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TAKE ACTION!
Click here to send an email to the Frederick County Commissioners urging them to vote "No" on the building of a 1,500 ton per day regional waste incinerator.
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Did you know the Frederick County Board of Commissioners is moving forward with obtaining bids for a 323+ MILLION DOLLAR trash incinerator (commonly known as a Waste to Energy facility) for Frederick County?
There are health and environmental concerns for the residents near these incinerators.
And where is the BoCC considering siting this proposed incinerator?
You may hear the benefit of this incinerator is the electricity produced. However, the electricity produced offsets only a fraction of the cost of the annual debt service and operating costs of such a facility.
In fact, Montgomery County, after accounting for revenues from electricity, pays about 40 MILLION DOLLARS every year to service the debt, and to operate and maintain its Waste OF Energy trash incinerator.
Commissioner Kai Hagen opposes the incinerator and supports a more flexible alternative that is much less expensive, more environmentally responsible and protects the public health.
Please contact your Board of County Commissioners to let the rest of them know you’re opposed to investing our tax dollars and locking ourselves into incineration for decades without a thorough analysis of the alternatives. countycomissioners@fredco-md.net
For some of the news coverage on this story, please see
www.gazette.net/stories/061208/frededi190416_32355.shtml
www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=76548
www.gazette.net/stories/061208/frednew175811_32364.shtml
Let’s not be the first U.S. community
in 13 years to build an incinerator!
MISSION
The Waste Study Group is a group of citizens interested in exploring sustainable options in solid waste management in Frederick and surrounding counties.
It is the responsibility of citizens and government officials at all levels to find ways to manage our waste sustainably. In addition to making reduction, reuse and recycling priorities, we need to abandon the old paradigm of "burn or bury" and embrace the new paradigm of materials management. Communities that manage materials reclaim resources from the waste stream and divert them to businesses that make the products we use daily. This strategy is gaining ground across the United States, reducing the amount of waste going into landfills, filling community coffers with funds generated by the sale of materials in viable markets, and reducing global warming by saving energy.
Our landfill is projected to be full by 2010, and Frederick County has been exploring "waste to energy" options such as incineration. This old paradigm relies on capital intensive projects to produce minuscule amounts of electricity while encouraging waste and bankrupting local economies. Incinerators also produce large amounts of toxic ash that require landfill space for long-term storage.
It is important for citizens and government officials to explore all waste disposal options in a democratic, transparent manner, so as to engage all stakeholders in these important decisions that financially and environmentally impact our communities for generations to come.
This web site presents ideas, information and resources in support of these goals.
Many counties in Maryland are taking on the complicated subject of solid waste management as they outgrow earlier solutions. We hope other counties facing similar issues will find this site useful.