Spokane has one last chance for grace from a state program that penalizes the city\u2019s solid waste emissions unlike anywhere else in Washington. Without action from the state, the city could be forced to shell out millions annually because of the carbon emissions from its energy-generating trash incinerator.<\/p>\n
The Waste-to-Energy Facility is the only of its kind in the state, burning the city\u2019s garbage and using the heat produced to generate enough electricity to power 11,000 homes. The greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program of the Climate Commitment Act exempts landfills, which produce emissions as waste decomposes, but the Waste-to-Energy facility received no such grace from lawmakers.<\/p>\n
After years of failing to get the state to waive major fees from the Climate Commitment Act, the city is pivoting to ask for a multiyear phase-in to buy time to figure out how to capture the carbon coming off the incinerator\u2019s flue \u2013 itself a project that by one projection could cost as much as $210 million. Analysts from the Spokane Valley-based company carbon capture company CarbonQuest predict the city could store enough carbon dioxide to pay for the investment by selling carbon credits \u2013 but these predictions rely in part on stable markets and in some cases, political winds in the other Washington.<\/p>\n
If the city has to pay into the cap-and-trade program for the facility\u2019s emissions in 2027, it could come with a cost of $2.5 million to $8 million each year. Costs vary widely due in part to wide swings in the cost for carbon credits through the state market in a given quarter.<\/p>\n
One path the city could take would also guzzle up to 18 megawatts of electricity to run the carbon capture systems, which would effectively eliminate all excess energy produced by the plant \u2013 potentially making the facility\u2019s Waste-to-Energy name a functional misnomer. The facility can produce up to 26 megawatts, but for practical reasons only creates around 22, of which 3 or 4 megawatts are used to operate the facility itself.<\/p>\n
The facility produced more than 234,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2019, of which roughly 60% are \u201cbiogenic emissions\u201d from biological sources \u2013 if a tree is burned, so the theory goes, those emissions shouldn\u2019t be worried about because a new tree growing in its place will naturally remove those emissions. But in 2027, the city could soon pay for the remainder of the facility\u2019s roughly 100,000 metric tons of annual emissions, purchasing credits or allowances from a state-managed auction.<\/p>\n
Those extra costs would have to be borne by ratepayers and the city\u2019s other customers, if it would even still pencil out, said Marlene Feist, director of the city\u2019s Public Works division.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s too costly to run the facility, at some point, we have to run the numbers,\u201d she said. \u201cIt would be difficult to keep operating with the burden of the (Climate Commitment Act) costs.\u201d<\/p>\n