Quasar to host public meeting

Quasar Energy Group will discuss its local renewable energy plan in a public information meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29, at the American Legion Post 1451, 6525 Ward Road, Wheatfield.

The Ohio-based company, which is building a new anaerobic digestion (energy from waste) plant on Liberty Drive in Wheatfield, plans to answer questions from local residents about what is done at the plant and the leftover material called equate it hopes to use as fertilizer at local farms.

Also discussed will be the fertilizer storage ponds and the company's benefit to the region.

Since the equate can only be applied to fields at certain times of the year, the company first proposed a large storage lagoon in Cambria, but that was panned by residents there. Several Wheatfield residents objected at the Aug. 12 Wheatfield Town Board meeting to Quasar's new suggestion for smaller, individually covered storage ponds at local farms. Town Board members were upset that the need for storage wasn't discussed when the company first proposed building here.

Quasar Chief Financial Officer Steven M. Smith said at that meeting there was a lot of misinformation among local residents about his company's plans and the process that creates energy from organic waste. He agreed to hold the public information session to answer residents' questions and correct any misinformation.

The company collaborates with The Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural and Development Center. In addition to Wheatfield, the growing business has a new plant in West Seneca, 10 plants in Ohio and one in Massachusetts.