A New Jersey-based energy corporation is hoping to turn trash into power on International Paper property.

John Phillips, vice president of business development for Covanta Energy Corp. in Fairfield, N.J., said the company is working with a developer that holds an option to buy the IP site -- Renaissance Power Systems of Glen Cove, Nassau County. Company President Joseph Rutigliano could not be reached for comment.

Phillips said that if successful, Covanta would transport 2,750 tons of trash five or six days a week from New York City to a new $400 million facility, next to the old mill.

In April, when officials from Corinth first heard Renaissance Power Systems bought an option to buy the IP property on Pine Street, they traveled to Maryland to see a Covanta waste-to-energy plant, but no proposal has come forward. Corinth Supervisor Richard Lucia said in February the project appeared to be dead, but Phillips said his company is still working behind the scenes.

"We don't have an understanding yet between (Covanta) and the developer," Phillips said last week. "A business arrangement must be reached if this is to go forward."

Covanta Energy Corp. owns 27 waste-to-energy plants in the United States, including three in New York. It was in bankruptcy court until Wednesday, when it was acquired by Danielson Holding Corp. of Chicago for $30 million, according to a news release from Danielson.

Phillips said Covanta is vying for a contract to dispose of the 12,000 tons of waste per day generated in New York City.

Greenfield Supervisor Bob Stokes doesn't want the city's trash making its way through Saratoga County, an idea that was first floated last spring.

"Saratoga Springs just built a new train station, I don't think Mayor Lenz wants trash trains sitting on his siding," Stokes said.

When IP was operating, one train a day made a round trip to the mill on the same tracks, which are owned by Canadian Pacific.

Phillips maintained that a Covanta trash-burning plant is a good neighbor. The trash will be sealed inside containers, he said, and unloaded inside closed buildings. Phillips described substantial intake fans designed to keep odor inside the plant where the high heat destroys the smell. The equipment is also designed to run quietly, Phillips said.

When complete, the new waste-to-energy plant in Corinth would employ at least 65 people; Phillips could not say what the salary range would be. Much of the work, such as maintenance, at Covanta's other plants is contracted out locally.

When the IP mill closed in November 2002, 290 people lost their jobs and the company cut a $10 million payroll.

"Good jobs were lost at the paper plant, I'm not sure what we're talking about here is the equivalent," Stokes said.

The history of Renaissance Power System's president, Joseph Rutigliano, might also derail tentative plans for the plant.

According to news stories published by the Long Island Business News, Rutigliano was indicted during a 1996 crackdown on corruption in the waste removal system in New York City.

Rutigliano pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in the case. When it came to light during negotiations with officials from the Long Island town of Riverhead for a trash-burning plant similar to what Covanta has in mind, the project died.