Published Nov. 11, 2007 7:30 am
Ocala Star Banner
Every rose has its thorn
Nothing personifies Marion
County more than its horse farms. The sight of grazing mares and foals against a
backdrop of rolling pastures and moss-draped oaks creates a picture-postcard
portrait of our community that is a chamber of commerce dream. It's a living
dream that also happens to create thousands of jobs and pump hundreds of
millions of dollars into the local economy each year, not to mention the
visitors and sportsmen it attracts from the world over.
But, as the old
proverb goes, every rose has its thorn.
The thorn, in this case, is
mounds upon mounds of horse manure produced by
the 50,000-plus horses that make Marion County the horse capital of the world.
The county's 700-800 horse farms, in fact, produce an estimated 400,000 tons a
year of the stinking stuff, about one-fourth of which the farms currently can't
dispose of through existing methods. And that 100,000-ton surplus is more than
an unsightly, odorous nuisance. It is an environmental hazard that pollutes our
groundwater supply.
For the past decade the horse industry hereabouts has
been on notice that it needed to do something about disposing of the excess
manure in a environmentally responsible way. The pressure to finally do that is
now intense as the county appears ready to pass a stringent Springs Protection
Act that will forbid stockpiling horse waste; enactment of the ordinance could
come as early as late 2008. After much discussion and at least one failed, $2
million foray a few years back to address the manure quandary, the Florida
Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association may have found a workable
solution. It is a solution that proponents believe will be not only
environmentally beneficial, but economically beneficial as well. All the
better.
FTBOA announced earlier this month it has formed a partnership
with Georgia-based Global Green Solutions, known as Florida Greensteam Equine
Energy, to build an incineration plant that would burn horse
"muck," the mix of manure, urine and stable bedding the farms produce. During
the super-hot burning process, steam would be produced that, in turn, would
generate electricity. The Florida Greensteam partners then hope to sell that
electricity to area power companies like Ocala Electric Utility and Florida
Progress Energy.
FTBOA Executive Vice President Dick Hancock said the $20
million plant is expected to produce 10-12 megawatts of electricity, based on
the 100,000 tons of excess horse waste. That, he said, is about enough to meet
the power needs of a city the size of Williston. Hancock added that its
developers believe the proposed plant could ultimately handle twice as much
waste as is now planned, and the partners might approach local governments about
taking on wood waste such as construction and yard debris. That could be a
sorely needed relief valve for the county, in particular, as it struggles to
make room at its fast-filling Baseline Landfill.
The special
beauty of the FTBOA-Global Green project, at this point, is that it is not
asking for on any governmental funding to move forward. Although the partnership
is applying for some state and federal alternative energy grants, it is looking
to revenues from the sale of its electrical generation to pay off the two
parties' investments.
As long as Marion County remains the horse capital
of the world - and we pray that it does forever - there will be mountains of
horse manure to contend with. Until now, it has been an accepted, if unpleasant,
inconvenience and pollutant. But with protecting our diminishing groundwater
supply from continuing pollution and unavoidable imperative, something had to
give.
It is refreshing the FTBOA has not reneged on its long-standing
pledge to find an acceptable, environmentally responsible solution to its
organic pollution problem. At the same time, we understand this is a new and
largely untested technology that may take time to get the kinks out of
completely. Unfortunately, time isn't something the horse industry or our
groundwater supply, and particularly our precious springs, have in any semblance
of abundance.
Every rose has its thorn, but if the FTBOA plan works,
maybe our rose will smell just a little bit sweeter and our water will be little
bit cleaner.
Leonard