Waste Not! Carroll

From the Carroll County Times, 6/1/2010

By Hugh McLaurin 

 Like other county commissioner candidates, I have studied the proposed waste to energy plant, or incinerator, that the current board of commissioners agreed to build in cooperation with Frederick County. I must oppose proceeding with plans to build the incinerator under current conditions.

A few things make this a difficult position to take. People need to keep in mind that waste management is a core function of county government. Someone needs to take out the trash. Like gravity, it's not only a good idea, it's the law.

Nobody should think of a landfill as a great alternative for waste management. They are fraught with environmental impacts and aftereffects that must be managed, extending decades if not generations after being closed. I never want to see another landfill dug in county soil as part of our waste management strategy.

We currently ship most of our trash out of county to be buried in someone else's landfill. While I fundamentally believe that responsible communities solve their own trash problems, this remains an economically sound option in the short term. But in the long term we have no control over access or cost with this option.

I believe a waste to energy plant is a viable alternative to be studied along with every other alternative. Therein lies one problem I have with current plans to build an incinerator. Despite recommendations by the county's Environmental Advisory Council and contractors hired to study waste management alternatives, little attention has been paid to aggressive recycling and large-scale composting options that may alleviate the need to invest in an incinerator.

But the primary reason I oppose the incinerator is economic. While a cost analysis has been done on building and operating an incinerator, estimates are far too uncertain for responsible government officials to sign a contract. There are too many variables and best-case assumptions being used, and the contract as written is disadvantageous to Carroll County.

An incinerator would be a very expensive proposition, likely far more expensive than planners have estimated.

The consequences of getting this wrong would be disastrous for county residents, as some other communities have learned the hard way. We have a little time to get it right by thoroughly analyzing every alternative and making sure we know exactly what we're getting into before committing county residents to a long-term waste management solution.

Hugh McLaurin

Westminster

The writer is a Democratic candidate for County Commissioner in District 5.