CROWN POINT | Two garbage-to-ethanol plant developers pledged they will only process Lake County trash.

Indiana Ethanol Power LLC and Genahol-Powers 1 LLC told a public meeting of the Lake County Solid Waste District on Thursday they no longer are considering bringing in trainloads of municipal garbage from Chicago, Porter County, LaPorte County or South Bend.

Environmental groups have publicly denounced any proposal to import garbage into the county.

"That is no longer on the table. You take away the necessity of railroad access and that makes it easier for us to find a site," Ken Bosar, technical director for Genahol, said Thursday.

Bosar said Genahol would need 40 acres of industrially zoned land to build a plant that would process up to 2,000 tons of garbage a day.

"Our plan is to process 1,500 tons per day, Lake County only," Zig Resiak, construction coordinator for Indiana Ethanol, said Thursday.

The Lake County Solid Waste District is negotiating contracts with both Evansville, Ind.,-based firms that promise to recycle 90 percent of county waste into biofuel, create multimillion dollar plants and hundreds of jobs.

Allied Waste, which currently collects most garbage in the county and trucks it to two rural downstate landfills, cautioned members of the district board to subject the public to the risk of using such an experimental process.

Allied has proposed continuing its service to the county for the next 20 years.

"Our technology is proven. We can do it today," Devin Moose, an engineer representing Allied, said. "There is no risk to your communities."

Moose questioned the reliability of the ethanol developers' technology, their environmental impact and their financial viability. Bosar and Resiak both said their process will be successful in those areas.

The district's board of directors are scheduled to act June 19 on preliminary contracts with one or more of the three firms. Individual communities would then have to commit to directing their residential waste to the plan once their contracts with Allied and other waste haulers expire.

Jeffery Langbehn, the county's solid waste management director, said Thursday the public will be allowed next week to comment on the process before any final vote.