Controversial Poo At The Zoo Plan Shelved
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$3.7 Million Later, Gasification Plant To Stand Empty
Story and photos by Cara DeGette
Editor, Greater Park Hill News
After spending $3.7 million on a gasification plant to convert elephant poop into energy, Denver Zoo officials abruptly pulled the plug on the project Sept. 25.
The announcement came after a month of media attention raising questions about the public health safety and potential environmental hazards over the plan. However, at a hastily called press conference, zoo spokeswoman Tiffany Barnhart said cost concerns – not vocal opposition – put a sudden halt to the plan that was a decade in the making.
CEO Shannon Block said the zoo will seek new funding partners to take the project “across the finish line.” The project, however, will not be completed at the zoo. The new building that was designed to house the gasification plant – which has also drawn criticism as being an eyesore visible from adjacent Duck Lake in City Park – will stand empty for the time being. Barnhart said the building will likely be repurposed for another use.
Neither Block nor Barnhart identified how much it will cost to complete the project, or where it would conceivably be moved.
“Although this is a difficult decision, it is the one that makes the most sense to ensure the project continues to completion of site and to ensure that the zoo achieves our highest priorities moving forward, including implementation of our new master plan,” Block said.
Louis Plachowski, president of City Park Friends and Neighbors and a vocal opponent of the plan, applauded the zoo for making what he termed a “courageous” decision. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people, Plachowski noted, visit the zoo, as well as the nearby Museum of Nature and Science and City Park.
In addition, the zoo is in the middle of a high-density urban area. An experimental gasification plant to convert animal waste and trash into electricity – which the zoo termed a “first-of-its-kind” – was far too risky, said Plachowski, who is also on the board of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. His wife, Bridget Walsh, led the opposition.
Though the zoo termed it a “waste-to-energy” gasification plan, Walsh, Plachowski and other critics likened the technology a form of incineration.
Another group of City Park-area residents, meanwhile, emerged as vocal critics of the critics. Though zoo officials cited cost – not opposition from neighbors – as the reason for cancelling the gasification project, some took to social media to denounce CPFAN and other opponents.
“Severely disappointed and all around embarrassed that a bunch of luddites with an agenda essentially drove this down,” was a comment that David Ian Brown left on the GPHN Facebook page. “It’s shocking that in this day and age when people are trying to tackle climate change that a bunch of NIMBY’s can force a change like this.”
The plan was supported by the Denver City Council, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, the Governor’s Energy Office and others. However, in recent weeks the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club, as well as Denver’s Inter- Neighborhood Cooperation (INC), also weighed in with criticism, calling for public hearings.
“As a coalition of Denver’s Registered Neighborhood Organizations, INC is advocating for council hearings to determine if an incinerator is an appropriate use in Denver’s parks,” noted INC President Larry Ambrose. “Or is it an industrial use that better belongs in a zoned industrial area away from the zoo’s 4,000 animals, visiting school children, City Park visitors and the thousands of residents who surround the park?
“Burning elephant poop to heat the elephant habitat and save money on the utility bill sounds good, but it is not ecologically sound or cost-effective. What can be composted, recycled, reused and repaired is even better for the Earth, our citizens and animals.”