The Montgomery County Council was "caught off guard" by a trash incinerator in Dickerson it has total oversight authority over, The Washington Post reported on Monday. Councilmembers attempted to pin the blame for the facility's continued operation on the Montgomery County cartel's bête noire, County Executive Marc Elrich, feigning surprise that the immolator is still operating and would require funding to maintain safety and the physical plant at the complex. The tab for that in Elrich's FY-2026 budget was $57 million. Elrich had sought to shut the plant down permanently when he first ran for County Executive eight years ago, but once taking office in December 2018, he found that his predecessor had extended the incinerator contract for an additional five years. He told reporter Dana Munro that once the pandemic hit, a project to replace the facility "wasn't financially viable anymore."
There's a separate argument to be had about whether the incinerator should be, or should have already been, shut down. Surprisingly, the article did not mention that the incineration facility turns the trash into energy. Enough energy to power 27,000 houses, in fact, while getting rid of 600 tons of Montgomery County garbage each day. That's a valuable asset.
The converse argument is that the facility releases some degree of pollution into the air. Not discussed is whether or not there are further measures that could be taken to filter or capture this air before it escapes the facility. The article cites rates of respiratory illness, and colon, rectal, and prostate cancer in the Dickerson area that exceeded the overall countywide rate between 2014 and 2022.
But the point I want to focus on is the County Council again trying to pass the buck to Marc Elrich. Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe, who represents Dickerson on the Council, told the Post that she and her colleagues were "caught off guard" by the fact that Elrich had not shut the incinerator down, and by the "hefty maintenance expenses." Why weren't Balcombe and the Council following this issue over the last seven years? Apparently, banning gas stoves, gas leaf blowers, plastic straws, plastic bags, and gender-reveal balloon releases(!!) took up all their time.
Now that the incinerator chickens are coming home to roost and the Council has been caught asleep at the switch yet again, they turn to the cartel's old punching bag Marc Elrich. Why haven't Balcombe and other councilmembers introduced legislation with their superior solutions to the problem? If they were closely monitoring the incinerator, they would have already known about the maintenance coming due, which likely was deferred to fund other capital projects closer to the Council's actual voter base inside the Beltway. Instead, the Council was careless, ignored the incinerator problem for seven years, and failed to exercise their oversight duties in relation to the facility. Heckuva job, Brownie!
13 comments:
It should be privatized number one. That alleviates the problem and the efficiency would go up dramatically. Secondly, I'm surprised they're not blaming Trump. Trump banned paper straws. Yes!
And please do a post on Brown's Store. They've now stripped the entire building clean and opened up all 4 walls. That's historic so it can't be demolished but could be moved. It appears someone (landlord I suppose) is finally executing the plans that were approved by the historic board. Kindly find out details. Had it been leased, etc? Thanks!
It is privately operated already. Can't decide which of your comments on this is dumber complaining about paper straws or being completely uninformed about the incinerator.
Must be Trump's fault!
The council council has bigger fish to fry. such as photo ops, public events and formal meetings.
7:00 - Definitely the paper straws. No one likes them and that's a fact.
The incinerator is owned by a government owned corporation so it is not privately owned. Private utility company NRG owns a nearby power plant. Also, why when you're correcting someone do you find it necessary to include nasty ad hominem attacks?
5:24 - Anonymous - I love it. Yes, there's absolutely no reason to keyboard blast anyone which I never do. Good on you for pointing that out.
It is PRIVATELY OPERATED, the land may be owned by a government corporation but they do not operate the site or contribute to it's operating efficiencies. JAC's continued uniformed commentary deserve "nasty" responses. How else will he be freed from his Fox News echo chamber?
For the millionth time, who is in the cartel, how does it operate, and what’s your evidence?
I understand your straw objection, they are much harder to use for windbags.
It's easy to attack when you're anonymous. Big man.
10:51 - The most ridiculous thing ever was the plastic straw ban and/or the major push to remove them. That's a major contributor to pollution and a clear and present danger to marine life we were told. False. The largest threat to marine life is discarded commercial fishing nets. Fact.
8:35 - My commentary is always uniform. I agree and I'm glad that you recognize that. Thank you!
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