Biomass backlog

More than a year has passed since the damage from the EF3 tornado that tore through Ruston created an unprecedented backlog of wood waste to be burned at the Lincoln Parish Landfill.

Since then, the private company that operates the biomass burner at the landfill has still not caught up, Lincoln Parish Police Jury members said at their June 9 meeting.

“We’re spending a lot of money for no service,” said T.J. Cranford, District 4 juror and Solid Waste & Recycling Committee chairman.

The jury has contracted with the Madisonville-based Crochet Equipment Company since 2012 to perform the burning of wood waste for the landfill. Cranford suggested the parish look into getting out of the contract with Crochet, which runs through 2022, and take over burning operations themselves because of how far behind things are.

A week after the April 25, 2019 tornado, more than 1,400 tons of biomass debris had been piled up at the landfill. Currently, the backlog stands at an estimated 900 tons. The jury’s contract with Crochet stipulates that there should never be more than 200 tons on the ground.

“I took a picture (on June 9) of the wood waste pile, and it has new greenery growing on it because it’s been there so long,” Cranford said.

The committee voted to ask their legal counsel, Assistant District Attorney Lewis Jones, to send a letter to Crochet about the jury’s problems with the company’s performance. As of Monday, that letter had not yet been sent.

They also decided to begin the long process of acquiring a Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality permit to prepare for the possibility of the parish taking over its own burning operations.

The jury pays $150,000 a year for Crochet’s services, and normally if it wanted to break the contract early, the parish would have to buy the biomass burner for another $150,000. But Cranford said he believes there might be a way around that.

“I believe with (Crochet) being the one that’s breaking contract and not being able to catch up, I thought (Jones) could look into seeing if there would be a way for us to get out of the contract without buying the equipment, because that equipment is not in good shape.”

Then-Parish Administrator Courtney Hall said this was not the first time the parish has had problems with Crochet, describing the relationship as “love/hate.”

The current contract does include an “act of God” clause that absolves either party of liability when a natural disaster strikes, but whether that clause would still apply more than a year later is not yet clear.

If the jury does take over operations, jurors said a new burner would cost at least $170,000 but would run better and last longer than Crochet’s. More employees would likely need to be hired as well.

Solid Waste Superintendent Kerry Outley told jurors that if they got a new burner, his department would be able to handle the backlog and catch up.