The Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste Management is facing a budget shortfall after only increasing its fee three times in the last decade.
By Jacob Wallace, Waste Dive
Miami-Dade County, Florida, officials once again delayed a decision on siting an incinerator in the county at a meeting Tuesday. The decision came as county commissioners said they needed more time to assess their options.
The decision was pushed back until the board’s Nov. 6 meeting, delaying the permitting process for what would be a facility with up to 4,000 tons per day of capacity.
Commissioner Keon Hardeman initially moved to defer the item from the county’s agenda. He said the decision should not be taken lightly given the history of “Old Smokey,” an incinerator that polluted the neighborhood of West Coconut Grove for decades, or the former refuse-derived fuel facility in Doral, which was destroyed in a fire last year.
“This plant burned down. Maybe that was a good thing, maybe it wasn’t. But whatever it is, I feel like we need to make the decision about it with all of the information and not feel rushed,” Hardeman said.
The county is currently considering four sites: a portion at the dormant Opa-Locka West Airport; the site of the former WTE facility run by Covanta, now Reworld, in Doral; a filled quarry site in Medley; and a site in Okeechobee offered by a developer. In a memo sent to county officials on Friday, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she supports the airport site, which her office said had the second-lowest total cost of development and second-quickest development time.
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