Thurmont residents and leaders full of questions

$70 million biomass plant still in discussion stage

Officials have since last year been investigating a pitch from Bill Rodenberg, 61, of Sabillasville to build and operate a town-owned power plant that would run on biomass. Rodenberg is an energy management consultant with Thurmont-based Energy Management Strategies.

He says the proposed plant could generate electricity from biomass – wood chips, manure and other natural products – and the town could sell excess energy to make a profit. The town would have to invest heavily in construction and other costs.

"We're asking the town [residents] to borrow money to do something they don't understand for reasons they don't understand," Rodenberg said Monday.

In fiscal 2009, Thurmont plans to use $7.1 million to purchase electricity, while collecting $8.9 million from customers. About 6,000 people live in the northern Frederick County town.

Commissioners scheduled Monday for a free-flowing question-gathering session. Questions were rare; more common were exhortations from residents urging elected officials not to bankrupt the town on a "dangerous" gambit.

"There's fear in the town," said Brian Lynch, a member of the town's Parks and Recreation Commission. "I believe that we should take a deep breath."

Several times during his speech, resident John Smith told commissioners, "I'm glad to see that this train has slowed down."

Mayor Martin A. Burns and other elected officials were quick to say that they are brimming with their own questions, and anxious for feedback from both experts and taxpayers.

"There's just a million things to look at," Commissioner Glenn D. Muth said.

Commissioner Robert E. Lookingbill addressed the public directly, saying "I want to know what you feel. It's a big project; a lot of money and a lot of unknowns."

Indeed, Lookingbill and the project's main proponent acknowledged a broad lack of engagement from the community.

The project has merit, Rodenberg said – he claimed the idea has attracted interest from firms as far away as Texas. Burns backed up that statement with his own anecdotes.

"There is a huge interest in non-carbon footprint generation," Burns said. In fact, the town received $37,500 in reimbursement from a state grant for paying Rodenberg for an initial feasibility study this year. Burns said the study has "huge holes."

Muth said the grant money arrived from the state in "record time," and, to him, was "kind of telling as to where they want to go."

The state may be looking at Thurmont as a test case for municipality-generated green power, Burns said.

Although copies of the initial feasibility study have been circulating through Thurmont, none were available at the town office on Monday. Rodenberg declined to e-mail a copy to The Gazette.

For more information about Energy Management Strategies, go to the company's Web site at www.smarterenergy.us. A phone call to the firm was not returned by The Gazette's press time.

A slideshow by Energy Management Strategies titled, "A vision for Thurmont's energy future," is available for download on Thurmont's Web site, www.thurmont.com.