Feb 5, 2014

Rich Fegley and the DTE Contract

To say that Rich Fegley is upset about the Delta Thermo Energy Contract is an understatement. This arrangement, already approved by city council about two years ago, allows DTE to mix our trash and sewage into some concoction that they will burn to make energy. This precise process has not been done before anywhere in the country. Rich doesn't think that we're innovators, he thinks that we're chumps. He believes that Mayor Pawlowski and DTE outright mislead city council on the projections to continue conventional trash collection.

On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 Rich Fegley  wrote:
Members of City Council,

At the last three Allentown City Council meetings I brought something to your attention that I feel
 is very important.
As I have stated three times before, the contract that the City signed with Delta Thermo Energy
 was based on false and misleading information.

Here are excerpts from the PWIA 12-12-2013 letter (attached) to PA Department of
 Environmental Protection:

Delta Thermo made a number of materially false statements to the public regarding
 their proposed project and the waste disposal industry as a whole.
Delta Thermo's continued use of false environmental marketing claims
Delta Thermo's representatives claimed that landfill tipping fees have increased
 7% a year over each of the last ten years. This is false...........
The PWIA in this letter continues to point out further FALSE and MISLEADING information
 that Delta Thermo Energy and ultimately Mayor Ed Pawlowski and PMF (Scott Shearer)
 provided to City Council and the Public.
I am stating that we were told information that was fabricated and false.

At the last Council meeting I asked Council to look into what research was done by PFM and Mayor Pawlowski on LANDFILL COSTS in the Lehigh Valley. How did PFM and Pawlowski come up with this $90.48/ton cost?
This new analysis show that the City will lose $113,000,000. This is a real number based on the "real" numbers that PFM and Mayor Pawlowski presented to City Council and the public.

I hope that we can discuss this at City Council this Wednesday.

Thank you for your attention,
Rich Fegley


I wish Fegley well on his endeavor. Approval of the Delta Thermo Contract was a circus, complete with trade union members from out of town packing the council chamber. New council member Cynthia Mota voted no, and then changed her vote, after being taken on a field trip by Delta Thermo. I would think that negating the contract at this point would be more complicated, requiring more motivation, than this council has ever displayed.
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2014 at 12:27 PM

    Don't most of us long for the days when our local newspapers, such as the Morning Call, would conduct careful investigations, such as Mr. Fegley attempts to do?

    Today, too many careless decisions are being made by political representatives. Traditional, large media watchdogs are hard to find and complicit in creating far-reaching damages like this local scheme, and on a much larger scale like Obamacare.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2014 at 1:04 PM

    DTE will also be under the tonnage required to burn to make the plant profitable. During discussion in Council it was suggested that to make up the difference require the ASD and businesses that do not use Allentown for their trash collection to do so.

    -Steven Ramos

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2014 at 2:51 PM

    Isn't it great to know the real reason why our water plant was sold?

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2014 at 9:18 PM

    Forget about the Morning Call doing their job of keeping an eye on governments at all levels. One leading reporter uses his personal Facebook page to post links from any and every pro Obamacare story in the mainstream press. Editors of old would have fired any reporter that was so public with political beliefs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2014 at 9:35 AM

    You are so right, 9:18PM.

    The Morning Call no longer serves its audience as it once did. Anyone using the Morning Call as its only source of information has NO idea about many things happening that have adverse affects on all of us. It's no wonder their circulation numbers are nearly HALF of what they were. Hard to believe, but the Express Times' message is even more untrustworthy!

    It's blogs like this one that help to protect us and encourage us to look deeper into issues of the day.

    Our government, local, state, and federal, is out of control. I hope Mr. Fegley, Mike Molovinsky and others continue to question things our representatives are doing, and NOT doing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2014 at 10:12 AM

    Control of the "Free Press" is vital, Comrade Molovinsky, of course.

    Sincerely,

    COL. VIKTOR TIKHONOV
    Soviet Red Army (ret)

    ReplyDelete

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