Cass interested in energy effort

WALKER The Cass County Board Tuesday approved a letter of support for and interest in the proposed Palisade Energy Park LLC gasification project, which would process solid waste (garbage) into usable energy and products.

Wayne Johnson, an engineer with the project, described plans for the for-profit enterprise. Their plan is to accept garbage from neighboring counties like Cass to begin processing it by 2014.

If the project is successful, Johnson said the plant would employ 100 people with two years of technical college training or higher educational requirements.

Unlike landfills or incinerators, there would not be toxic residue or emissions, Johnson said. The garbage would be used as a fuel for a plasma gasification process to generate syngas and bio-diesel and other usable products.

Excess oxygen and nitrogen would be the only expected emissions, he said.

Cass County's current solid waste disposal contract with Waste Management runs through October 2012.