Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: 20080219 Carroll County Commissioner Mike Zimmer Press Release: Waste to Energy and solid waste management deliberations

Friday, February 29, 2008

20080219 Carroll County Commissioner Mike Zimmer Press Release: Waste to Energy and solid waste management deliberations

Carroll County Commissioner Mike Zimmer Press Release: Waste to Energy and solid waste management deliberations

PRESS RELEASE

February 20th, 2008

I have become concerned with certain advocacy I’ve observed regarding our Commissioner Board research and discussion of solid waste management. I’ve concluded that some members of our Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) have engaged in agenda based advocacy rather than factually based advocacy.

When the EAC presented their recommendations to the Board last November 15th, 2007, I expressed grave concerns about comments shared by an EAC member to our special assistants in a private briefing prior to the formal presentation. It would appear that my concerns about politicization by certain EAC members have become reality.

I have observed advocacy by individual EAC members that is not factually accurate and contributes negatively to a dialogue based decision making path. This is most unfortunate.

On the 13th day of December, we held a panel discussion meeting that included EAC members, staff and outside experts. The discussion at that time was very strong from all parties. I do not understand why some EAC members have chosen to depart from this sort of factually based interaction in favor of what I consider pure spin.

Based on emails I’ve received from those attending a recent meeting of the Carroll County Democrat Club I have concluded that EAC member Sher Horosko provided information that was not contextually accurate when she made a presentation to this group. EAC member Dan Andrews recently wrote in a letter to the editor of a local paper that a waste-to-energy facility would contribute to higher taxes in Carroll County.

I find absolutely no basis to support the claim that waste-to-energy facilities lead to higher taxes. Our current system of long haul transfer is actually one of the most expensive methods of trash disposal available to us. In a climate of rising fuel prices this is likely to get worse over time. I’m also gravely concerned with pollution associated with trucking our trash hundreds of miles away.

Once landfills in Virginia are occupied we may be forced to truck trash even greater distances with yet greater economic and environmental costs. The time is now for this Board of Commissioners to consider more thoughtful options.

I consider burning trash to create electricity to be a viable option. That doesn’t make it the sole option. There are positives and negatives associated with just about any decision that the Board of Commissioners make. I retain an open mind on the set of solution paths we might wish to take.

We have been working on this problem for many months in an open and transparent process. One of the decision points we may have to make is whether to join in a shared waste-to-energy facility with Frederick County. The current proposal is to build 1,500 tons per day facility to be located in Frederick County. Staff from both counties believes this would be a smart solution for our mutual long terms needs.

Staff and outside experts advise that 600 tons would meet current and future needs for Carroll County. They similarly target Frederick’s need at 900 tons per day. The chief advantage of joining together in a partnership of this kind would be to lower the cost per ton of burning the trash.

As a Carroll County Board of Commissioners we can only go so far with our research and deliberation into waste-to-energy as a joint project. My view is that the Frederick County Board of Commissioners must first invite us to join in this project. If no offer is made then we need to consider our other options which might include a stand alone waste-to-energy facility located in Carroll County. If the offer is made then we as a Board would have to consider the full implications of such a partnership and the particular technology being proposed.

There are perfectly legitimate reasons to either accept or reject the regional waste-to-energy offer should it be put on the table. The fear that it might raise our taxes is not one of them. I’ve included a recent letter dated 14th day of February from an official from Montgomery County regarding various costs associated with their waste disposal system. I believe this letter explains very clearly that waste-to-energy has not led to higher taxes or fees for them.

There are some individuals who in my view have an anti-waste-to-energy agenda. They are taking things out of context with Montgomery County’s figures in order to further this agenda.

Folks need to keep in mind that in Carroll County people (outside of municipalities) hire private contractors to pick up their trash and recycling and deliver it to our county transfer station and landfill. In Montgomery County the government picks the trash up in the most densely populated areas. They charge a system user fee to cover all services. In other words instead of having private citizens pay a private hauler to pick up trash and recyclables the government does it directly. This service still costs money and the workers who pick up the trash still have to be paid.

How’s this for irony? Our towns follow the same billing procedure as Montgomery County.

According to Mr. Locke’s letter, the cost associated with trash disposal has remained constant between pre and post use of waste-to-energy. He relates, “When compared to inflation, they have substantially declined.”

This is a very simple concept. For particular EAC members to attempt to make political hay by spinning these facts is completely inappropriate. Volunteer members of an appointed government body need to be held to a higher standard.

I’ll repeat my advice to our EAC members. Those who want to wage political campaigns should do so in the right context. Such opportunities include political clubs, advocacy groups, central committees of either party or running for office. Folks should not take advantage of a government appointed position with efforts to spin public opinion.

I have now lost faith in some of our EAC members to contribute in a helpful way to our deliberative process on waste-to-energy. That is most unfortunate for them, for the public and for the Board of Commissioners.

Michael D. Zimmer

Commissioner

CC: Commissioner Julia W. Gouge

Commissioner Dean L. Minnich

Steve Powell, Chief of Staff

Cindy Parr, Chief of Administrative Services

Vivian Laxton, Public Information Administrator

Mike Evans, Director of Public Works

Daniel Andrews, EAC

Robyn Gilden, EAC

Sher Horosko, EAC

Jim Johnson, EAC