A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton, NY 13617 315-379-9200 Dec. 1993 - Jan. 1994
The 8th of our 24-part series continues the review of waste-to-energy MSW incinerators, including references to Waste Not issues. Vendor/Operator from GAA’s 1993 edition. Type: M=Mass Burn; R=RDF. Tons-Per-Day is incinerator design capacity. APC = Air Pollution Controls: 1-ESP. 2-Baghouse. 3-Dry Scrubber. 4-NOx Control. 5-Wet Scrubber.
INCINERATOR V = VENDOR Year TONS-PER-DAY
LOCATION O = OPERATOR Type APC On-Line 1988 1991 1993
FL Lake Co.21 V/O: OGDEN MARTIN M 2,3 1991 - 528 528
Mayport Naval V: Advanced Combustion M None 1979 50 50 50
Station O: Global Associates Miami22 V/O: Montenay R 1 1982 - 3000 3000
Miami Airport22a V: Synergy O: Airport M None 1983 60 60 ?
West Palm V: Babcock & Wilcox/Bechtel R 1,3 1989 - 2000 2000
Beach 23 O: Babcock & Wilcox
Panama City24 V/O: WESTINGHOUSE M 1 1987 510 510 510
21. Lake County, Florida. On March 16, 1993, the Leesburg Daily Commercial ran this report: “The incinerator burned 16.5 percent of the medical waste generated in Florida in 1992...The company operating the plant, Ogden Martin Systems of Lake, accepts tons of other unidentified ‘special wastes’... An attorney for the state on Wednesday told a reporter he could be charged with a felony if he published some of the companies generating the waste or brand names of products being burned. The reporter obtained the information March 19 when he examined documents at the Orlando DER [Department of Environmental Regulation] office. The object of the reporter’s inquiry was product manifests collected by state officials when they made their visit on March 2. The information being disputed was blacked out with a marker by state officials, but in some cases was still legible...Ogden Martin...had asked that this information remain confidential for business reasons...Steve Bass, a regional manager and spokesman for the company said the release of this information could jeopardize Ogden’s contracts with the generators of the waste. The contracts earn the county as much as $250,000 per month...”-- State won’t open study of incinerator. On July 8, 1992, Lake County’s Daily Commercial reported: “State environmental officials have cited the company that operates the Lake County incinerator for failing to report the burning of plants sprayed with a fungicide blamed for health problems in South Florida. The state [DER] says that Ogden Martin Systems Inc., which operates the county incinerator in Okahumpka, must seek state approval to incinerate the plants sprayed with the fungicide Benlate...More than a year ago, DuPont Corp. pulled the Benlate product off the market after workers in nurseries in South Florida complained about health problems [tumors on the skin, dizziness, burning eyes] after working with the plants sprayed with the fungicide....The DER discovered Ogden was burning the ornamental plants only after an anonymous call to the Orlando DER office, according to Chuck Collins, an administrator for the DER’s air-quality section in Orlando. Collins said DuPont itself has notified DER that landfill burying is the best way to dispose of the plants...Collins said Ogden officials contend that because Lake County has so many nurseries, these plants should be considered part of the normal waste stream, not something that deserves special handling. Over the last month, residents have complained about foul odors and eye and skin irritations, which they blame on the incinerator. In response, Ogden officials have said they are meeting all of the state environmental guidelines.” Ogden cited for burning treated plants. On July 26, 1992 the Daily Commercial reported: “Residents from as far away as Center Hill say they have noticed the odor. Some say it smells like paint thinner; others describe it as sour acid. The residents say they are convinced of the source: the Lake County incinerator...Residents who live within six miles of the incinerator are convinced that Ogden’s plant is posing a health threat. Mary Ann Franklin...said her allergies have flared up since January...Mary Tripp, a nurse who lives in Leesburg, said on July 8...she noticed a strong odor of paint thinner or insecticide wafting in the air when she drove near the incinerator plant. ‘I was gagging in the car,’ she said. ‘I thought I was going to throw up. I couldn’t breathe’...She said her in-laws in Center Hill have also been complaining about strange smells lately. Tripp says ever since the incident, she has had more than six asthma attacks, the worst it has been in two years....Estel Merrit...said her neighbors have all noticed strange smells recently. ‘It smells funny, almost like an acid smell. As long as I stay in the house the first thing in the morning I’m fine. But if I have to go out I’ll get laryngitis all day. When I lay down I’ll start coughing. It wasn’t that way before’...” Okahumpkans fret over odors. Also see special report Fairy tale incinerator a costly reality in The Lake Sentinel, Jan 28, 1990. According to this report the incinerator is the County’s most expensive public endeavor; County agreed to pay the plant’s property taxes; Leesburg, FL, businessman, F. Browne Gregg, gets $6 million from Ogden Martin for his “interest” in the plant. In July 1988 the County Commissioners voted to abandon the deal with Ogden Martin. “Vote later reversed unanimously after intense lobbying.” In Nov 1988 County Commissioner Caron, who voted for the incinerator, lost the election and wins a job with Ogden. See video Florida Burning: An Update on Incineration, produced in April 1990; available for $25 from Video-Active, Rt. 2, Box 322, Canton, NY 13617. Tel: 315-386-8797. For more information contact Richard & Gina Swartz, 1811 Lane Court, Tavares, FL 32778. Tel: 904-343-9174, or Dan Eastwood, tel: 904-343-0046. See also WN# 88,94,105,245.
22. Miami, Dade County, Florida. Known as the ‘Miami Monster’ the incinerator, located at N.W. 66th Street and 97th Avenue, did not operate in 1988 due to a $50 million retrofit. The latest, and saddest battle: in the Fall of 1993 the Dade County School Board voted 4 to 3 to build an elementary school within 1 mile and downwind of the incinerator, because they did not want the children, who live near the incinerator, to be bused out of the area. According to Edmund Benson (see below) the Dade County school system is the 4th largest in the country. The Florida Department of Health did not get involved. This same school board voted 4 to 3 to build a school, in another area of the county, 1 1/2 miles from the Turkey Point nuclear power plant. According to the Oct 6, 1991, Miami Herald: “In the year ending in August 1991, Montenay accumulated 129 health, pollution and safety violations...Among the plant’s problems, according to the state: Aging stacks allow toxic smoke to escape without being filtered through up-to-date pollution control equipment...Contaminants including lead, mercury, cadmium, chlorides and coliform bacteria have been found in groundwater at the plant’s borders. In all, there have been more than 100 violations of state water quality standards, the state says....In August [1991], a Metro bomb squad officer summoned to the scene of a boiler explosion wrote a memo describing ‘incredibly filthy conditions’...Consultant Malcolm Pirnie found the plant gave off 2,196 pounds of mercury and 19,361 pounds of lead a year. Dr. Carl Pfaffenberger, who reviewed the study for the county, said the emissions do not pose a health hazard to people who live near the plant...” On Oct 31, 1991, J. Scott Benyon, Director of District Management [West Palm Beach] of the FL Dept. of Environmental Regulation (DER) sent Carol Browner, then head of the DER, a report on the violations at the incinerator. His report states: “Violations are frequent and numerous. The Department has conducted multiple inspections of this facility. Dade County Solid Waste Department has conducted weekly video-recorded inspections of the Power Plant since October 1990. These inspections continue to document conditions of non-compliance...Montenay and Dade County have repeatedly stated their unwillingness to enter into a Consent Order or pay significant penalties...I recommend that $640,100 in civil penalties be sought against Montenay and Dade County...” In 1993, Edmund Benson noted that the the incinerator’s annual emissions were: 15,400 pounds of lead; 2,380 pounds of mercury; 350 tons of particulates. Under discussion is a 50% expansion of the incinerator. Under construction is a new 270,000 ton-a-year trash-to-fuel pellet plant. Within three miles of the MSW incinerator is a large medical waste incinerator and a County jail. In 1991, Tarmac Florida, Inc., negotiated with Montenay Power to use the incinerator ash as a substitute raw material in its cement-making process. For more information contact Edmund F. Benson, Arise Foundation, 4001 Edmund F. Benson Blvd., Miami FL 33138-2384. Tel: 305-592-7473. (Note: In honor of Edmund’s involvement with the incinerator, County Commissioners named the street he lives on the Edmund F. Benson Boulevard. Coincidentally the garbage incinerator is located at the other end of the street.”)
22a. Miami Airport, Florida. Owned and operated by the Dade County Aviation Department. We spoke to Jeff Dawson in the Maintenance Division at the airport. He told us that under USDA regulations all international garbage has to burned to ash. He said the incinerator burns approx. 25 tpd, 24 hours a day, and is located at the airport. According to Dawson, Miami’s International airport is among the busiest in the world. The wastes from international flights are red-bagged for identification. A secondary use for the incinerator is to burn contraband material and secret documents. The ash is sent to the 58th Street Landfill in Miami. The incinerator has no pollution controls and the only test it undergoes is for opacity.
23. West Palm Beach, Florida: For more information contact Mary Woodhouse, 526 Perry Circle, Jupiter, FL 33458. Tel: 407-743-7847. See also WN# 73.
24. Panama City, Florida: “No tipping fee for Bay County citizens, but they pay 1/2% infrastructure surtax to finance debt service...Ford Motor Credit Corp. leases plant to Westinghouse.” Ref GAA 1993, p 290*. See also WN # 9,75. According to a Kidder Peabody report of May 5, 1988, the Senior Financial Manager was Paine Webber and the Owner & Financier is Ford Motor Credit. For more information contact Mary Woodhouse, Tel: 407-743-7847.
*1993-1994 Resource Recovery Yearbook, Directory & Guide, by Eileen Berenyi, Ph.D. and Robert N. Gould, 718 pages, published by Governmental Advisory Associates, Inc. (a private consulting/research group), 177 East 87th Street, NY,NY 10128.