Opposition to city trash-to-energy plant grows

Frank Jackson calls it part of his sustainability efforts. Opponents call it a polluter. They'll have it out over the new few months.

Cleveland's plan to build a waste-to-energy facility on the West Side looks like it'll lead to a serious battle, with both sides claiming they're defending the environment.

Protesters hit City Hall last night, trying to stop the plant. (See NewsChannel 5's coverage here.) Councilman Brian Cummins predicted it'll never be built.

The Jackson Administration wants to heat trash and turn it into energy using a technology popular in Japan called gasification. The mayor traveled to Japan last year to look into it. He touts it as part of the city's plan to reach a goal of "zero waste" by 2019. He argues it'd be better for the environment and the city's budget than the current practice of dumping trash in a landfill near Canton.

"If I don’t have to pay a $7 million dumping fee and all the fuel it costs to get a garbage truck to the dump and back, not only have I dealt with being environmentally friendly, because I’m not putting something in the environment, then I’m also saving millions of dollars," he told me last month.

Opponents refer to the plant as an incinerator. They think the new technology will pollute the air as conventional trash-burning incinerators do.

Dennis Kucinich came out against the plant this month (and three days later, claimed he was leading the opposition to it). Jonathon Sawyer of Greenhouse Tavern, touting his sustainable-restaurant credentials, just wrote a letter to Jackson opposing the plant. It's an interesting moment -- a Cleveland chef trying to leverage his growing celebrity into influence.

"The process will greatly increase the amount of soot, carbon monoxide, and mercury that our community ingests daily," Sawyer argues.

Jackson still has to convince a skeptical city council. I wouldn't be surprised if opposition lines up much as it did against Jackson's failed LED lighting plan.

Both ideas were originally promoted by businessman Peter Tien. Scene ran a good story last month that poked holes in Tien's plans and credentials. Now, after giving him a $1.5 million contract to design a gasification plant, the city is seeking informational bids from other plant designers instead.

City Hall's LED debate lights up again

Frank Jackson’s taking another shot at his LED lighting plan. Gone is the idea of handing a no-bid contract to Chinese manufacturer Sunpu-Opto, but not much else has changed.

The mayor still wants to use the city’s purchasing power as leverage to demand new jobs. Any company can now bid on a 10-year city lighting contract — if it promises to build a North American headquarters in Cleveland with 350 employees. In other words, the call for bids proposes a deal that Jackson knows Sunpu-Opto’s willing to make and invites other companies to match it.

Councilman Brian Cummins e-mailed me to say he’s against the new proposal. In a comment on my blog two weeks ago, Cummins said he objected to the Sunpu-Opto deal because of a “lack of credibility related to the company and their products.” He’s now posted several arguments against the new plan on Brewed Fresh Daily. The strongest: The LED lighting industry is changing so fast, how do we know that whichever company gets the deal will be producing state of-the-art lights in 2020?

But I doubt any company would relocate to Cleveland just to get a plain old two- or three-year contract. The original deal looked like it’d squeak through council on a 10-9 vote, and the competitive bidding in the new plan may convince a few councilpeople to drop their opposition. It’ll be hard for them to turn down 350 new jobs (even if many would be low-paying). But Cummins and others who oppose the deal are posing some tough questions. And win or lose, they’re establishing themselves as independent thinkers who won’t back down.

Jackson halts LED lighting deal

Mayor Frank Jackson is tabling his controversial LED lighting deal and starting over -- but for his own reasons. Not because critics have raised questions about conflicts of interest and the value of Chinese manufacturer Sunpu-Opto's technology. Nor because the deal faces strong opposition and was likely to slip through council on a 10-9 vote.

Jackson tells the Plain Dealer he "tainted" the process by announcing the deal while the city was still talking with other businesses about LEDs.

From his press release last night:

Tonight, I asked Cleveland City Council to table the legislation that would have authorized the City of Cleveland to move forward with a requirement contract for LED lighting products with Sunpu-Opto Semiconductor Co., LTD.

As part of my own review of the process, I came to the conclusion that my announcement regarding finalizing an agreement with Sunpu-Opto in my March 4th State of the City address came in the middle of a process that was not yet completed and therefore was premature. For this reason, we will start the process over.

Jackson's administration could end up proposing a new deal with Sunpu-Opto, a deal with another company, or competitive bidding for the city's lighting contracts. {Update, 6/9: His new plan essentially invites other companies to outbid Sunpu-Opto's offer. See my new post.} The mayor still wants to use lighting contracts to strike a bigger bargain:

This process will lead to an economic development project that will leverage the City’s purchasing power to create jobs, attract business investment, build a sustainable economy by the year 2019, reduce the City’s energy consumption and reduce the city’s lighting bill through the purchase of LED lighting technology.

Tomorrow, my staff will begin providing me with recommendations on moving forward to achieve this vision and ensure that these goals are met.

Politically, the lighting deal debate signals a shift in City Hall: city council is stepping up and questioning Jackson more. After four years when city council cooperated with him on almost everything, the mayor will now have to work harder to get big legislation passed. Compare the opposition to the lighting deal to the votes against his $86 million plan to automate the water department's meters, and you can sketch out the council coalition that might say no to him on the next tough issue.

Roldo: Close vote near on lighting deal -- 'strong rebuke' to Jackson, Sweeney

Mayor Jackson may get his streetlight deal with a Chinese company through Cleveland city council, but just barely. It passed a council committee on Monday with a 7-3 vote -- but it's heading toward a full council vote next this week because it doesn't have two-thirds support for quicker passage.

Plain Dealer City Hall reporter Mark Gillispie predicts it'll pass. But Roldo Bartimole, on CoolCleveland.com, counts 8 no votes and one abstention. So the LED lighting deal could be approved by a sliver: 11-8 or 10-9. That's very unusual in the Frank Jackson-Martin Sweeney era.

"The large vote against should be a signal to take another good look," Roldo writes. "This seems a strong rebuke to City Hall leadership. It means almost a majority of the Council couldn’t swallow this deal."

Roldo also notes that the $86 million plan to modernize Cleveland's water department passed by only 12-7. "It is a warning sign that there is little confidence in Mayor Frank Jackson on some very important matters," he says. "It also shows weak Council and Mayor leadership."

GE vs. City Hall battle goes before council

The Plain Dealer's Mark Gillespie calls it Mayor Jackson's most controversial proposal ever, and he's right. The deal to make a Chinese company the city's exclusive streetlight supplier is heading for a skeptical reception at city council today.

The mayor says he's using Cleveland's buying power to bring 350 jobs to town: Sunpu-Opto Semiconductor of China will build its North American headquarters here if it's named the city's exclusive supplier of LED lights. GE, watching from its plant in East Cleveland, is furious, demanding a chance to compete. It claims Cleveland is violating a competitive-bidding law. Jackson's lawyers say that's not so.

City council has hardly ever challenged Jackson. The same majority that keeps Martin Sweeney ensconced as council president has also deferred to the mayor on almost every big issue since 2006. I can think of very few exceptions: renewing the tax abatement for new homes and a couple of issues where council, not Jackson, took the lead.

So I'll be watching to see who on council asks tough questions, who sticks with Jackson out of loyalty, and who morphs into the loyal opposition. Mike Polensek, a frequent dissenter, has spoken up. Significantly, so has Jeff Johnson, who's re-establishing himself as an independent force on council. Who else?

The questions the councilpeople ask will reveal their politics. Some may argue with the mayor on nationalist grounds: Why give jobs to a Chinese company? Others will take the practical good-government approach and focus on the legal and technical questions, such as whether Sunpu-Opto's lights are really the best LEDs the city can buy.

Meanwhile, Jackson's arguments illuminate little-seen aspects of his thinking. All his critics who say he's too shy to take bold action ought to love this deal, he says. He's also trying to fight nationalism with nationalism, bashing GE, saying it "shipped jobs overseas." It's a risky strategy that could win him a flawed victory: He could land the 350 Sunpu-Opto jobs while alienating GE and local businesspeople who think GE got snubbed.