Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Enviro Solid Waste Man Recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enviro Solid Waste Man Recycling. Show all posts

Friday, June 05, 2015

Carroll County Md Shredding and hazardous materials event slated for June 6, 2015

Carroll County Md Shredding and hazardous materials event slated for June 6, 2015 http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2015/06/carroll-county-md-shredding-and.html

According to a press release from Maria Myers, Recycling Manager Carroll County Department of Public Works, Bureau of Solid Waste, Carroll County has scheduled a time when Carroll County citizens may have personal documents shred and dispose of household hazardous waste.

The event is scheduled for June 6, 2015 from 8 a.m. until 12 noon.

May 21, 2015 – A Household Hazardous Waste Spring Cleanup and Shredding Event is being sponsored by the Carroll County Government Recycling Operations.

The event will take place on Saturday, June 6th at the Carroll County Vehicle Maintenance Facility, 1250 Meadow Branch Road, Westminster (Off Md. Rte. 97, north of Westminster, past Meadow Branch Road to Old Meadow Branch Road.)

Carroll County residents can drop off dangerous household items from 8 a.m. until 12 noon and shred sensitive documents from 8 a.m. until 12 noon or until truck is full, whichever comes first.

Items ACCEPTED at the household hazardous waste drop-off area include: gasoline or gas/oil mix, kerosene, oil-based paints and thinners, solvents, stains, sealants, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, photographic and pool chemicals, household cleaners, compact fluorescent light bulbs, fluorescent light tubes, nickel-cadmium and NIMH batteries.

Items NOT ACCEPTED include: latex paint (dispose this with household trash after adding an absorbent agent such as cat litter, sand, mulch or shredded paper.)

Medications (unused and expired medications can be taken to the following police stations: Westminster, Taneytown, Sykesville, N.E. Greenmount; they do not accept syringes.)

Rechargeable batteries, household batteries, explosives, ammunition, fireworks, medical and biohazard waste, radioactive material, compressed gas tanks and cylinders, asbestos, items from commercial and industrial businesses or farms, vehicle batteries, motor oil, antifreeze, (vehicle batteries, motor oil and antifreeze accepted year round at Northern Landfill Recycling Center, 1400 Baltimore Boulevard, Westminster; Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

Shredding is Residential only; no businesses. Items ACCEPTED include: invoices, bank statements, personal records, lease balance sheets, audit reports, credit reports, checks, medical reports.

For details, call Carroll County Government Recycling Operations at 410-386-2035 or the Northern Landfill at 410-386-4550. Maria Myers, Recycling Manager Carroll County Department of Public Works, Bureau of Solid Waste

410-386-2035 www.recyclecarroll.org
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E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/


See also - Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art www.kevindayhoff.com: Travel, art, artists, authors, books, newspapers, media, writers and writing, journalists and journalism, reporters and reporting, music, culture, opera... Ad maiorem Dei gloriam inque hominum salutem. “Deadline U.S.A.” 1952. Ed Hutcheson: “That's the press, baby. The press! And there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing!” - See more at: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/#sthash.4HNLwtfd.dpuf
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Monday, November 07, 2011

Vote for your favorite decorated recycling bin “Art Bin”



Vote for your favorite decorated recycling bin “Art Bin” at the Carroll County MD Office Building in Westminster MD

November 7, 2011 - November 15th is “America Recycles Day”, so to celebrate the Carroll County Government Recycling Office is hosting an “Art Carts” Contest through November 15th in the lobby of the Carroll County Government Office Building, 225 N. Center Street, Westminster, Maryland.

Don’t miss your chance to vote for your favorite recycling bin decorated by local artists.

The winner will be determined on November 15th and posted thereafter. Be sure to check if your favorite won!

The event was planned to continue awareness of recycling in a fun, creative way.

The “Art Bin” artists include:

Amber Maurer
Becky Johnson
Corey Heck
George Maurer
Hampstead Elementary School
Kevin Dayhoff
Ryan Burns – Energy Savers of America
Susan Williamson – Art Council
Vicky Stata-Bauer
Westminster West Middle School
Winters Mill High School National Art Honor Society

The artists who participated will be recognized on America Recycles Day November 15, 2011.

For more information, contact Maria Myers, Carroll County Government Recycling Manager at 410-386-2035. www.recyclecarroll.org

http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/releases/art-carts11-7-11.pdf

[20111107 Vote for your favorite decorated recycling bin] [20111107 Vote art-carts11-7-11.pdf]

http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/2011/11/vote-for-your-favorite-decorated.html

http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/search/label/Dayhoff%20Art%20Recycling%20Bin%20Art%20Cart%20project

Labels: Carroll Co Office Building, Dayhoff Art, Dayhoff Art Recycling Bin Art Cart project, Enviro Solid Waste Man Recycling

“Art Carts” Carroll Co. Md. Office Building, Westminster Md. October 28, 2011

http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/402756.html

http://kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/post/12476649472/vote-for-your-favorite-decorated-recycling-bin


Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ (http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/) http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/ “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10
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Sunday, October 16, 2011

Latest News from Waste Not! Carroll Update

http://www.wastenotcarroll.org/

Carroll County Times Calls For Board To Honor Promise on WTE

In a recent editorial, the Carroll County Times called on the County's Board of Commissioners to make a decision on whether or not to remain in a partnership with Frederick County to build a trash burning plant. The decision should be a straightforward one - besides the serious environmental risks that the plant poses as well as the inconceivable price tag that it comes with, several of the commissioners campaigned against the plant when they were running for office. It's time that they make true on their promise!
Read the editorial here. 


Maryland Set to Become America's Smoldering Trash Can

http://www.wastenotcarroll.org/
A recently released report details how the incinerator industry is pushing to make Maryland the East Coast's premiere destination for...other people's garbage! That should do wonders for our state's reputation. Read more here 







Three Letters in the Paper That Are Worth Reading

http://www.wastenotcarroll.org/
Three recent letters in the Carroll County Times that are worth a read. To see them, click...
Here
And Here
And Here 

More evidence that incinerators produce harmful nanoparticles

Like Carroll and Frederick Counties, citizens in the city of Vancouver, BC are also fighting plans to build a waste incinerator. As this recent article mentions, in addition to putting local governments into debt, degrading the surrounding environment, the smoke that incinerators release as they burn garbage poses a serious hazard to human health.Click here to read more.


Bankrupted Harrisburg, PA trying to sell Incinerator to Get Out Of Debt

http://www.wastenotcarroll.org/
Harrisburg Mayor Proposes Asset Sale, Possible Tax on Commuters
By Romy Varghese - Aug 3, 2011 12:01 AM ET
From Bloomberg.com
Pennsylvania’s capital city must sell a debt-laden trash incinerator, lease its parking system and consider a tax on commuters if those measures aren’t enough to restore fiscal stability, Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson said.
The city, which has a $5 million budget deficit, stands to lose $3 million in state aid -- jeopardizing its ability to pay bondholders and employees -- if the City Council votes down the blueprint announced yesterday by Thompson.
“The plan will accomplish the core objectives and return the city of Harrisburg to solvency,” Thompson told reporters. “And it will do so with shared responsibility and shared burden, with a minimal impact to the citizens.”
The council must vote to approve the plan by Sept. 6 or risk the loss of state aid, said C. Alan Walker, head of the state’s Community and Economic Development Department, which runs a distressed-cities program that Harrisburg entered in December. Click here to read more.

Carroll County Landfill Now Offers Styrofoam Recycling

 Check out this great little video, featuring Waste Not!'s own Don West!

Public decries waste-to-energy project

http://www.wastenotcarroll.org/

From Frederick News Post, July 22, 2011
By Patti S. Borda
Potential pollution, traffic and expense associated with a waste-to-energy incinerator drew a group of residents to a meeting Thursday with Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. and the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Members of the public who attended the meeting were not convinced that the county plant will receive enough trash to make it profitable, and if it does they said too much material that could be recycled will be incinerated instead.
Michael Marschner, Frederick County special projects manager, said the county's household recycling program has been designed to divert recyclable material from the waste stream at the landfill and will do the same once the incinerator is operating. He and Wheelabrator representatives said the only recyclable material that will end up in the incinerator is material that comes from households that do not separate their waste.
Click here to keep reading.

Lehigh To Start Burning Trash!

Lehigh Cement in Union Bridge has announced that they will start burning garbage in order to fuel their plant. They are doing their best to make sure that the processes that they will be using is as innocuous sounding as possible, calling the garbage "engineered fuel" and claiming that it is "cleaner, greener, and renewable" when compared to the coal that they currently burn to fuel the plant. Let's be clear about a few things, though: First, there is nothing clean, green, or renewable about burning garbage. The plastics and rubbers that they will likely be burning are only as renewable as the petroleum from which these products were derived. Second, this is a new process - Lehigh has no idea what kind of health effects this could have. Any claims otherwise are baseless.Third, Lehigh is not doing this because it cares about the environment, it's doing this because it wants to increase its profits. This particular plant has repeatedly gotten in trouble with state and federal regulators because of its staggeringly high levels of mercury emissions, (it is the second largest source of mercury emissions in the state of Maryland). A switch away from mercury heavy coal and towards this untested fuel is nothing more than a (literal) smoke screen to temporarily keep regulators off their backs. And finally, as Carroll County seems to poised to pull out of the disastrous Frederick incinerator partnership, it seems only too perfect that Lehigh, (whose past plant manager is now a county commissioner), would be starting to retrofit their plant to burn garbage.  
Read More Here

Wheelabrator admits to dumping untreated wastewater, ash into wetlands

Wheelabrator, the garbage burning company that has apparently been buying its way through county and state governments, recently admitted to releasing contaminated water and ash sludge into waterways and wetlands around it's Saugus, Massachusetts waste incineration plant. This is the same Wheelabrator that would like to build one its trash incinerating plants in Frederick, claiming that the technology that they use is environmentally friendly. Read more here.

Industry encroaches on Maryland's Civil War battlefields

Sites at Monocacy, South Mountain highlight conflict with modern society

By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun, April 25, 2011

FREDERICK -

Standing behind the old brick Worthington House, visitors can look down the gently sloping hillside and picture the Civil War battle that likely saved the nation's capital from capture.

Much of the farmland where Union soldiers fought that hot summer day in 1864 to delay a Confederate attack on Washington has been preserved as Monocacy National Battlefield. But the view from the Worthington farm, where the fighting began, appears fated to become less historic.

A huge waste-to-energy plant is planned just across the Monocacy River from the 1,650-acre park - a project that has sparked criticism as the nation marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the war. One hundred fifty feet tall, with a 270-foot smokestack, the facility will loom over the trees that hide areas where Confederate cavalry forded the river to assault Union infantry.

"This will be visible from the visitors center and other key parts of the battlefield," said Susan W. Trail, superintendent of the historic park on the southern outskirts of Frederick. "It will, in my view, overwhelm part of our landscape." Click Here to Keep Reading.

Frederick County's future dimming

Originally published April 23, 2011 in the Fredrick News-Post
The long debate in Frederick County over the proposed incinerator/"waste-to-energy" facility for burning waste has left this citizen unconvinced of its merits. Instead of a public process where citizen concerns were addressed adequately and the inevitable benefits of the system portrayed conclusively, we have a series of decisions that leave disappointment and powerlessness in their wake.
The extreme costs locked into the system will inevitably hurt citizens inFrederick County; we'll watch our waste bills increase over time while others profit running our systems. This inflexible, no-turning-back technology will condemn us to a solution not used in decades and which is rapidly becoming totally obsolete. The debt service on the bonds, and, make no mistake about it despite the claims of Blaine Young, all the costs of these operations and management that we'll contractually pay are a burden and long legacy for citizens. Click Here To Keep Reading.

Lots of News and Updates

There are as many new developments this week as there are toxins emitted by a waste incinerator's smoke stack.
* Paid lobbyists, industry representatives, and misguided county employees have once again been making the rounds trying to drum up support for a trash burning plant. This handy guide helps separate fact from fiction in the waste incineration debate. Click here to view/download.
* Robin Davidov, head of the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority, spoke to Waste Not! Carroll last month. Here is video of her presentation and the lively Q & A that followed. Click here to see the video.
* The folks from the Environmental Integrity Project spoke at Waste Not! Carroll's March meeting. They are involved in helping to ensure that existing and proposed incinerators meet current and future air quality standards. Despite what the pro-incinerator lobby claims, trash burning plants produce a lot of pollution and very little electricity. In fact when you compare an incinerator to a coal power plant - as the Environmental Integrity Project has done - you begin to see just how bad for the environment trash burning plants really are. (Thanks to Robbie Orvis from the Environmental Integrity Project for researching and compiling the data). Click here to see this shocking comparison.
*  Composting is an important part of any reasonable approach to waste management. This community in PA is showing just how easy curbside compost pick-up is to implement in a small sized municipality. Click Here to Read More.
* One of Frederick County's Commissioners is trying to bully Carroll County into making a decision about whether or not they still want to help build a trash burning plant. Click here to get the full story.

SHOCKER: Industry Lobbyist Tries to Mislead Public

Richard Haddad, former president of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce and now paid lobbyist, has weighed in (again) in favor of the proposed trash burning plant in a letter to the Carroll County Times. Mr. Haddad's letter is so riddled with factual inaccuracies that it can hardly be taken seriously, and yet in an era where lobbyists such as Haddad are granted unparalleled access to government, it is imperative that his attempts at misleading the public be rebutted. Our readers are encouraged to have a look at his letter and send their response to the Times. Click here to read his letter.


Tempe Startup Turns Garbage into Compost


GARIN GROFF, East Valley Tribune
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — It's said that one person's trash is another's treasure, but for a Tempe startup called EcoScraps, that trash is its very business model.
The fledgling business is based on the grocery industry's massive piles of fruits and vegetables that go bad before they can be sold and until now have been hauled to a landfill.
EcoScraps has inked deals with grocers and wholesalers to haul it away and use it as a key ingredient in organic compost and potting soil that it sells at independent nurseries. The company plans to add 88 Bashas' stores and is looking for others in addition to its existing wholesaler supply, said Brandon Sargent, EcoScrap's co-founder and vice president. It hasn't been too difficult to get grocers to sign on, Sargent said, because trash companies charge stores by the weight of what's hauled away. Click Here To Keep Reading.

Hundreds stage noisy protest outside public consultation over incinerator

AROUND 200 people voiced their anger and opposition to the proposed "energy from waste" incinerator set for Devonport's North Yard.
To the sound of a loud salsa-style drumbeat, they hoisted colourful banners and placards bearing anti-incinerator slogans outside the city's Guildhall where MVV Umwelt's final public consultation exhibition was held on Saturday.
The demonstration then took to the streets of the city centre, first to the sundial and onto New George Street, along Old Town Street, and then back down Royal Parade and then back to the Guildhall.
To rousing cheers speakers highlighted the myriad of concerns residents and others had raised since the various bids to build incinerators in the region were put in last year. Click Here To Keep Reading.

If You Can't Convince Them...Then Confuse Them

Thanks to the efforts of this organization and others like it, the truth about the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority's trash burning plant has become clear: it is an unfathomably expensive pollution spewing waste of precious taxpayer dollars! And with the cat now out of the bag, the future of the proposed plant isn't looking so bright; Carroll County is on the verge of pulling out of the deal, Frederick County is deeply divided on whether they even want to host the toxic ash spewing budget busting monstrosity, and a competing waste management company is proposing a mega-facility in Baltimore that would render the proposed NMWDA plant obsolete. So, having failed to convince pretty much anyone about the merits of the proposed plant, NMWDA has resorted to one of the oldest tricks in the book: If you can't convince them, confuse them. NMWDA sent current minion (and former Frederick County Public Works Director) MikeMarschner to Washington County to tell them why he wasn't trying to sell them an incinerator. Wait...what? Read more about The Facility Formerly Knows As An Incinerator in this write up from the Herald-Mail. Click Here.

Interview with Waste Not!'s Don West


As both the cost and the environmental impact of incineration has become more apparent, you would be hard pressed to find anybody these days who actually thinks that burning trash is a good idea. So what should we do with our trash? For a better understanding of what is at play in the debate over how to handle this county's solid waste (and an excellent summation of the facts in this debate), have a peak at this interview with Don West on Sykesville Online - click here to see it. Or Here.

...Oh, and what's the deal with camel? You'll just have to read the interview to find out!


South Carroll Student Starts Composting Project

Posted:Saturday, January 22, 2011
By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff WriterCarroll County Times
The Maryland State Highway Administration is donating scrap metal from signs to South Carroll High School so students can use them to build compost bins for cafeteria scraps.
The project was the idea of 17-year-old Emily Peterson, a senior at the school, who has been working since the beginning of the school year to start a compost program there.
Originally the school had planned to use wood to build the bins, which will be 12-by-12-by-6-feet, but a consultant from the Department of Natural Resources pointed out that the wood will deteriorate and that metal would be better. Purchasing metal for the project could have been cost restrictive, so the DNR contacted the SHA to ask for donated scrap metal.
SHA will be donating 58 large aluminum panels for the project, and the students will begin building the bins in February.
The school will use the compost from cafeteria waste for general landscaping, planting American chestnut trees and other environmentally-friendly projects around the campus.


AG investigating waste incinerator - Employees tell of pollution releases

By Jenna Russell
Boston Globe Staff / January 4, 2011Attorney General Martha Coakley is investigating Wheelabrator Saugus, the waste incinerator responsible for burning trash from 15 North Shore cities and towns, for alleged environmental violations including the discharge of hazardous chemicals into the air and water, according to several people who said they were interviewed by state officials.
The state investigation was spurred by two employees of the plant who filed a civil lawsuit against Wheelabrator Saugus Inc. and its parent company, Texas-based Waste Management Inc., more than a year ago in Essex Superior Court. The suit, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe, alleges that operators of the Saugus incinerator have knowingly violated environmental laws for years, endangered public health, and defrauded the communities that paid to send their garbage there for proper handling.
The employees filed suit under the Massachusetts False Claims Act, the law that protects whistle-blowers who report their employers for committing fraud against the government. In accordance with the law, it was filed on behalf of the 15 North Shore towns and cities that contract with Wheelabrator and was sealed by the court to keep it from public view while the state conducted its investigation.



We have cleaned the site up a bit...















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Sunday, May 01, 2011

Someone else's discarded paint can be on your walls


RECYCLING: Performance artists prove you can cheaply redecorate.

http://www.adn.com/2011/04/29/1837267/someone-elses-discarded-paint.html

By MIKE DUNHAM mdunham@adn.com

Published: April 30th, 2011

MARC LESTER / Anchorage Daily News

http://www.adn.com/2011/04/29/1837267/someone-elses-discarded-paint.html

John Perez, a technician at the hazardous waste facility at the Anchorage Landfill, collects discarded latex and water-based paint. Drums of that paint will be solidified with bentonite before being disposed of in the landfill. The hazardous waste facility also operates a paint reuse program there and at the Central Transfer Station in ...  http://www.adn.com/2011/04/29/1837267/someone-elses-discarded-paint.html

Charles Oakley and Jorge C. Bailey are "spray can artists." You may have seen them at the Saturday Market, Alaska State Fair, Three Barons Fair and other venues. In what they describe as "performances," they create detailed pictures of mountains, whales, guitars, planets and such -- all in roughly eight minutes.

And they do most of it with paint that someone else has thrown away.

"About 60 percent of our art uses recycled paint," said Bailey.

The artists appreciate the eco-friendly aspect of their medium. And they like the fact that they get it for free through the Municipality of Anchorage Hazardous Waste Reuse Program.

So can anyone else.

The program, contracted to Emerald Alaska, a branch of Seattle-based Emerald Services, gives away orphaned paint and more at the Anchorage Regional Landfill near Eagle River and the Central Transfer Station near the Old Seward Highway and International Airport Road.

Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/04/29/1837267/someone-elses-discarded-paint.html

http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/2011/05/anchorage-daily-news-someone-elses.html

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Monday, October 11, 2010

Rescuing resources: WasteNot! Carroll pitches in By Lois Szymanski

Rescuing resources: WasteNot! Carroll pitches in By Lois Szymanski

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/neighborhoods/article_1257668a-d24c-11df-be4e-001cc4c03286.html



Friday, October 8, 2010 By Lois Szymanski, For Neighborhoods

The grassroots organization Waste Not! Carroll has been working to keep recyclables out of the county’s trash since 2009. At last month’s Maryland Wine Festival at the Carroll County Farm Museum, nearly 70 volunteers promoted recycling and composting and helped the museum’s efforts. Together, they diverted more than nine tons of resources from the waste stream.

“That figure includes the efforts of vendors, attendees and the farm museum staff,” said Don West, cofounder of Waste Not! Carroll.

The museum staff concentrated on the wineries and was able to recycle 7.58 tons of recyclables.

Waste Not! Carroll was assigned food vendor areas and sent an additional 1.26 tons of recyclables to the county.

West said that, in addition, they removed what he estimated to be an additional ton of compost, aluminum and other recyclables…  http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/neighborhoods/article_1257668a-d24c-11df-be4e-001cc4c03286.html
  
20101008 Szymanski WasteNot! Carroll pitches in

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Soundtrack Op-ed: “Waste Not! – Carroll” speaks out on MGA incinerator legislation



Soundtrack Op-ed: Don West, co-founder of “Waste Not! – Carroll” speaks out on Maryland General Assembly incinerator legislation

February 14, 2010
Editor,

On Saturday, February 13, 2010, the Carroll County Times Opinion Page gave Senate Bill 228 a “thumbs down”. The bill, sponsored by Senator Alex Mooney, R – District 3 (Frederick and Washington Counties), prohibits the Maryland Department of the Environment from issuing a permit for the construction of an incinerator unless certain conditions are met.

Included in those conditions are that the incinerator is located in an area zoned for heavy industrial activity and that the site is at least 3 miles from a church, school, park, hospital or residential dwelling.

The CC Times asserts that Mooney was disingenuous in offering the legislation. Yet, Senator Mooney states he has received thousands of e-mails from his constituents in opposition to the Waste to Energy (WTE) incinerator that is proposed in his district. Rather than disingenuous, I view his legislation as an example of a senator responding to the needs and desires of those he serves.

The same column accuses Mooney of political posturing in an election year. That charge is easy enough to refute – Senator Mooney introduced a similar bill in last year’s legislative session. Last year was not an election year for County Commissioners in either Frederick or Carroll Counties.

Speaking of politicizing the issue, our own Commissioner Michael Zimmer ventured to Annapolis to testify against the same bill last week. He said he wants to make sure that Carroll County has an opportunity to reap the same benefits of WTE incineration as Baltimore City and Montgomery and Harford County. After examining this issue in some detail, I’m wondering what benefits Commissioner Zimmer has in mind?

Perhaps it’s all the money to be spent? With current projected construction costs upwards of $600,000,000, plus the financing and the anticipated operating expenses for the life span of the incinerator, we are facing a total cost to taxpayers in Carroll and Frederick in excess of 2 billion dollars!

Given current budgetary problems, I don’t see how anyone would view an expenditure of this magnitude a ‘benefit’. If you are interested in how bad it can get, look to Harrisburg, PA, where the city is nearly bankrupt following a botched upgrade to their incinerator.

Another ‘benefit’ of WTE incineration that proponents like to cite is the electrical energy the facility will generate. What they don’t say is that the incinerator is in reality a poor source of power, generating only about 1/10 of the electricity of a typical electrical plant. Also, any power generated goes first to the operation of the facility. Then Frederick County, as majority partner, gets second priority for the power.

Finally, Carroll County can get what’s left, providing we pay for it. That’s right, we will pay for the electricity generated by burning the trash that we pay to have burned in the incinerator that we are paying for! At the Dickerson facility in Montgomery County, financial records show that money from the sale of electricity doesn’t even offset service on the bonds issued for the initial construction of that incinerator; operating costs are borne by the residents and taxpayers.

In fact, if you compare the energy saved by recycling or composting waste destined for the incinerator versus the energy provided from its combustion, incineration is an enormous Waste of Energy!

Proponents of the incinerator would like you to think that with an incinerator burning our trash, we will no longer need landfills. This is false. First of all, as much as 20 – 25% of our solid waste can’t be burned. Most yard waste and construction & demolition refuse are two examples - other disposal methods will need to be used.

Plus the residual ash from the incinerator will need to be dealt with. Some propose that using the ash as a daily cover at the landfill is appealing. Montgomery County, however, pays to haul its ash to Virginia, where it is handled as a hazardous waste, at an additional cost of several million dollars per year. I’m not seeing any great benefit there, either.

Finally, proponents like to say that emissions from the Waste to Energy incinerator will be closely monitored. Carroll and Frederick’s agreement allows for the monitoring of 12 regulated emissions. Unfortunately, a recent report from the MDE for the Harford County incinerator identified nearly 200 toxins released! If that’s the level of monitoring we can expect at our proposed incinerator, I don’t think I would want my family to live 30 miles from such a facility.

An editorial in the CCT’s the following day accuses Senator Mooney of a “Not In My Backyard” motivation for proposing his legislation. Superficially, I can see where that could be argued, except that the adoption of his bill would mean that nobody in Maryland would have an incinerator within 3 miles of their home, school or church.

Perhaps it’s more accurately portrayed as NIABY, “ Not In Anybody’s Backyard”. For that, Mooney’s attempt at regulating future incinerator locations should be applauded, not ridiculed.

Some may view Senator Mooney’s legislation as an intrusion of state government into a local issue. However, when our local elected officials ignore the views of their constituents, and more importantly, the facts and ramifications of their decisions, seeking the assistance of another level of our government is our right and obligation.

Don H. West
Westminster

The writer is a co-founder of Waste Not! - Carroll
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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/
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