County staff weigh diesel and natural gas for backup generator; committee asks for drawings and Ottawa coordination

LaSalle County property committee members and staff discussed whether the county should specify diesel or natural gas for a backup generator at a county facility. The discussion covered environmental, operational, and procurement considerations but did not produce a formal decision.

Kurt summarized trade-offs: natural-gas units tend to be quieter and lack diesel exhaust odor, while diesel units are typically louder and require on-site fuel storage and periodic fuel testing. "With natural gas the unit's going to be quieter and it's not going to have the exhaust smell. Diesel is going to be louder and of course you're going to have the diesel smell and then you also have to have a storage tank for the diesel," Kurt said. He noted the prior selection of diesel was driven by then-available generator sizing — diesel units were smaller for the required capacity at that time.

Committee members raised concerns about fuel access during outages and about community complaints over diesel exhaust. Gary urged staff to check the availability and timeframe for natural gas service to the site; others noted potential regulatory or procurement constraints if the county moves forward before grant notification. The group asked staff, including Don, to get updated dimensions and drawings from the engineer and to meet with Ottawa officials before proceeding to bid or construction.