City Council Minutes 2000 06-21-00 (special cc) t
UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE
OVERVIEW OF SITE INSPECTION - JUNE 21, 2000
TO THE MANHATTAN, IL
ENRON ELECTRIC GENERATION FACILITY
City of Yorkville Representatives: Mayor Art Prochaska, Alderman Larry Kot, Alderman Rich
Sticka, Building & Zoning Official Bill Dettmer, Deputy City Clerk Sandy Marker.
Also attending were some of the Kendall County Board Members.
Guests: Phil Marshall, Cannonball Trail resident, and his guest
Representatives present from Enron including Fred Metro and Eric Thode.
Mark Gershon, Karen Way, of Rudnick& Wolfe, Attorneys for Enron.
Rick Suttle with Ruiettiger& Tonelli, Land Planners for Enron.
Jim Murphy, Public Relations representative for Enron.
City of Yorkville officials were invited, along with the members of the Kendall County Board to
visit Enron's newly completed facility in Manhattan, Illinois.
Enron proposes to build virtually this same plant in Unincorporated Kendall County with the
intent of annexing into the United City of Yorkville upon becoming contiguous.
The proposed site in Yorkville is on West Corneils Road about 2500 feet east of Eldamain Road,
and this is expected to be very soon.
The motorcoach was boarded by participants at the Kendall County Office Building and departed
at 5:30 P.M. with about 25 passenger.
A boxed lunch and soft drinks were offered as we headed south.
Enroute we detoured from Ridge Road about a mile or so north of I-80 and drove about 2 miles
east to view another type of electric generation plant. This facility,referred to as LS Power was
recently built by another company, and after seeing the Enron facility there was a great deal of
contract.
On arrival we were greeted by additional Enron staff and ushered into the former farm owners
living room, now serving as a meeting room where sweet treats and coffee were served.
Fred Metro and Mark Gershon briefed us on this facility, our upcoming site tour and to fact that
this facility is almost identical to the one planned for Yorkville.
Turning the Manhattan Plant's layout on end, it matched the proposed Yorkville Plant almost
perfectly. The Manhattan plant is at full capacity with 8 generators. Yorkville will have a
maximum of 10.
After the briefing we all were given hard hats and boots were offered to those who had
inadequate shoes. We walked across the road and through the gates of the plant, past the security
guard. Enroute to the operations building we were able to see the gas stacks, parallel to the road
and the tanks with a berm parallel to the road designed to conceal them from view. The
generators looked like a small building with a huge air conditioning unit sitting on top of it.
The landscaping was not in yet, but we were told it would be similar to what we had been shown
in the drawings of the Yorkville site.
Once in the operations building,the chief operator joined in explaining that the turbine
generators can be run remotely from Houston. They can be monitored completely by computer
inside at the operations building which faces the turbines through a long window which gives a
good view of everything going on outside adjacent to the turbines.
Fred Metro covered the facility operations and gave a presentation similar to the one done for our
EDC and COW meetings. Questions were asked about emissions and Mr. Metro explained that
they have to send reports to the IEPA.
A questions was asked about what the procedure would be if the reading shown on the computer
screen was above the allowable rate of pollution.
A quick, confident and effective answer given by the operator. The facility has a 125 volt
battery back-up in case of power failure, and on site fire protection. There is CO2 at each turbine
as well as sprinklers.
Mr. Mertro told us that they had worked closely with the Fire Department in Manhattan during
construction and the Fire Chief was out to the site several times during construction.
Mr. Sam Holidman, Kendall County Board member asked about on site Fire training in
Yorkville.
Mr. Gershon stated that they have already contacted the Bristol Kendall Fire Protection District
and may bring them to Manhattan also.
The operator went over the on screen operations and capabilities that can be done through
computer commands.
The type of generators/turbines that are used in Yorkville will be determined by ComEd. They
would be either G.E., Westinghouse, or a couple of others, as there are only a few making this
kind of turbines.
As for construction, Enron only deals with companies who have done this kind of construction
operation before and more than a few times. They only deal with very the experienced.
We took a walk outside around the generator buildings and talked about the noise we could hear,
some said it would lull them to sleep.
As the walking tour progressed participants posed individual questions to members of the Enron
group, and many small conversations about the facility and it's operation ensued throughout the
group.
The tallest object on the site was in fact a lightening rod.
Once the tour of the facility itself was completed we returned to the welcoming house where
everyone had an opportunity to ask questions and have additional sweet treats.
When everyone's questions had answers we boarding the motorcoach to return to Yorkville.
Arriving at 11:00 PM
Overview minutes by Sandy Marker