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The Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority (NMWDA), in conjunction with the Frederick County Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management and Carroll Country Department of Public Works, has selected Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management Inc., as the preferred vendor to construct and operate a new, regional waste-to-energy facility that will serve the solid waste disposal and energy needs of Frederick and Carroll Counties.
"We believe Wheelabrator will help the counties move toward a more fully integrated waste disposal system that also includes the roll-out of a single-stream recycling program with an ambitious recycling goal of 60 percent."
-- Robin Davidov, Executive Director, Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority
The facility, which will be the first new greenfield waste-to-energy plant to be constructed in the U.S. in more than a decade, will be located in Frederick County Maryland. The plant will be capable of processing up to 1,500 tons per day of municipal solid waste with an electric generating capacity of 55 megawatts.
Upon a positive vote from both counties’ Board of Commissioners, the permitting and approval phase will begin this spring and will take approximately two years, followed by a 3-year engineering and construction period. Waste Management said that the projected completion date for the facility is 2014. At the height of construction, the project is expected to employ 1,000 workers engaged in excavation, concrete work, electrical work, fabrication and steelwork. Once completed, Wheelabrator expects to employ approximately 50 full-time employees to operate the plant.
“We conducted an extensive search of proven technologies to help us recover the energy in the counties’ non-recycled municipal solid waste. The new facility, if approved, will provide 100 percent of the counties’ governmental electricity needs, making the two counties among the first in the nation to achieve energy independence while significantly reducing carbon emissions,” said Robin Davidov, executive director of the NMWDA. “We believe Wheelabrator will help the counties move toward a more fully integrated waste disposal system that also includes the roll-out of a single-stream recycling program with an ambitious recycling goal of 60 percent.”
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This is the kind of thing we need in a stimulus bill - how about two or three or more in every state!?
Imagine - stimulus that would actually provide a return on the investment!
We can't be buried in our own filth and gargage; that's a simple fact. Build the facilities using scrubber sequestering technologies; pay the price, and stay clean in "little pink houses" for you and me,...ahhh ain't that America.
All the Best,..
"By replacing fossil fuels in the generation of electricity, waste-to-energy facilities actively reduce the buildup of greenhouse gases. The Frederick waste-to-energy facility is expected to offset the release of approximately 500,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated that waste-to-energy plants produce electricity with 'less environmental impact than almost any other source of electricity.'"
Calling the process "incineration" is misleading because it neglects the fact that energy is being recovered from the combustion process rather than being wasted.
Seems like some people here would benefit from watching the short video called The Story of Stuff
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
As for the EPA comment - I would love to see where and when that is from as there is ample scientific evidence that would expose the twisted logic of that environmental impact statement.
Cut the NIMBY and PC posturing and present some facts about existing facilities?
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