ICL Challenges Dynamis Decisions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 19, 2012

Contacts:

Courtney Washburn, Idaho Conservation League, 208.345.6933 x 17
Bryan Hurlbutt, Advocates for the West, 208.342.7024 x 206

Idaho Conservation League Challenges Dynamis Decisions

BOISE—The Idaho Conservation League filed a state court lawsuit today challenging two recent actions taken by the Ada County Board of Commissioners to approve the controversial Dynamis “waste-to-energy” facility at the Ada County Landfill.

The suit challenges the Commission’s 2-to-1 vote on Oct 23 to create an “industrial park” for the Dynamis facility at the landfill and to lease nearly 10 acres there to Dynamis Energy, LLC.

“The proposed Dynamis project at the Ada County Landfill threatens clean air and the health of all people in the Treasure Valley,” said Courtney Washburn, community conservation director of the Idaho Conservation League. “This project has been given a sweetheart deal by the Ada County Commission with little regard for public concern or due process.”

Dynamis has proposed constructing a garbage “gasification” plant at the Ada County Landfill. The plant would combust 408 tons of garbage and tires per day, release significant quantities of harmful air pollutants into the Treasure Valley, and generate 30 tons of toxic ash a day. The Idaho Conservation League and its many members and supporters are very concerned about the impacts of the proposal.

In the petition filed today in Ada County District Court, the Idaho Conservation League challenges the Commission’s Oct 23 decisions as violating Idaho law regarding long-term leases of county property without public auction; the organization also challenges the creation of an “industrial park” on county land for the Dynamis facility.

“Garbage-combusting power plants do not belong in industrial parks,” said Bryan Hurlbutt, an attorney at Advocates for the West, which represents the Idaho Conservation League. “By creating this industrial park, the Commissioners are trying to circumvent the law and lease the site to Dynamis without holding a public auction.”

###