Carroll’s Board of  County Commissioners will move forward with plans to join Frederick County in building the first waste-to-energy trash incinerator in the United States in more than 13 years.

Commissioners Dean Minnich and Michael Zimmer voted on Thursday to approve a resolution that accepts Frederick County’s invitation to build a joint, 1,500-ton-per-day capacity waste-to-energy trash incinerator at the Ballenger Creek/McKinney Industrial Center, which is located beside the Monocacy River and Monocacy National Battlefield in Frederick.

Commission President Julia Gouge, who in the past had talked favorably about composting as an alternative to an incinerator, was absent for the vote.

Carroll County would pay 40 percent of the cost of the estimated $501 million incinerator — or about $200 million — while Frederick County would pay 60 percent.

Acknowledging the controversy and comments for and against the incinerator in both counties, Minnich said his decision is in the best interest of the county.

“We cannot as a Board of Commissioners make everybody happy, despite all the e-mails we get and the people who stand up at meetings ... saying, ‘You work for me, you should do whatever I want,’ “ he said. “I’m doing what you want as much as I possibly can.”

The incinerator would use technology that converts the waste burning process into electricity, which can then be sold to a utility company.

The board’s resolution signals the beginning of a permitting and design process for the project contractor, Wheelabrator Technologies. The project will still need to gain those permitting approvals before it is built.

The Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority — a quasi-governmental agency — would own the incinerator built by Wheelabrator, and have Carroll and Frederick counties as its primary customers, according to Mike Evans, director of Carroll County’s Department of Public Works. Evans said it would likely be 2011 when permits and designs would be approved — if the commissioners decide to build the incinerator.

This Board of County Commissioners and future boards can back out of the project, Evans said, but at a cost. The agreement opens the county’s solid waste enterprise fund to liabilities of up to $1.5 million related to the cost of engineering and permitting.

If that happens, Carroll County could find another jurisdiction or partner to take its place, with approval by Frederick County. However, if Frederick County backs out, Carroll would have no financial responsibility, according to the resolution.

Carroll County’s vote drew criticism from nonprofit advocacy group Clean Water Action, which has 1,400 members in Carroll County and 1,600 members in Frederick County, in addition to the million members across the country.

Incinerators essentially turn solid waste into new forms of waste, including air emissions and carbon dioxide, fly ash and wastewater, said Andrew Galli, Maryland coordinator for Clean Water Action.

Galli questioned if the incinerator could become profitable, as other incinerators around the country have had difficulty creating a surplus. He said that Carroll County’s population would have to double in order to reach the 600 tons of waste for its share to run the incinerator.

“We don't believe, personally, it's been a complete process with regards to studies, alternatives and fact finding,” Galli said.

The resolution stipulates several measures that include guaranteed pricing of the plant, how electricity will be recovered and sold, recycling management plans, architectural demands and other details.

Sending trash to be incinerated is nothing new for Carroll County, as the county had previously sent trash to an incinerator in York, Pa., from 1998 to 2003 — when that agreement ended. But this would be the first time the county shares the cost of building an incinerator.

The board had begun exploring an incinerator option when rising fuel costs, increased tipping fees and the possibility of being unable sending trash to other states became a concern. Frederick County had also done an exploration on a parallel track.

Since 2003, county staff and commissioners traveled the country and the world visiting incinerators and alternative technology and waste diversion plants to examine their effectiveness.

On another track, Carroll had advertised on May 28 for bids to build a new 400- to 800-acre landfill — that came after Frederick County suspended its incinerator bidding process. The county did not receive any bids from property owners to sell land for the landfill, Evans said.

The proposed incinerator is expected to meet the county's trash needs for 30 to 50 years, he said.

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user comments (1)

user says...

I want to make sure that I have this right, Commissioners Dean Minnich & Michael Zimmer agreed to have Carroll County tax payers put up two hundred million dollars for a incinerator that Carroll County tax payers won't own nor our elected officials will have any jurisdiction of. Instead, Carroll County tax payers will have the honor of being one of the primary customers of which ever power company (as of today we have no idea who that will be) that will buy the energy from the very incinerator we paid to build only to charge us to supply the very same energy we paid to create? So in short, we as tax payers pay two hundred million dollars for this incinerator to be built with no ownership, no financial return, only to have the luxury to pay for the energy our incinerator produces and we, the Carroll County Tax Payers, are OK with this?

Posted 11:00 AM, 07.07.09

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