Decision on trash incinerator delayed

Vote instead to schedule a public hearing to give residents a voice

Marschner wanted direction from the board as to whether he should move ahead with the proposal for the incinerator, what officials call a ‘‘waste-to-energy” plant because it burns trash to generate electricity.

It was clear commissioners are not ready to make a decision.

‘‘If the Board of County Commissioners solves the waste issue in Frederick County, their political careers will be over,” said Commissioner John ‘‘Lennie” Thompson Jr. (R), who predicted that voters would flock to the polls and vote them out of office.

Those in the audience Tuesday agreed.

‘‘I don’t envy this board,” said City of Frederick Mayor W. Jeff Holtzinger (R).

Thompson reminded the board of the public outcry in 1990, when the county bought the Schrodel farm on Reich’s Ford Road to build a landfill. Three of the commissioners who voted in favor of the landfill lost their bids for re-election.

This time, incinerator opponents have already been flooding commissioners with e-mails against the idea.

So on Tuesday, after listening to Marschner’s proposal for a joint incinerator and comments from residents against the project, commissioners decided to schedule a public hearing.

No date or location has been determined.

Marschner stressed that he would not discuss the matter with Carroll County unless commissioners support the incinerator.

‘‘Frederick County has to decide if they want it, and if they want to invite Carroll County, and they have to decide if they want it, too,” he said.

Carroll County is scheduled to meet on the issue Nov. 19.

Under the proposal, Frederick and Carroll counties would build a joint incinerator at a cost of $323 million. Frederick County’s share of the bill would be $194 million.

Marschner said that operating a joint site with Carroll County is more economical because the trash collected would generate more electricity to be sold on the open market.

Marschner proposed the site in Frederick County, near the Ballenger Creek-McKinney Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant would handle 1,500 tons of trash from both Frederick and Carroll counties per day, Marschner said.

The Reich’s Ford Road landfill site is not optimal for the construction of an incinerator because of its topography, he said.

According to Marschner, Carroll County would haul its trash into Frederick County using about 20 trucks per day.

Between 36 and 42 trucks haul about 95 percent of Frederick County’s trash from the Reich’s Ford Road landfill to landfills in Virginia every day.

Board President Jan H. Gardner (D) questioned whether this meant that other counties would start bringing their trash into the county.

Robin B. Davidov, executive director of the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority, owners of the Montgomery County incinerator, said counties decide what type of waste and from whom they will accept.

Finally, Thompson said the benefits for Carroll County strongly outweigh the benefits for Frederick.

‘‘With all due respect to Carroll County, this is not an equal partnership,” he said. ‘‘You’re shifting the entire political issue from Carroll County to Frederick County and Frederick County gets all the grief. The only way you can make an equal partnership is to site it on the border of Carroll and Frederick counties.”

Incinerator proposal

A proposal from the Frederick County Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management would create a incinerator plant with money from Frederick and Carroll counties. Details include:

Location: Frederick County, near the Ballenger Creek-McKinney Wastewater Treatment Plant

Capacity: 1,500 tons of trash from both counties

Cost: $323 million; Frederick would pay $194 million