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BILL VARIANWhen the County Commission is asked for its stance on the recalcitrant plant, one member says a criminal probe is in order.
TAMPA - Hillsborough Commissioner Pat Frank keeps charts on the door of her county office showing the amount of fresh drinking water coming out of the new Tampa Bay desalination plant.
Rather, the lack of clean water that has flowed from the plant since it was supposed to start operating in January.
Frank said Wednesday that problems with the $110-million desalination project have grown beyond bad luck or incompetence. She thinks they're criminal. And on Wednesday, Frank said she intends to seek a grand jury investigation into Tampa Bay Water's handling of the project, and a reservoir under construction in southern Hillsborough.
"I predict that this desal plant will never work," Frank said during a commission workshop. "I think there are heads that should roll over this."
Frank got no backing from fellow board members. She said she does not know when she will request a grand jury probe or to whom she will make the appeal - state or federal officials. She said she was still doing her homework.
Her comments came during a discussion scheduled at the last minute at the request of Commissioner Ronda Storms, who sits on the board of Tampa Bay Water. Storms was seeking guidance on the commission's position for an emergency meeting scheduled by the water utility Friday.
The Tampa Bay Water board is expected to decide whether to hold the plant's operator, Covanta, in default or grant it another extension to see if it can get the plant running.
Tampa Bay Water general manager Jerry Maxwell said he is as concerned as commissioners by the failure of Covanta to get desalination working as billed. He said he is hopeful that the plant will yet produce the 25-million gallons a day required, but there are financial safeguards if it doesn't.
"Our staff and our consultants, as we talk to them, believe that with some additional pilot work and some testing that the plant can be made to perform," Maxwell said. "That may require some refurbishment, but we don't know that yet."
The latest problem: Exotic Asian green mussels are clogging filters that are supposed to clean the brackish bay water. Covanta has known about the problem for months, but some commissioners found out only Wednesday through a report in the St. Petersburg Times.
Frank said she realizes she cannot force anyone to convene a grand jury and her request may go nowhere, particularly without the backing of the full board.
"I think that knowing there are so many question marks around the whole project, I've got an obligation to point that out to somebody," Frank said. "What they choose to do with it is up to somebody else."
An opponent of the desal project from the beginning, she said its problems start with its location on Tampa Bay next to the Tampa Electric Co. Big Bend power plant. She contends choice of that site over another on the Anclote River was suspect.
She also questions the hiring of companies to run it that have proven financially troubled. The first contractor, Stone & Webster, went bankrupt. Covanta, a New Jersey energy trading company that took over the project, also has had money problems.
Now that it's built, membranes used to filter the water are clogging much more quickly than anticipated. Problems extend to factors beyond the mussels, according to a consultant's report commissioned by Covanta that was completed in July and shared with commissioners Wednesday.
The mussel problem appears to be remedied by using a stronger cleaning solution of the filters, but that presents a dilemma about what to do with the used chemicals.
Frank said Tampa Bay Water's reservoir location in southern Hillsborough is also problematic. She reiterated the long-standing belief that it was promoted as a potential Olympic venue as Tampa unsuccessfully sought the 2012 Summer Games.
Maxwell said Frank's concerns are a rehashing of issues that have been publicly vetted before. Tampa Bay Water withstood a legal challenge by one of the Anclote bidders that felt its project was eliminated unfairly, and the reservoir site was chosen long before Tampa pursued Olympic dreams, he said.
"Every single action of the Tampa Bay Water board is taken publicly," Maxwell said.
Under its latest deadline, Covanta has until Oct. 1 to pass a 14-day test run in which it produces the required drinking water problem free. But the company has just started the trial, meaning mathematically it cannot clear the finish line.
Covanta is seeking a 17-week extension and is negotiating with other companies, including a competitor, U.S. Filter, for help. Talks were continuing late Wednesday, Maxwell said.
If the Tampa Bay Water board refuses to grant the extension Friday, Covanta could be found in default and would face $465,000 in fines and have to produce more than 306-million gallons of water. Fines would climb daily and Tampa Bay Water could ultimately go after a $23-million performance bond and use it to finish the project.
Covanta would have a 48-day "cure" period to attempt to fix the problem.
Commissioners on Wednesday voted to ask that Tampa Bay Water share news sooner and seek the opinion of the Agency on Bay Management before pursuing solutions that could cause environmental harm. The vote was unanimous. Frank said she will make her grand jury request separately.
A majority of board members said that forcing a default on the contract could lead to no one running the desal plant and a long and costly legal fight. As part of their vote, though, they sought additional information from Tampa Bay Water so they could make more informed decisions.
"I agree with my colleagues. It's very serious," said Kathy Castor, the commission's other Tampa Bay Water representative. "But this could end up in litigation. I'm not convinced yet that (default) is the best course of action."
- Times staff writer Craig Pittman contributed to this report.