Those fries you don’t finish at the local burger joint could become electricity under a franchise granted by Metro this week.

Columbia Biogas plans to build a facility that will use anaerobic digestion to transform commercial food waste into methane gas that will run engines to generate electricity.

Although common in Europe, the proposed facility on Northeast Columbia Boulevard is on track to be the first of its kind in American, according to company President John McKinney.

The plant will also produce a fiber soil additive, liquid fertilizer, fairly clean water and heat as by products.

“We’re capturing the benefits of food waste that would otherwise be hauled long distances to a landfill,” McKinney said.

The plant, to be located on 11 acres west of the Colwood Golf Course that backs up to the Columbia Slough, is expected to take 194,000 tons per year of solid and liquid food waste from commercial and industrial sources. It won’t take residential food waste, or yard debris.

Through an enclosed fermentation process using bacteria, the plant is expected to produce about 5 kilowatts of electricity per day, enough to power about 5,000 homes.

Under the metro franchise, Columbia Biogas will be required to negotiate a good neighbor plan with the surrounding neighborhoods and pay a 50-cents-per-ton community enhancement fee.

The proposal has the support of the city of Portland and several community groups.

But residents of the Cully neighborhood are wary. Many have strong memories of the Riedel Municipal Solid Waste Composting Facility that operated nearby in the early 1990s. The plant stunk up the place, and shut down after less than a year without actually producing any marketable compost.

“I’m a survivor of the Riedel stench,” said Irwin Bergman.

Bergman said Metro issued Riedel a franchise, and failed to shut it down after it became clear it was a neighborhood nuisance. “We are gun shy.”

He said he was worried about the rotten-egg smell of hydrogen sulfide, and truck traffic in the neighborhood.

Kathy Fuerstenau, chairwoman of the Cully Association of Neighbors, said the company has worked with neighbors, “but I still have concerns.”

Fuerstenau said she worries that odors from the plant will be detectable. And she is concerned about noise from generators and other equipment.

She said the idea of a good neighbor plan sounded fine, “but will they be willing to acknowledge our concerns after it opens?”

Fuerstenau said the enhancement fee should be increased to $1 a ton.

McKinney said he understands the neighborhood concerns, but he stressed the differences between the failed Riddle operation and his proposal.

The main distinction is that Riddle was an outside composting operation, with no effective odor control measures. The biogas plant will be completely enclosed, with negative air pressure maintained inside the building so air will be sucked inside whenever a door is opened. Biofilters will scrub the air leaving the facility.

McKinney argued that the 60 trucks a day arriving at the plant will be far fewer than would be the case under many other types of uses allowed on the industrially zoned land.

The business expects to make money by charging restaurants, grocery stores and other food producers to collect their food waste at prices below those charged by other trash haulers, and then selling the electricity generated to the power grid. The company will also sell the fiber and liquid fertilizer.

McKinney said the company expects to have a deal with PacifiCorp within a month or two.

He also said the plant will generate heat that could be shared with other industrial uses in the area. The city has been promoting this idea of “district heating.”

Company officials estimate the project will create 85 jobs during construction, then 10 full-time jobs to operate the plant. Columbia Biogas will contract with Veolia Water North America-West to operate the plant.

Veolia operates 400 water and wastewater facilities under agreements with 265 municipal agencies, including Canby, Gresham, and Wilsonville.

McKinney is an entrepreneur who has financed and managed renewable energy projects, including a large wind farm in Kansas, for several years.

Metro officials recommended approval of the franchise, concluding that the company was qualified, and the proposal would not have a negative impact on the neighborhood.

The plant will reduce the amount of trash going to through the agency’s transfer stations and on to the landfill, which will reduce revenues and slightly increase costs for the region’s residents.

The facility also needs approval from the state Environmental Quality Commission, and agency officials recommended approval during a hearing last month.

Although some residents express concerns, area businesses are strongly on board.

“It’s a good concept in a good location by people trying hard to be good neighbors,” said Corky Collier, executive director of the Columbia Corridor Association.

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