Business
Sparks Fly As Dynamis Deal Short Circuits
May 4, 2012 
Several interesting developments today in the saga of Dynamis Energy’s proposed waste-to-energy project at the Ada County landfill.
Commissioner Sharon Ullman has publicly claimed Ada County spent $2 million for design plans for the waste-to-energy facility and the money will be repaid once construction begins or is approved. Today after long consideration the GUARDIAN has determined there was no legitimate reason for the county to pay for design plans, drawings, or blueprints. The county has no business paying for plans to a facility it will never own, hold interest in, or otherwise operate.
The facility–if it is ever built–will be privately owned and operated by Dynamis on land it will lease for $1 a year from Ada County. The deal is akin to someone paying for architectural drawings for a home to be built, owned, and occupied by someone else! Any way you cut it, the best the county can claim is they made a loan and loans of public funds are illegal.
In another development, The STATESMAN linked two officers of the firm to the failed DBSI real estate development outfit that is subject of federal investigations and a bankruptcy. No sooner had the story been posted, it was removed from the DAILY PAPER website.
SATURDAY UPDATE–Statesman posted THE STORY.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
May 4, 2012, 6:21 pm
Why did the Statesman pull the article? Was it baseless? Or is there political pressure exerted?
EDITOR NOTE–Imagine it will get reposted Saturday. Probably doing some clarification.
May 4, 2012, 7:20 pm
years ago I watched the Music Man and tend to think Mr. Mahaffey has seen it as well. He is selling his “propiatary” project to city officials anywhere he can get an audience. He is so convincing people in elected office hand over millions of taxpayer dollars to this guy.
What really disturbs me is the total lack of respect and consideration of where all the money given to Mahaffey comes from by those in elected office in Ada County as well as the city of Nampa. It is clearly time for taxpayers to start paying better attention. And secondly, which mattress did Ada Commissioners pull $2 MM? It tells me they are overtaxing Ada County taxpayer so the can come to the Bacarat Table and gamble with our cash.
May 4, 2012, 8:04 pm
At least she is finally getting exposed for the ongoing disasters she creates. Now is the time to share this information with everyone you know and express the need to get out and vote. Every vote counts in a primary. Don’t let her spend anymore of our tax dollars for her own personal reasons or gains. (UNSUBSTANTIATED RECKLESS PERSONAL QUESTION DELETED) We need the other commissioners to stand up for Ada County NOW. Please do not waste any more hard earned tax money. Review the budget and find a way to recoop the losses and put our money to good use. We need Ulman to step down.
May 4, 2012, 10:27 pm
Can’t wait to see the more of the DBSI story. With all of the funny things going on with the taxpayers’ money I wonder if we will ever find out where it went. New house anyone?
May 4, 2012, 10:31 pm
Why is Sharon Ullman not being investigated for what appears to be unethical decision making with this company? What are her personal connections? What fool enters into agreements of this size without an independent expert hired by the county? She needs to be investigated.
May 5, 2012, 8:20 am
In the Statesman story Sharon Ullman is quoted as saying “county did it’s due diligence” If that is true there are no doubt written copies of financial records proving that Dynamis is capable as well as engineers opinions and something besides the slides Mahaffey has shown all over the country. Show the proof Sharon of your proper investigation.
May 5, 2012, 10:23 am
For some reason these people think that they are more than simple representatives following the people’s will. And for some reason we the people think they are too.
May 5, 2012, 10:41 am
Leaders have to make tough decisions and I doubt that the current commissioners would spend that 2 million without getting their legal advisors to sign off. We don’t need to keep looking back, though. We need to look forward. Despite the promise of a technology that could be a long term solution, we have subsequently learned that this “experiment” has too much “stink” around it. (pun intended). Instead of looking back, the current commissioners should do the right thing and pull the plug or at least slow the process way down. The North Ravine cell at the landfill has 70 – 100 years of life yet and the amount of trash brought there has fallen in each of the last 4 years due to the construction bust and better recycling. If this technology works, let it be tested somewhere else. We have future needs but no current need to rush. Do what leaders should do in this situation: let’s pull the plug, get the 2 million back and move on or find a way to slow this down, answer all the questions and protect the investment through major guarantees. Leaders would not take us down the road to a financial boondoggle and they must see that this is where Dynamis is going.
May 5, 2012, 10:58 am
I think that Paul’s comment nails this one. Why is it that confidence men seem to get away with so much, so often? Clearly there are enough red flags flying here to cause a hiatus to be taken. Federal CRIMINAL investigation. Unproved technology, unproven ability to deliver that, or any other, technology. Only one of the three current Commissioners standing by the original decision. Too many questions for the public to have great confidence in either the project or the process.
May 5, 2012, 12:52 pm
Why is Mahaffey touting this “proprietary technology” and delivering PowerPoint presentations when he has no experience in this industry?
Why is the one Dynamis team member mentioned as “an engineer” a 75 year old who at one time was loosely associated with an ash dump in Barrow Alaska?
Why are none of the three engineers who actually signed the Ada County agreement in June 2010 being interviewed? And, who are they? Why is Kolb not signing the document?
What role do Thomas and Johnson play, and why were they made a part of the team? Their experience and expertise seems to be in real estate securities transactions, real estate sales of TICs, private capital/equity markets and private placements. Their FINRA securities licenses no longer active, as they were sponsored by the now defunct DBSI Securities Inc. What do they know about this technology?
So, who on the actual Dynamis team has actual experience here? Is the motivation TRULY to pioneer a new technology? Where is a history of this?
Where is the profit for any investor? What is the incentive?
Why are all Reuters articles and others that describe partnerships abroad (Italy, for example, http://www.allway.it ) still leading to no one who has done this work, and why is the source for the information in these articles “Dynamis LLC” and not independently verified?
Why did Mahaffey reference a preliminary review by RW Beck engineers, when this hasn’t been an entity since being acquired by SAIC years ago?
…..so many “whys”
May 5, 2012, 5:21 pm
Lloyd Mahaffey’s 10.5-acre “Casa D’Aquila” home and vineyards are for sale for $2.4 million, according to a real estate listing. See link below. Somebody might want to verify this with Mr. Mahaffey. I apologize if this has already been reported and I missed it.
KTA
Listing:
Address Not Disclosed, Eagle ID | MLS# 98493546 – …
http://www.trulia.com/property/3083320186-Single-Family-Home-Eagle-ID-83616
Address Not Disclosed, Eagle ID 83616. Own your own piece of the Napa Valley w/this custom built Tuscan Villa, “Casa D’ Aquila” situated on 10.5 acre …
May 5, 2012, 11:34 pm
Great questions Chris. The Ada County landfill has been burning the gas and selling the energy for years. It generates enough electricity to power at least 2,400 homes and they have plans to generate more, without Dynamis. And it only takes one full-time employee to run it. So, why do we need a new way to do it? Especially when the starting cost is $2 million.
Isn’t this called misappropriation of government funds or something?
Now Mahaffey is selling his home.
So, the county will never get the money back and nobody can fix all the other messes created by these commishs and there is no recourse. Do we need new laws or what?
May 6, 2012, 8:31 am
Why does Dynamis claim their technology is “proprietary” with patent pending, yet there is no patent number?
Why has another told us “it is because Dynamis purchased the technology – the patent could be in another name” (…aren’t they claiming they INVENTED this technology? Proprietary technology is not for sale)
Why are no members from Dynamis listed as attendees at this TOP conference in the waste-to-energy field, just this April 2012? These speakers are the experts, linked to the current 89+ systems in the country. The workshops are specific to improving the technology and making the process cleaner, fuel-efficient? By all accounts, shouldn’t Dynamis have been a keynote speaker?
http://www.nawtec.org/
Why won’t Ullman admit she was duped before I receive my reply back from NAWTEC and others I have contacted from this distinguished list?
Why does Mahaffey have a home valued at 800K with debt on it alone of $1 million?
Why does Mahaffey find resources to donate to political campaigns, even as his projects owe back taxes and he is upside down on his properties?
How much salary did Mahaffey pay himself out of the $2 million Ada county funds?
So many more “whys”
May 6, 2012, 7:03 pm
Clicked on the website reccomended by Chris Rae–A treasure trove of information.
From one presentation–The latest and Greatest on the resurgence of WTE
Gasification–what Dynamis is proposing–limited operating experience at only small scale; subject to scale up issues–Risk level–High–Tipping fees quoted at a low of $50 to over $100/Ton
I only scanned this one section quickly but cost is high, estimate 4-5 years to prove any of it is economically feasable or even if it works. Much of it driven by govt. mandates and to hell with the costs as they have been doing in Europe–take a look–it’s stuff we aren’t hearing about. http://www.nawtec.org/
May 7, 2012, 9:22 am
Why is the 350-page, $2 million “plan document” penned mostly by a company, Evergreen Engineering out of Eugene Oregon?
Why is there nothing in the document specific to anyone called Dynamis Energy LLC, nor their engineers, except 8 pages of cryptic generalizations about so-called proprietary technology using computer terms that are well out-of-date?
Why would Ada county accept this, when specific details/plan documents are required?
Why was Evergreen not an attendee at the largest and most important conference for this industry?
http://www.nawtec.org/
Why is this plan document filled in part by multiple product/equipment brochures (some duplicates) from other companies?
Why does the IDEQ PTC form that is part of this hodgepodge specifically address 24 known toxins that will be generated, and some at hazardous levels, even as the reading for all of these right now is “zero?”
How does DEQ respond to this?
Why does Dynamis, or anyone, pretend that a secondary low-oxygen combustion system means that toxins will be fully contained and magically disappear?
Why is the Barrow Alaska incinerator (look up Barrow TOS) the only project Dynamis seems to want to reference as “built” and point to as an example?
YET why do multiple government reports (Alaska.gov) over multiple years talk about its failings, on-going problems, and lengthy periods of being non-functional?
Why would a WTE project be even considered for Ada County, when these types of costly, pollution generating projects are generally created in areas of no choice (no land fill site, bad/hard/icy soil, etc)…projects of last resort?
Why would Ada county commissioners think polluting the pristine air of Treasure Valley, at any level, is acceptable?
Why and who is Dynamis?
Is there a puppeteer behind the scenes of which we are unaware?
What does Mr. Mahaffey have to gain in being the front man?
So many more….and more…. and more whys
EDITOR NOTE–Your questions obviously cast doubts. Do you have any answers or solid allegations? PLEASE give us some facts! The GUARDIAN is a one man band working without compensation. We cannot chase down every question posed.
May 7, 2012, 10:25 am
If the commissioners will just let me do a ppt on how I can turn empty beer cans into gold bullion…. won’t need two mill to get started, one will do.
May 7, 2012, 7:26 pm
Why does it seem the partnerships Dynamis once used as marketing support no longer exist? Dubois project – dead (outside review found that scale proposed too big for the technology…not enough details provided). Italy? Still waiting response from Allway.it. Also, a response soon to come from someone very high in the US/global Waste-to-energy industry.
Recent Dynamis press releases tout a partnership with two companies (part ownership no less!), on two projects signed in Puerto Rico. I asked a “partner company” specifically about these projects, partnerships, and Dynamis. A response follows, Mr. Frazier, copied direct (names deleted).
I am a one-man show, working full time and raising a family…but I have enough cursory ‘political’ experience, much dealing with development proposals in a large city, including lengthy Owner Participation Agreements (OPAs),unwritten promises, and hidden agendas to know people lie, hide, exaggerate, and otherwise don’t tell all to be sure outcome is favorable to them. If more people learned to scratch the surface of what is presented, the truth might be unveiled sooner in every political decision. And I am not an Ullman hater….just hating the fact that the project was not fully vetted by her or others. Ms. Ullman, you could really redeem yourself by admitting your error, and correcting it now. Might garner you more votes!
___________________________________
(Chris Rae)
Please visit: http://www.dynamisenergy.com for more information.
Synergy Renewables is no longer in a partnership with Dynamis.
Please let me know if I can assist further.
Thank you,
(name)
(name)
Synergy Renewables, LLC
Providence Energy Corp.
14860 Montfort Drive
Suite 102
Dallas, Texas 75254
972-392-6150
(name)@
http://www.synergyrenew.com
http://www.providence-energy.com
May 7, 2012, 10:22 pm
Thank you Chris for your insight to this matter. It sounds like you know exactly what happened here and related in an unbiased manner. It’s unlikely Sharon will step up to the plate as this does not seem to be her style. Please keep us all informed. Do we have any idea how this all might be handled, are lawsuits most likely?
May 29, 2012, 4:35 pm
This just in from the Idaho Statesman: Southfork Landing is in default on $24 million loan; mortgage lender was forced to file involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September. Dynamis, Lloyd Mahaffey and John Johnston are among the development owners. From the Statesman:
More financial woes for Garden Valley’s Southfork Landing
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/05/29/2135029/more-financial-woes-for-garden.html#storylink=cpy