Montgomery residents warn against incinerator in Frederick

Even today, some residents have not come to grips with the 12-year-old incinerator in Dickerson.

‘‘I despise it as much today as I did then. No, I despise it more,” said Jane Hunter, who lives one mile from the incinerator. ‘‘If I had my druthers, I’d go over and blow it up. If I was a citizen in Frederick County, I would oppose it. It’s a horrible thing.”

Frederick County officials are looking into building an incinerator similar to the Montgomery County Resource Recovery Facility in Dickerson, which burns trash to generate electricity to sell to an electric company.

The county has received bids to build the incinerator from two waste management companies — Coventa Energy, which built the Dickerson incinerator, and Wheelabrator Technologies of Houston, Texas.

The bids include a joint incinerator for Frederick and Carroll counties, and one each for Frederick and Carroll.

Michael Marschner, director of Frederick County’s Utilities and Solid Waste Management, is in the process of reviewing each bid before he presents them to the Frederick Board of County Commissioners.

Commissioners have visited the Dickerson incinerator, and two traveled to Europe in April to tour incinerators in seven countries.

But 12 years after the opening of the Dickerson incinerator, or ‘‘waste-to-energy facility” as some call it, some Montgomery residents remain angry.

‘‘They take them [commissioners] to Europe, and they show them this wonderful time,” Hunter said. ‘‘All they need to do is drive down to Dickerson and ask some of us.”

Hunter is a member of the Sugarloaf Citizens Association that vocally opposed the incinerator.

In 1990, the association sued the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority, owners of the Dickerson incinerator, and Montgomery County to stop the incinerator. The association ultimately lost, and the incinerator opened five years later.

‘‘They [the county and authority] lawyered up, but we put up one hell of a fight,” Hunter said.

Bev Thoms, a former member of the association, remembers the lawsuit and the county’s promise that they would beef up recycling so less trash would be burned. Thoms said that has not happened.

‘‘They have [made an effort], but not as much as they should have,” she said.

The county has been trying to get more of its 1 million residents to recycle, said Marilyn J. Paisner (D), president of the Montgomery County Council. ‘‘The county’s goal in 2000 was for 50 percent of residents to recycle. Seven years later, about 43 percent of residents recycle.”

Trash experts contend that incinerators are reliable, clean, and designed with modern population controls.

They must meet state and federal environmental standards not used in incinerator plants operating before the 1970s. For more than 20 years, they have also been recognized as a source of electricity.

At the Dickerson incinerator, workers use computers to monitor the environmental conditions of the smoke stack that releases carbon dioxide, water vapors and nitrogen from the atmosphere during the burning process.

Plant officials contend that as the temperature for burning reaches 1,800 degrees, dangerous gases are destroyed before they flow through the chimney stacks.

But Neil Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Aububon Society, worries about the long-term effects of the carbon dioxide released from the incinerator’s smokestack. He suggests residents in Frederick County ask questions and investigate the environmental effects of what is released through the stack.

‘‘It’s an air quality problem,” he said. ‘‘It is certainly a concern. I certainly think Frederick County should get a full report from the state.”

Montgomery County officials know there are still residents unhappy with their decision to build this type of incinerator.

‘‘I’m sure there are folks in Montgomery County who are unhappy with the decisions we made,” Paisner said. ‘‘I think that’s to be expected.”

Paisner made the comment on Aug. 27, when she was invited to speak to commissioners on her county’s recycling efforts and the Dickerson incinerator.

Meanwhile, as discussions on a possible incinerator in Frederick County moves forward, there are some residents who have heard the warnings coming from Dickerson, and are already speaking out.

‘‘It’s terrible,” said Sally J. Sorbello of Frederick, an outspoken opponent of incineration.

Sorbello has been meeting with experts, e-mailing commissioners, and trying to educate residents on what she sees as the financial and environmental repercussions of an incinerator.

Sorbello has just launched the Maryland Waste Study Group, a new Web site (wastestudygroup.com) with information and alternative ways to dispose of trash.

‘‘We’re compiling a library and coming up with alternatives,” she said. ‘‘We’re looking at everything possible.”