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Gustav debris lower than estimated
Published Monday, September 14, 2009
NATCHEZ — After meeting with officials from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency last week, Adams County officials have received final approval on how to dispose of debris left over from Hurricane Gustav.
While initial estimates indicated the cost to convert the debris to woodchips placed the job at several hundred thousand dollars, the actual cost will likely be substantially less, Adams County Administrator Cathy Walker said.
Walker said the price discrepancy came when the debris piles were first measured and inaccuracies in those measurements went unnoticed.
Initial measurements indicated the county had as much as 38,000 cubic yards of debris, however, subsequent measurements have shown the county to only have 6,500 cubic yards of debris.
Walker said it’s not clear as to why the intial estimates, provided by MEMA, were so much higher than the secondary estimates.
“It’s been confusing all the way around,” she said.
But the smaller quantity of debris to be disposed of amounts to a much smaller chipping bill.
Adams County has partnered with local contractor Dozer Contractors to turn the year-old storm debris into woodchips.
Chipping for 6,500 cubic yards of debris will cost the county $17,500, in the event there is more debris than the secondary measurements have indicated Dozer will charge the county $700 an hour for chipping.
Walker said MEMA representatives will be in the county to measure the debris before its destroyed to guarantee an accurate measurement is taken.
“Right now, we’re just glad to see it’s being taken care of,” Walker said.
Dozer could begin disposing of the debris as early as Wednesday.
Once completed, the county will be reimbursed for the work.
Comments
Posted by gemccull (Gary McCullars) on September 14, 2009 at 4:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Who is buying the chips?
How long will it take to chip the material?
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on September 14, 2009 at 9:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Alexandria is giving away free woodchips. There must not be a serious buyers market.
Posted by gemccull (Gary McCullars) on September 14, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am not sure they are chipping the material. I figure that the material is being ground up for wood waste (fiber fuel).
At one time, GP was hauling wood waste from around St Francisville to their mill at Crossett, AR.
Well, if there is not a buyer, we may have another problem with disposal of ground wood waste.
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on September 14, 2009 at 1:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If they leave it alone long enough it will just decompose naturally. That's what my compost pile does everyday. All the piles have collapsed in on themselves as the lower levels rot.
Posted by beammeupscotty (anonymous) on September 14, 2009 at 4:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe the EDA could find a corporation that raises hampsters and use the wood chips as an incentive in locating a hampster farm in Adams County and create hundreds of jobs.
Posted by juju (anonymous) on September 14, 2009 at 6:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe it's less than originally estimated because they figured on the rest that has never been picked up all this time!
Posted by nameno (anonymous) on September 14, 2009 at 8:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There is enough holes and hollers around here they could dump all of the debris in.
Posted by gemccull (Gary McCullars) on September 15, 2009 at 10:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So, we are going to spend $17,500 to hog 6,500 tons for about $2.70 per ton. About 260 +/- truck loads of fuel will be generated.
We are going to pay $700 per hour to hog fuel over 6,500 tons. So if the productivity of the machine is $700 per hour divided by $2.70 per ton would be 260 +/- tons per hour. The initial 6,500 tons will be processed in 25 hours. Hopefully, there are enough trucks and vans available to handle the production without having to put fuel on the ground. If fuel goes to the ground, there well be additional cost.
My questions:
Are these production numbers realistic and if not, why not?
What is it going to be the cost to the county for disposal of the wood waste? Or is MEMA going to foot the bill?
Posted by Greenfields (anonymous) on September 15, 2009 at 10:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm with nameno, throw that that stuff into a danm kudzu hole....
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