Waste Not! Carroll

Hearings start on WTE plant

From the Frederick News-Post, August 31, 2010

By Meg Tully, News-Post Staff 

A planned waste-to-energy plant likely will require Frederick County to import trash from counties other than Frederick and Carroll.

On Monday, about 55 people attended the first permitting hearing for the plant, an incinerator that burns trash and generates electricity.

Residents commented on different aspects of the plan, but the item drawing the most attention was a paragraph that said the counties could opt to import trash from other areas for the plant to operate at maximum efficiency.

"This is the first time I've seen in print or publicly that imported trash from other areas is accepted, and welcomed," Jefferson resident Susan Hanson said. "This simply opens the door to other counties in other areas, which I think is a huge mistake."

The hearing was hosted by the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority, which will own the waste-to-energy plant. The hearing is part of the process for the plant to get an air emissions permit from the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Although the permit is for air emissions, the hearing itself was about a document prepared by the authority about the recycling and disposal plans of Frederick and Carroll counties, both of which will pay for and use the waste-to-energy plant.

Robin Davidov, the executive director of the authority, said the hearing is a requirement of the Clean Air Act. Federal law requires anyone who wants to build a new waste-to-energy plant must prepare a document called a Material Separation Plan. The plan was the subject of the hearing and dealt mostly with how the counties plan to continue recycling.

Michael Marschner, the county's director of the Utilities and Solid Waste Management Division, said the plan mentioned importing trash to acknowledge if they did that, they should also recognize recycling should be addressed for that waste as well.

The Frederick commissioners have said they would consider importing trash from other counties, but they would want to control it, Marschner said. Washington County's commissioners have recently discussed sending some of their waste to Frederick for disposal.

"Unlike a school when you build it, it fills up immediately. This won't fill up that fast because it's planned for a very long horizon," Marschner said.

He also said importing a small amount of trash could save residents a lot of money for trash disposal, so the commissioners would have to consider that.

Today, Frederick generates about 650 tons of waste per day. Officials will want 826 tons per day to contribute to the plant, so they might import 176 tons. But the county will likely be generating more than 650 tons per day in five years when the plant is built, Marschner said.

Attending the hearing, Frederick County Commissioner David Gray said the counties would import waste only when their own waste streams are down, so the same number of trucks would be dropping off trash.

He also pointed out that if Frederick County continues shipping its waste to Virginia, waste trucks would be traveling I-270 and other roads that they would not need to travel if the waste-to-energy plant were built.

Commissioners candidate Ellis Burruss, a Democrat opposed to the incinerator, said commissioners could choose to be more aggressive with recycling goals than assumed in the plan. If that happens, they will end up reducing waste and having less to burn, eventually importing more and more to generate the most electricity.

"It would be extremely ironic if Frederick County were to become energy independent but trash dependent," Burruss said.

While residents opposed to the incinerator asked why importing trash hadn't been debated at more length, others spoke up in favor of the project.

Greg Brown, a Frederick County resident, said he supported the project and is pleased the plant has been designed so future population and waste disposal needs will be addressed. He does not think burying waste is a good solution.

"I feel Frederick and Carroll have exhaustively studied the project over five years and concluded that this project is both environmentally sound and cost-effective," Brown said.

Several residents complained that the Material Separation Plan file on the authority's website could not be printed on their computers. Davidov said she was not aware of the problem until the hearing but would fix it today.

The plan is also available at all Frederick and Carroll public libraries.