Harrisburg incinerator; Stickney sewage plant analogy.

To those in Central Pennsylvania that are familiar with the Harrisburg incinerator boondoggle, this story from Illinois should sound familiar:

Local officials acknowledge that a giant sewage-cooking machine in west suburban Stickney is a waste of money, but they have decided to move ahead anyway with a project that could cost Chicago and Cook County taxpayers $217 million.

Once billed as an innovative way to turn the region's sewage sludge into fertilizer, the project is a decade behind schedule.

The Harrisburg incinerator took even longer to complete, has worked only intermittently, and has saddled the city with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt that sits at the heart of the city's financial woes. Public debt related to the Harrisburg incinerator has fueled recent discussions about raising city real estate taxes.