Jan282009
Stuck in the snow - atop a landfill
Filed under Weather climate by david brooks at 5:24 pm
Stuck in the snow atop a landfill
(ADDENDUM: The story ran Sunday, Feb. 1.)
Yesterday, while reporting on a future story about the UNH landfill-gas-to-energy program, I got stuck in the snow atop the massive Rochester landfill (the Turnkey Recycling and Environmental Enterprises is the official moniker). This is why I got into journalism, to do fun stuff like that!
The snow was only a foot or two deep, with lots of drifting, but it was packed down so hard that it grabbed the massive Chevy Avalanche pickup and wouldn’t let go - we had to be pulled out by a huge caterpillar tractor. The above photo, by Telegraph photographer Bob Hammerstrom, shows the tractor driving preparing to hook onto us.
The landfill is at least 100 feet high already and covers scores of acres; it will eventually cover more than 100 acres when filled in a decade or so. Atop that windswept, snowbound site was like being in Siberia, as Hammerstrom commented. It’s snowing today; thank goodness we didn’t try the visit tomorrow.
On a side note, here’s a quote from Alan Davis, senior manager from Waste Management, about power production using landfill gas: “Without the subsidies you would never do it - we can’t compete with the cost of coal.” I’m not sure that will make it in the story, which isn’t about energy policy, but it’s interesting, eh?
January 28th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
An exciting, sexy job we have, eh?
January 28th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Oh, yeah! What the photo didn't show was me wearing a glow-in-the-dark mint greem windbreaker (three sizes too small) over my jacket, with no hat and gloves. I conveniently left them in my car at the bottom of the dump.
The wind was howling and I could walk on top of the drifts without falling through. With Dave guiding me to the edge of garbage-dom, I looked down at the swirling drifts below me. I'll be posting that photo in the photographers' blog “on assignment.” The only thing I missed with my camera, and frozen extremidies, was Dave slipping and testing the padding of his backside while negotiating a drift. Ouch!
-Bob Hammerstrom
January 28th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
You reporters get to do all the fun stuff - hang around dumps. Do any dumpster diving - fine any treasures?
On a more serious note have any of you heard of a company called IST energy
http://www.istenergy.com
Mass High Tech did a piece about them a few weeks ago:
http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2009/01/12/...
They have a gasification system to turn organic waste into fuel. I'm not a fan of trash-to-energy projects because some of the emissions are pretty bad. Gasification was widely used in Europe due to shortages of oil. They claim it is god’s gift to green energy. If it really is sounds pretty exciting.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:19 am
IST got a ton of press from Xconomy, the Globe, and others - they must have had a media day with free food. It sounds good, but you're right about emissions concerns.
January 30th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
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