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1992-1993 INTRODUCTION Management Support Services and the current
shareholders of Chino Resource Recovery, Inc. intend to build a $120M
cogeneration plant in Chino, CA, financed by private funds and Municipal Bonds
with a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement between San Bernardino County and the
Redevelopment Agency of the County of San Bernardino. The plant will dispose of
approximately 2,500 tons per day of dairy manure to power 49.9MW methane gas
turbines which will produce enough electricity for 18,000 homes. No fossil
fuels will be used for power production. Southern California Edison Company (SCE) intends to
purchase the electricity through a long-term power purchase agreement. The plants primary function will be to produce
approximately 1,300 tons per day of protein enriched biofeed, a bi-product
derived from the effluent digester process. This biofeed is a major source of
revenue, and will be sold to feed companies in the western United States. The site has a Negative Declaration from San
Bernardino County pursuant to the provisions of the California Environmental
Quality Act and San Bernardino County Environmental Review Guidelines. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Chino Valley is one of the foremost dairy farm
and chicken ranching areas in the world with over 320 dairies and 200,000 dairy
cows and approximately 30 million birds within its 30 square mile area. The
area is located 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, and is the principal
source of milk, dairy and poultry products for the Los Angeles Metropolitan
area. As such, industries are key elements in the economy of not only the Chino
Valley but of the greater Los Angeles area as well. Manure is a very cumbersome by-product of dairy
operations, with about 2,000 tons produced daily in the Chino Valley area.
Besides having a foul odor, it provides breeding grounds for flies and is a
resulting threat to the health of the community. It must be regularly cleaned
up (hauled away, redistributed, etc.) so that daily operations can continue.
But with limited space for disposal available, it becomes a logistical and
management problem, not only for individual dairy farmers, but, on a larger
scale, for the entire Chino Valley community as well. Currently, about one-third of the area’s manure is
shipped out as fertilizer. As much as possible is spread on pastures and other
agricultural lands; however, there is not enough open land to accept all of it
at tolerable loadings. Consequently, the available ground is overloaded. State
and County codes limit this loading to three tons per acre, per year. But
absent any economic alternative disposal method, it is agreed that this
limitation is unenforceable. The result is that salt leached from the manure is
overburdening the underlying ground water basin and the salinity of the ground
water is rising. These waters also, in turn, flow into the Santa Ana River, a
principal source of water for densely populated Orange County, California. In view of these problems, it is apparent that the
development of an alternative disposal method is desirable, if not essential,
to the continued well being of the dairy industry in the Chino Valley.
Community, political and dairy industry leaders have had a strong interest in
doing so for a long time. Even after the termination of the Chino Agricultural
Preserve (five years from the present), there will be at least a fifteen year
supply of dairy and cow manure available. The proposed Chino Resource Recovery
Plant offers such an alternative. The proposed project will provide obvious benefits
to the Chino Valley community, environment, and economy. The quality of life
will be improved with the removal and utilization, in a positive manner, of
substances that cause concern to dairy farmers, chicken ranchers, neighboring
residents, and environmental agencies in the area. The Chino Resource Recovery Plant will use
conventional technology as described in the attached “PROCESS DESCRIPTION” by
Mr. Jack Cooper to extract methane gas from dairy and poultry manure. ZONING Agricultural
power generating plants have been ruled a compatible use within the
Agricultural Preserve by San Bernardino County. A Conditional Use Permit has
been issued along with Grading Permits (to activate the Negative Declaration).
See attached appraisal for further details. FINANCIAL DATA Southern California Edison
Company intends to secure pollution credits from the plant (transferable to
power purchaser) at a rate to be determined. Power production is expected to
earn a minimum of $.08/KW or in excess of $32M annually from Southern California
Edison. Feed companies are expected to pay a minimum of $140/ton (in excess of
$68M annually) for biofeed as compared to $175/ton plus shipping from the
Midwest Region. Annual Operation & Maintenance costs are estimated to be
approximately $9,700,000.00. CAPITAL
EXPENSES 1983 to 1987 - Received Negative Declaration and Conditional Use
Permit, partial payment of land, engineering, site plans and feasibility
studies: Total Expenditure $2,700,000.00 1988
to 1993 - Land Secured by First Trust
Deed $2,200,000.00 Engineering to date $1,800,000.00 Consultants single cell
protein, organic garden nutrients $675,000.00 Legal fees other than power
purchase $218,000.00 Air quality management
consultants $283,000.00 Application fees $118,000.00 Site engineering and Geology
testing $128,000.00 Process Kinetics Engineering
and studies $173,000.00 Overhead $770,000.00 Dairy consultants $65,000.00 County fees $182,000.00 TOTAL $9,312,000.00
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