Waste Not! Carroll

Incinerator concerns remain

From the Carroll County Times

Posted: Tuesday, May 25, 2010

By Gregor Becker

In an April 20 letter to the editor LTE Robin Davidov, executive director of the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority, assured readers our incinerator would be nothing like the 1972 model Harrisburg incinerator model with its upgrade mismanagement.

No doubt that's true. Our upgrades or operational challenges will be different. Who cares to speculate what those might be over the anticipated 30-year operational life?

So why is Davidov making presentations to promote incineration in Detroit, New York, Florida and, recently, in Australia? The NMWDA was created in 1980 to be "a public instrumentality of the state of Maryland."

Is the incinerator industry paying her travel expenses? If true, she is indeed an industry lobbyist. That potential conflict of interest leaves her guiding Maryland counties in their solid waste planning decisions. If the state pays her expenses, that's an inappropriate use of taxpayer money given that the NMWDA was created to serve Maryland member jurisdictions only.

Davidov recently told the General Assembly that she hasn't received any complaints about NMWDA incinerators in Maryland. Perhaps she never received a letter about the Montgomery County incinerator being defeated in Shady Grove, only to be built after bitter resistance, including a court battle, in Dickerson. Dickerson residents' 14 years of complaints about odors and explosive noises didn't reach responsive ears. MDE awaits a Covanta response regarding noise violations.

Harford County residents have protested building a larger new incinerator because the existing one has produced odors, dust, loud noises, pollution and such hardships for them.

Davidov says compared to Harford County's or Harrisburg's, ours is modern, more like advanced European designs. Sounds like a sales pitch. Don't worry. Any health problems cannot be traced to our incinerator. No liability.

In 2007 Davidov led the Carroll County Board of Commissioners on a field trip to American Ash Recycling Company in York, Pa. This company was denied its permit to operate by the city of York just months after this field trip; denied because of the extreme hardship its operations placed on residents nearby.

Without supporting evidence, she insists that ash can produce beneficial products. Montgomery residents also heard "superior European design," but their pilot program for recycling ash failed. Montgomery now pays to ship its incinerator ash to an out of state hazardous waste site. We plan to use our ash as inexpensive landfill cover to dispose of toxic residue.

Gregor Becker

Westminster