubbing system in the boilers at the developmental center to remove hydrogen sulfide.
Work was completed by mid-December 2009, Norkis said.
“We were taken aback and surprised that they would shut it off,” Norkis said.
State departments knew the MUA had arrangements to scrub the boilers, he said.
The rub is that the boiler must be tested at full capacity to prove to the DEP that it is within permit limitations. However, the boilers are old and unsafe; running them at full capacity could cause them to literally blow-up, Norkis said.
“The DEP air emission requirements for the facility cannot be met with the existing boilers using the current fuel types and quantity. We sincerely appreciate the effort that the MUA has made to produce higher-quality methane gas. However, the Woodbine facility is unable to demonstrate the quality of your product to the satisfaction of the DEP because the operational inefficiencies of the facility’s boilers. The stack testing required by the DEP cannot be accomplished,” a letter from DHS to Norkis states.
DHS has started a project to replace the facility’s superior boiler, and subsequently replace all boilers, with ones that are equipped to fire, the letter states.
The MUA Board discussed the matter in closed session Jan. 6.