Andrew Steele commentary: Time to move on from trash-to-ethanol

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Updated: February 7, 2012 2:42PM

The idea of building a trash-to-ethanol plant in Schneider hit its most significant road-block yet last week when the Lake County Solid Waste Management District finally hit up against the fact that no one, apparently, really wants to pay for the thing.

Of course, the promoter, Earl Powers, was still hopeful of a deal before sneaking out of the Feb. 2 district Board of Directors meeting. Powers said he had a new deal to finance the plant, with the firm Raymond James as financier and assuming municipalities were willing to commit to a certain volume of garbage being shipped to it, but amidst a strong interrogation from a frustrated board, he walked out.

After that (and probably before it) the project really seems to have developed a “let’s all just move on” feel. There’s been enough time, and probably more than enough money, spent on this thing. The idea seemed interesting at first, but has gotten bogged down in a manner that makes it nearly impossible to continue to pursue.

That’s not to say the idea doesn’t have merit scientifically or economically (although the idea that the long-term future of energy is in ethanol was always a little hard to believe). But at this point, the mud’s too deep for it to be a realistic political project.

The elected officials on the waste district’s Board of Directors have been dealt a difficult card — there is huge money in garbage, and there are huge environmental implications to how it’s handled. Managing that is a difficult task, and politics will always complicate that.

It’s gotten so far at this point, though, that there will never be a sufficient level of trust and confidence for this to be a viable project.

Trash-to-ethanol seems to be one of those things that’s presented as a great technological advance with an obvious market, but which can’t seem to attract investors. That’s enough to make one wary. As for Lake County, it appears the possibility to be a pioneer in this area left the building last week.

Maybe it’ll return — maybe, even, trash-to-ethanol is a win-win environmentally and economically — but there’s so much baggage now it’s best for Lake County just to let it go.

County government, with its diversity of offices, boards and committees, and no centralized focus of authority is simply not set up for leadership. When you add the fact that its geography doesn’t necessarily conform to any real community, you make it virtually impossible for a county to avoid perceptions of misguidedness, incompetence, and even corruption that latch onto any major government project that doesn’t have centralized leadership.

As much as some county officials would like to do big things, their level of government is probably the worse place for them.