A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official endorsed the construction of a garbage incinerator in Carroll County at a trash forum over the weekend, but residents raised concerns about the technology?s cost and environmental impact.
“Waste-to-energy is turning a problem into an energy solution,” said Richard Brandes, the EPA?s waste minimization chief.
Carroll and Frederick county officials held the solid waste forum Saturday at Frederick Community College as the two jurisdictions consider building a regional trash incinerator, also called a waste-to-energy plant, where garbage is burned to produce electricity.
Baltimore City as well as Harford and Montgomery counties burn trash and some are expanding their plants, but a new one has not been built in Maryland in more than a decade.
Improved technology to control pollution emissions makes the plants safer than the incinerators built 20 years ago and garbage burns more cleanly than coal, said Lori Scozzafava, deputy executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America.
But some residents aren?t convinced that a plant is economically viable and environmentally sound.
“There are toxins that are released that aren?t routinely tested for,” said Sally Sorbello, a Sierra Club member who backs increased recycling efforts instead.
“I was surprised the EPA was pushing this.”
Ash, a byproduct of the burning process, is often used as a landfill cover or mixed in with road cement, but residents are worried about ash polluting well water.
Sorbello, a Frederick resident, found the forum biased toward waste-to-energy, so she invited residents to attend next month?s lecture with toxicologist Paul Connett, who speaks about dioxin, a carcinogen that new plant filters have reduced in recent years.
Robin Davidov, executive director of the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority, which builds and owns waste-to-energy plants, declined to say how much three companies bid to build and operate a plant for Carroll and Frederick, citing the authority?s need to brief commissioners first.
Estimates start at $200 million.
IF YOU GO
» What: Lecture on dioxin by toxiologist Paul Connett
» When: 7 p.m. Aug. 28
» Where: Hood College, Frederick
