Is burning trash worth the cash? Spokane to use $650,000 in grant funds to study incinerator as state cracks down on emissions

The city of Spokane will use $650,000 in state grant funds to study capturing the carbon released by the Waste-to-Energy Plant, a massive incinerator that produces electricity by burning the city’s garbage.

The facility is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions controlled by the city, though local officials argue it is better for the environment and climate than a landfill. Unlike landfills, however, the Waste-to-Energy Plant is not exempt from the state’s carbon credit auctions, and by 2027 could start having to pay as much as $8 million a year – money that will have to come from ratepayers.

The facility is unique in the state, built in 1991 with Olympia’s blessing to prevent harmful chemicals leaching out of aging landfills from entering the aquifers that supply clean drinking water to the Spokane region.

The city has for years lobbied the state to exempt the facility from having to pay for carbon credits and successfully obtained state funding for a study comparing the emissions from the plant and a comparably sized landfill.

Landfills primarily produce methane, a relatively short-lived but significantly more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The state-funded study showed burning the city’s garbage was better for the climate than landfills on at least a 20-year time scale, longer depending on how different variables are weighted.

“The alternative is just so not environmentally justice-oriented,” Councilman Paul Dillon added ahead of Monday’s vote. “That would be trucking city landfill waste to, potentially, poor, rural Adams County. That, to me, is not an acceptable alternative.”

The Legislature has not agreed to an exemption. Another attempt is being spearheaded this year by state Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, whose bill to exempt the facility has mostly Republican sponsors from the region but includes Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane. Councilman Michael Cathcart urged residents to lobby their legislators to favor the exemption.

“If we don’t get it by 2027, 2028, we are going to see rates going up precipitously, and that’s not something folks can tolerate,” Cathcart said.

The next hearing for Holy’s exemption bill is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday in the Senate Committee for Local Government.

The study approved Monday dares the state to blink: Not only is the incinerator already climate friendly, officials argue, but it could be even cleaner with multimillion-dollar upgrades the city certainly couldn’t afford if it is slapped with a multimillion yearly bill for its pollution.

There’s also no guarantee that the city will move beyond the study stage if the state does exempt the Waste-to-Energy facility, as the project would likely run into the tens of millions of dollars.

The contract approved Monday will go to CarbonQuest, a Spokane Valley-based carbon capture company that has primarily tested technology in large residential buildings in the northeast but is turning its attention to potential industrial applications, such as at the Waste-to-Energy Plant. The $650,000 from the state will pay to determine the viability of installing carbon capture technology at the facility, draft up designs and explore methods of disposing of the carbon after it’s been captured.

Cathcart on Monday expressed frustration with having to quickly approve an uncompetitive contract with CarbonQuest, noting the restrictions on the state funding gave the city too short of a time frame to shop around.

He also noted the City Council’s opposition last year to the repeal of the state Climate Commitment Act, which created the carbon credit auctions that now threaten the city’s waste management.

“When we did that, there were many comments that it was a done deal, we were going to get the exemption, no question,” Cathcart said. “Well, that is really in question. It’s unclear if there will be the support.”

When asked whether this year’s attempt at exemption was likely to pass, Riccelli said only that the effort was a “top priority for our community.”

He added that some have been hesitant to tinker with the carbon credit auctions whatsoever, worried that it would open the door to the addition of intolerable loopholes.

“But for me, I think there’s a number of folks within the environmental community looking at the analysis who are supportive,” Riccelli said. “I do think there’s environmental, labor and other community partners that want to correct an inequity in how our solid waste systems are treated.”

He noted that Gov. Bob Ferguson had expressed some support for adjusting the Climate Commitment Act, including to add more exemptions for agriculture.

“I think we’re at the point where a lot of people think some tweaking is needed, and I think Waste-to-Energy is one of those places where it stands out as making sense to do it,” Riccelli said.

While the bill introduced by Holy exclusively creates an exemption for Spokane’s facility, Riccelli noted that there may be a pivot later in the year to a package bill for all agreed-upon exemptions, but for now they felt it was prudent to bring it forward as a standalone bill in part to draw attention to the unique facility.

Steam is seen billowing from Spokane’s Waste-to-Energy Plant in this December 2016 photo. Spokane’s Solid Waste operations contributed 6% of Spokane’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019.