Officials should not rely on advice given by those who benefit from it

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Officials should not rely on advice given by those who benefit from it

E-mail this article \ Print this article

It deeply concerns me when public officials turn to consultants (R.W. Beck) who work for regional bonding authorities (the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority), both of which benefit from their own advice and waste facilities ownership, to solve community problems in expensive and intractable ways that will not best benefit the community.

At least, this is what Mike Marschner and Commissioner David Gray seem to have done on their European trip to study so-called waste-to-energy facilities (‘‘Officials talk trash in Europe,” April 5).

While I respect both of these men as conscientious and dedicated public servants, we need to hear more public information and debate. I fear that this is not truly an independent governmental review of the full range of waste options.

We need independent voices for other options on waste, such as pushing composting and recycling to the limit possible to reduce our waste stream. We need waste franchising to require recycling pickups countywide. We need help on legally implementing these matters from our Delegation to the General Assembly.

Study is a fine thing, but who sets the teaching subject matter and puts solutions on the agenda needs to be divorced from the decision and financial benefits, and our local officials should be wary of their own dual roles in these regional authorities.

Baltimore's past choices may not be as careful and considered as Frederick's should be on waste management. We can do better.

We should fear mortgaging our future to feed a trash incinerator. It is not a sustainable solution to waste issues. It is inherently destructive, and likely a poor environmental choice.

These decisions should not be rushed by others’ agendas, or failures of officials to manage toward better solutions.

Jack Lynch, Frederick