During the March Chautauqua County Planning Board meeting, board members heard about a proposal for the plant, which would be located on Route 5 in the town of Pomfret. Andy Dorn Jr. is the chairman of Coal Ash Recycling, LLC and made the virtual presentation.

The Don Frame Trucking Landfill was located at 5485 West Lake Road, Fredonia. It was acquired by Coal Ash Recycling in July 2014. The 70 acre landfill contains approximately 2.15 million tons of Class F fly ash and bottom ash produced at the Dunkirk Generating Station between 1964 and 1989, until it was closed in 1989 under the supervision of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

According to Dorn, Coal Ash Recycling has sampled the landfill to determine the quantity and chemical composition of the coal combustion materials. It has a technology solution that will allow that coal ash to be processed to meet the standard for use in ready-mix concrete.

Dorn noted that coal fly ash is the airborne, non-combustible residue that results from coal-fired electric power production. Fly ash is an integral part of durable concrete for use in critical infrastructure.

Pictured is 5485 West Lake Road, in the town of Pomfret. This is the area where a coal ash recycling plant is proposed to be constructed. OBSERVER Photo by Anthony Dolce

Class F Fly Ash was historically sourced from coal-fired power plants which have underwent a massive round of economically driven retirements in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, creating a scarce supply of Class F Fly Ash. In New York state, there are no coal-fired power plants still in operation. Ready mix concrete producers in the region are currently unable to source enough fly ash to meet their needs.

The regional demand within 200 miles of the project exceed the project’s expected annual production of 155,000 tons. Dorn believes this project’s annual output could supply 1% of the fly ash consumption in the United States.

Right now, they are finalizing commercial discussions with a counterparty and hope to provide additional details as soon as this confidential process progresses. “We also understand that the remediation, reclamation and reuse of the NRG landfill, adjacent to our site, is a priority for the CCIDA (Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency) and our community. We believe that our significant investment and scale of operations on our site will ultimately lead to collaboration on the NRG site to achieve these common goals,” the company wrote in its proposal.

It is anticipated the project would operate at least nine months a year for up to 15 years, on a 24 hour a day, seven day a week basis. The company expects the final investment may exceed $15 million in upfront private capital investment with an annual operating budget of about $4 million.

They declined to say at this point how many jobs this project is expected to create but added that will be shared later.

The site is currently zoned for AR1 for agricultural/residential. However the company intends to file for a use variance request in the coming months. During that hearing, the company said it will provide more details on the site, development and operating plans but added that the use variance will be for industrial activities.

EvaDawn Bashaw, Pomfret zoning and planning clerk, said so far they have not received a use variance application for the development.