Staff Advises L.B. Council Not to Accept Trash Facility

The City Council should refuse possession of a new high-technology trash incinerator on Terminal Island until the builder repairs defects in the plant, according to a staff recommendation.

If the council approves the proposal at its Tuesday meeting, the $105-million Southeast Resource Recovery Facility would stay under the ownership of its builder, the Dravo Corp.

“There are a number of things that need to be corrected,” City Manager James C. Hankla said. “They’ve got a year to bring it in conformance.” The city can accept ownership of the plant any time during the next year, Hankla said.

Power for 45,000 Homes

The plant is intended to burn an average of 1,170 tons of garbage a day from Long Beach, Signal Hill and Lakewood to produce electricity for sale to Southern California Edison Co. The West Ocean Boulevard facility has the potential to provide power for 45,000 homes.

City project director Bill Davis said the most serious problem is an interior retaining wall that might not be strong enough to withstand years of battering by a bucket attached to an overhead crane. The concrete wall holds back tons of trash.

Hankla emphasized that the plant’s overall design is fine. The delay is just a matter of getting the builder to work out all the bugs.

“In a construction project of this size and magnitude, it is not unusual to have major corrective work required,” he said. “For the most part, the problems of this plant are not technical problems. They are physical and structural.”

No Immediate Comment

Dravo officials could not be reached for comment, but in past interviews they have said the plant was built to specification and should be accepted by the city.

The city originally was scheduled take possession last week. If the council decides to refuse possession, the city will attempt to negotiate an interim operating agreement with Dravo, Hankla said.

The city would assess Dravo $40,000 a day in late penalties, which would help pay off the bonds that were sold to finance plant construction, Hankla said. The city might waive part of the $40,000 in daily penalties if the plant generates revenues from the sale of electricity and from dumping fees paid by trash haulers, Davis added.

City officials previously said they plan to assess Dravo $4 million in penalties for being 128 days late in completing the first stage of construction.

Builder Has Posted Bond

In any case, Davis said, the city is financially protected. Dravo has posted a bond equal to the construction cost as a guarantee against non-payment of penalties.

Davis said the city engineer has found that the most serious concern, the retaining wall, is not in danger of collapsing or buckling. City officials fear, however, that the wall will deteriorate faster than expected over the years because the overhead bucket is striking harder than engineers had expected. The bucket strikes the wall while picking up trash and dropping it into a furnace chute.

Dravo officials have suggested that a steel plate be installed behind the wall to add support. The city engineer is receptive to the plan, Davis said, but would demand rigorous testing. But the testing and repairs would take less time than complete replacement of the wall, which would mean closing the plant for up to eight months.