Colebrook EEC Minutes Meeting 7 April 8, 2008
Members Attending: David Belanger, Bob Soucy, Brian LaPerle, Lenny Martel, Norm Broome, Haze Smith, Marie Vaillant, Julie Moran Guests: Larry Rappaport, Donna Caron, Kevin McKinnon
Progress:
Both Tax Initiatives passed at the Town Meeting - thanks to B Soucy & J Moran.
SAU 7 energy and recycling issues at school will pick up momentum this month and next.
M Vaillant and J Moran are initiating this.
EEC Minutes for Town website must be in a paragraph format - J Moran will do by June. L Rappaport willing to create a website for this committee, as long as another person will help update it. J Moran volunteered to be an assistant webmaster.
What about email address for website? Discussion to rename the EEC as “Energy Committee”. Members will think about it and decide next month.
3rd Recycling Article published - people are saying that they are helpful. Need to do another one on cardboard, newspapers and cans.
Ongoing Discussions:
Recycling and Waste Disposal: Issues addressed to Kevin McKinnon by the Committee
Hazardous Waste Day Discussion. It costs $3500 per day for a Haz Mat and Decontaminant team. K McKinnon had to tell the County that Colebrook would not do a Hazardous Waste Day this year because the last time they did it 3 years ago, only 37 people showed up. And the town is not allowed to store or transport any Hazardous waste. He is working on a paint day for next year. The North Country Council will give a grant for $2500 to each town towards a hazardous waste disposal day. Paint costs about $800 per 55 gallon drum, even if only one can of paint is put in it. Latex paint can be safely disposed of by drying it out, but most people do not want the hassle of doing this. A Paint Exchange was discussed, but not decided on.
Regular alkaline batteries are safe to go in the trash. Lithium batteries are collected by the personnel at the Transfer Station.
Asphalt Shingles cost the town $68 per ton to dispose of.
Gypsum board may be a breakeven venture. B Soucy will ask about the efforts of Dennis Patnaud in Lancaster. He thinks that Littleton may also breakeven with user fees.
Tires could conceivably be sent to a Tire Plant that creates liquid Nitrogen and uses a magnet to separate out the metal parts.
K McKinnon estimated that 20 Tons of textiles (old clothes) are thrown away every year. If the town baled and sold them, that could save money, also.
All Plastics are being recycled in Milton, NH. But right now they are not taking any plastics from municipal sources, but a company from Quebec may be interested. Question from B Soucy: is there a way to recycle those styrofoam packing peanuts? No-one had any answers.
County Recycling Center Newspaper use. Colebrook ships 3 tons of newspaper per week or 156 tons per year to the County Recycling Center, under their contract. Baled newspapers pay $107 per ton. However, the Recycling Center only shipped 50 Tons of Newspapers according to their report. It was assumed that they use it for other uses, but this causes a loss for the Town of approximately $11,342 per year.
B LaPerle suggested buying 2 trailers and hauling it ourselves, and H Smith suggested that we could find something to haul back, to save more money. These suggestions will be looked into, as the contract with the County Recycling Center will expire within 2 years.
The Town ordered 20 composting bins and 60 (2 gal) composting pails for kitchen use. These will be available for the public to buy.
PAYT will come again as a Warrant Article for the 2008 Town Meeting.
Recycling at schools and Down Town: B Laperle suggested that we get a grant for recycling more at the schools. Maybe do a survey to find out what they have or need to do that. Hold information sessions, buy shaped opening containers to assist sorting. Also, maybe we should put several of those containers on Main St especially for common recyclables, such as soda cans. A campaign similar to the “Give a Hoot! Don’t Pollute!” campaign was suggested.
Earth Day April 22 is too soon for us to do anything this year. We will make a conscious effort to join the CDDA as individuals, on their efforts for Clean Up Colebrook through May 3rd. Next year, we will work on some joint efforts with local groups and the schools.
Dave West of Leibl Printing in East Colebrook sent an email request to J Moran asking for assistance in getting his large amount of papers recycled. Committee suggestions were to take it to the Transfer station. J Moran will follow up with D West.
Energy Issues:
NHEC is offering $1500 and the Fed Govt is offering $2000 for the installation of any Solar Thermal System installed this calendar year. There is a specific procedure that must be done to qualify for the NHEC, including photos before and after. Details on their website.
L Martel and D Belanger just installed 2 Solar panels on the Martel house, and connected them to a hot water heater and heat exchanger to provide hot water and some heat for house. Cost for installation of 2-4 panels and connections to system is about $11,000. D Belanger and P Miron took courses to qualify to install these systems and have installed another one on another house.
H Smith is planning to buy a blower door and infrared camera to find heat leaks.
K McKinnon talked about up and coming mini-hydro plants becoming available for residents.
L Rappaport opened discussion on the use of the methane produced from the landfill. He is the Project Manager for the landfill. He estimates 15 years of heat and electricity production from the landfill, and would like to see it put to good use. The Town of Colebrook has signed a "letter of intent" with Pennsylvania Power and Light to do the project. They are planning to do the project
and have estimated that the town will receive $500,000 for the energy credits alone. It is only the heat which we want to give away and have not yet found anyone who wants it. If nobody wants it, they will simply vent it. However, it would be a free source of energy for a local 20,000 sq ft greenhouse operation located on the nearby land which could provide jobs for local people. It is a project that has political interest. It is environmentally responsible. And it would be an easy project for an earmark. The catch is that it must be operational by the end of December 2008, and to date, there is no one to do it. He suggested the newly forming Farmer’s co-operative, but J Moran said that they can’t add anything else for this year. It would be a great project if we could find someone who could take
it and run with it, but time is short. D Belanger suggested finding someone who has used waste oil to heat a greenhouse. Anyone wanting to use that energy should contact Larry Rappaport, Donna Caron, or Kevin McKinnon.
Building Issues:
B Soucy wants to improve the level of building Quality in this area. Wants to get some presentations together on building classes, so that “contractors” will know the codes and essential basics for safety of buildings. H Smith commented that times are going to change, and that the market will determine the need for local builders to upgrade their skills because the consumers are becoming much more aware of the issues. B LaPerle agreed that this industry will be consumer driven. The educated consumer will mage demands on the contractor to be up to date on the codes. L Martel said that there is a homebuilders Association in Lancaster that is addressing these issues. H Smith contributed that code classes are now being held, and that builders will soon need to be certified. N Broome stated
that heating licenses are now “voluntary”, but will soon become mandatory.
Question: Does Colebrook Library carry any Energy magazines? Each member was asked to call the library and request Mother Earth News and Home Power.
EEC Definition and Evaluation:
In seeking grants to fund recycling and energy project, J Moran found that if we want to apply for grants, it will be necessary to define our purpose and goals, and to have a governing BOD with at least the officers of President, Treasurer, and Secretary.
Discussion regarding the Mission of this Committee was that it is primarily for the Promotion and Education of Energy and Recycling in the Colebrook area. L Rappaport suggested that we make a list of goals and projects that we want to accomplish. J Moran agreed to send a copy of current organization Mission Statement and Goals via email to all members so we can discuss them and officers at the next meeting.
Someone suggested that the Committee become certified as a non-profit by the State of NH by filing some paperwork, and then take the time to become a 501(c)3. It was suggested to contact UCV Community Coalition to see about filing.
The meeting adjourned approximately at approximately 9:30 PM. Next meeting at same place (Kheops) at 7:00 PM on May 13, 2008.
Respectfully Submitted, Julie Moran
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