PAXTON -- The Ford County Board voted 12-0 Monday night, against the wishes of a group of area landowners and residents, to sign an agreement that helps make way for a proposed waste-to-energy plant in Gibson City.

Ten area residents and landowners, as well as an attorney representing one of them, urged the board to wait to sign the proposed "host agreement" with the plant's developer, Eco Manufacturing LLC, based in Cambridge, Mass. They said the board should devote more time to investigate the plant's potential impact on residents' health, quality of life and the environment.

However, following a lengthy discussion, board members said it appears most of the concerns raised by the public would be addressed through other required permits namely, the company's siting permit with Gibson City or its permit through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, both of which the firm must apply for later.

The county board's chairman, Rick Bowen, negotiated the agreement for several months with Eco Manufacturing officials, after the board revised its solid-waste management plan last fall to require such agreements for hazardous-waste processing facilities.

The three-page agreement contains a list of conditions both parties primarily the company agree to, Bowen said. It deals mainly with Eco's responsibilities to pay for cleanup of hazardous waste spills, restrict the plant's waste-hauling trucks to state highways, and educate the public about recycling.

The plant would be the first large-scale commercial plant in the U.S. that creates energy from hazardous waste using plasma-gasification technology. It would recycle an estimated 200 tons of hazardous industrial waste hauled to the facility each day, Eco officials have said.

Leonard Spencer of rural Gibson City said he is concerned about the plant's potential impact on his family's farm, where he lives with his wife, Judy, and their children, directly south of the proposed site on Gibson City's west edge.

"We worry about our well water (and) livestock; we worry about the sound," Spencer said. "All we ever hear about is the money (the plant will bring to the economy), but it's not all about the money. We bought a farm to settle down ... and we don't want an industrial park surrounding us."

Another adjacent landowner, Erika Brewer, told the board that the county's residents "deserve an independent analysis" of the plant's potential impact in order to "spell out a proper agreement."

Brewer's attorney, William Wetze of Bloomington, asked the board to consider measures to ensure "all significant issues be addressed in the host agreement." Such measures include hiring an independent attorney to review the agreement, considering requiring an "exit plan" from Eco in the case the plant or company fails and its site must be cleaned up, and requiring "tipping fees" or other compensation be paid to Ford County for each ton of waste hauled to the plant.

Wetzel reminded the board that "now is the only time Ford County will have an opportunity to contractually obligate Eco regarding issues of financial benefits (to the county) and minimum operating standards for the proposed project."

Board member Tom McQuinn of rural Paxton said he feels existing state regulations should ensure the plant's safe operation. McQuinn also pointed out that the host agreement although not addressing every issue that could arise would only add to those protections already in place.

"At least this gives us the opportunity to make sure what's on the trucks is being dealt with properly, that (the company has) the proper personnel (to handle waste spills), that they'll have funding to take care of a spill," McQuinn said.

While setting restrictions mostly for the company to abide by, the host agreement would also set a couple of requirements for Ford County officials. For one, the agreement requires the county board to not sign a host agreement for any other developer looking to utilize plasma-gasification technology to treat hazardous waste, "without prior written consent from Eco Manufacturing." The requirement is binding during the duration of the plant's development, which Eco officials said could take as much as a couple of years.