Economic impact of methane project uncertain

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Economic impact of methane project uncertain

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Translating the economic impact of Jackson County’s landfill gas recovery project into dollars and cents may prove harder than expected.

The Energy Xchange at the Yancy-Mitchell County landfil is the world’s first landfill gas recovery site turned co-op. It is the model for Jackson County’s project and has yet to generate a clearly definable economic impact for either of the counties involved, according to chamber of commerce and economic development commission officials there.

“To say specific dollars, we can’t do it right now,” said Shirley Hice, director of the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce.

And locally, officials say it is too soon to begin planning a marketing campaign to feature the project as it is undecided exactly what the project will include. Options being considered include pottery studios, blacksmith shops, hydroponic vegetable greenhouses, and anapen-air auditorium. The first phase of the project is expected to open by summer 2006.

“It’s a little bit premature at this point because we don’t know all of the entities that will be involved,” said Julio Spiro, director of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.

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Despite the fact that many aspects of the Jackson County project are still undecided, and the somewhat unproven nature of the Energy Xchange’s ability to bring in investment and tourism dollars, leaders still say such development is a good thing for their respective communities.

“I think it’s a viable economic force,” said Gwen Harris, director of the Yancey County Chamber of Commerce. “Is it going to bring us a 200-, 300-, 400-job factory? No. But it has been a significant economic force for us.”

In this case “significant” appears to mean small but meaningful. The Energy Xchange is essentially serving as a small business incubator for studio artists. The Xchange features potters and glassblowers who apply for apprenticeships to work and set up shop using the low-cost, high-energy heat generated by landfill methane. Greenhouses at the site raise native and seasonal plants, using methane energy to keep the environment a regular temperature year round.

Using the high-energy, low-cost methane helps save money and gives artists an outlet for their work. The Xchange is featured on the area’s Toe River Arts Council’s bi-annual craft tour, which brings in tourists and helps form name associations when Xchange artists later go out on their own.

“You see these artists, you recognize their names,” Harris said, noting her experience in the Toe River tour being carried over when she saw an Asheville gallery featuring the work of a former Xchange artist.

Cross marketing in Mitchell County among the chamber, EDC, the Penland School of Crafts and the Toe River Arts Council has helped brand the county as an arts destination, and tourism-related industries are benefiting.

“They’ve never been very good about sharing all the demographics about what goes on during their tours, but it brings a lot of extra folks in town,” said Jeff Gouge, vice president of operations for Gouge Oil Company, an Exxon distributor. “We certainly enjoy increased sales volume at our sales locations.”

Gouge Oil owns eight gas stations in Mitchell, Avery and Watauga counties. The Toe River tours — along with Appalachian State University game days, the Wooley Worm Festival in Banner Elk, and the Valley Crucis Craft Fair — represent the few times out of the year the company keeps extra gas on hand to meet increased demand. It’s just one of the small ways the arts community helps chip in to the local economy.

Jackson County’s landfill gas recovery project coordinator Timm Muth hopes to see similar contributions locally, drawing from his own experience as a renewable energy consultant and perhaps promoting the area as a green power source.

“We saw it as another way to promote the town, increase tourism. You know, just get our name on the map,” Muth said.

But which town will be promoted is unclear at this point, as support for the methane recovery project in the nearest town of Dillsboro is somewhat tepid. The landfill is located just outside town limits off U.S. 441, but the Dillsboro Merchant’s Association, which pays for promotional advertising, has enough on its plate already, said President Stacey Hepp.

Two large projects — renovation of a historic home between Dillsboro and Sylva that will house a museum, theater and additional parking, and continuing negotiations regarding the future of the Dillsboro Dam, for which removal has been proposed as one method of compensation for Duke Power’s use of area waterways to generate hydropower — loom on the town’s horizon.

“I don’t think we need to take on anything,” Hepp said.

Furthermore, the project isn’t the town’s, it’s the county’s.

“I don’t think we take ownership of it,” Hepp said.

The only way the site might be able to secure promotional funding from Dillsboro is by offering up a dues payment to join the DMA, Hepp said.

Meanwhile, specialized marketing isn’t something the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce currently undertakes. Rather than hone in on particular traveler interests that the county has to offer — fishing, waterfalls, crafts, or in this case, green power — the chamber promotes Jackson County as a whole.

“We don’t market just one thing,” Spiro said.

The approach has been successful for the county, Sprio said, but may limit any future campaigns to market the area as green power friendly.

Nevertheless, Muth is confident about the project’s appeal. The problem with marketing just the Energy Xchange on the Yancey-Mitchell County line as a destination may lie with its location — deep in the mountains, up curvy, narrow roads, making the area less accessible than others.

“Our roads hurt us here,” said Van Phillips, Mitchell County EDC director.

In Jackson the landfill site is easy to get to from two major highways. People still may not come to Jackson County just to visit the site, Muth said, but they may decided to stay a little longer to work it into their schedule.

In addition to methane recovery, the site could play host to solar collectors to heat water and anerobic digestors to compost municipal waste. Greenhouses that require hands-on labor could lead to the creation of more jobs, and classes of all kinds could attract visitors to the area. But it’s too soon to tell, Muth said.

“To be perfectly honest, I haven’t gotten to the heavy marketing aspect of it yet,” he said.

The first step is figuring out what are the best uses for the site and then building up from there — there’s no shortage of possibilities, it’s more just an issue of time.

“It’s kind of a gradual effort on my part, making the right contacts,” Muth said.

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