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!
