For Sale. One never used – “or as far as I know it hasn’t been,” said Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker – Peak Shaving Propane Gas Plant Equipment and Liquid Propane.
What is the city doing with a plant of this genre, and specifically one never used?
Well, explained Walker prior to the city council voting Monday during its regular meeting to declare the plant surplus and put it up for the highest bid, it turned out the city had another one. But, one day an employee went off to lunch with a space heater on. And that was that.
“It burned to the ground,” Walker said.
The good news was the city was insured, he said. “Mr. (Jim) Elliot (the city’s attorney) got us a check and they built us a state of the art peak shaving plant.
The problem is as already mentioned. The city has apparently had no cause to use the facility, which is described in regard to use on the website data.rtknet.org (a Washington-based entity) as: “A system designed for use under severe weather or other conditions in which a natural gas curtailment is issued forcing the reduction of city gas services.”
Why get rid of it “just in case”?
“The way I’m looking at it,” Walker said, “is a homeland security thing. We really need to get rid of that LP gas.”
How much is it worth?
A price range of about $900,000 came up during the pre-council meeting, but Walker said he felt it was worth more than that. He also alluded to a company in New York being interested in it and added: “they said they can have the tanks and plant moved in two months,” he said.
In getting back to its worth, Walker said, in addition to the plant, there were 10, 100,000-gallon tanks and five, 50,000-gallon tanks (he said he didn’t know how much gas was or wasn’t in the tanks).
“So there’s the potential of having $2 million dollars (including the plant’s worth – it is separated from the tanks, he added),” he said, “(just figuring it) with LP gas at $1 a gallon.”
