Miami-Dade County consultant looks into waste-to-energy sites – NBC 6 South Florida

A consultant hired by Miami-Dade County to assess the impact of a waste-to-energy plant on the air, environment and human health has submitted a report concluding that the facility – wherever it is located – will have minimal impact on the ecology and current conditions. low health risks for people in surrounding areas.

But it does note that each site has pluses and minuses that the administration will have to weigh before recommending any of the three sites to the county commissioners, a decision that Mayor Daniella Levine Cava says will come Sept. 4.

The report comes as the province faces a potential looming solid waste disposal crisis as landfills fill up and the 40-year-old waste-to-energy (WTE) plant near Doral was destroyed by fire last year.

The consultant, Arcadis, was hired to survey the existing Doral site and two others – one in Medley and the other called Airport West, on the northwest edge of developable land just south of the Broward County line.

The report details the impact a factory burning 4,000 tonnes of waste per day would have on air quality, the environment and human health.

It concluded: “Development of a new WTE facility in the county appears feasible for the three potential sites… (but) will be very challenging due to the numerous existing emission sources in Miami-Dade County, the county’s proximity to the Everglades National Park… as well as the complex analyzes required for permit approval… For any site, the extensive environmental and development permits required for a new WTE facility will be challenging and may be longer and more expensive than initially anticipated, given the current regulatory environment and pending new EPA emissions standards applicable to WTE facilities.”

Here are some of their conclusions:

DORAL

It “probably remains the fastest and least expensive option. The site appears feasible with respect to air permitting and may provide some benefits during the permitting process as the site has been fully developed and operated as a certified site under the Power Plant Siteing Act (PPSA) since the 1980s. Also, the site could provide the opportunity to use the historical emissions data to show an overall net benefit on nearby air quality compared to previous activities at the site. … However, because it is the closest of the three sites to the Everglades (National Park), it will need to be demonstrated during the formal air modeling and regulatory approval process that there are no adverse impacts to visibility and sulfate/nitrate deposition. ”

AIRPORT WEST

It “yielded slightly better results in preliminary air dispersion modeling and appears to be relatively more favorable for air permits than the other two locations. However, air permitting efforts will be challenging for each of the three sites due to their proximity to existing emission sources and the Everglades (National Park). In addition, the site faces significant environmental challenges, as noted in previous reports…, which are likely to extend the project schedule and result in additional development costs.”

MEDLEY

The Medley site – the only one on land not owned by the province – “appears feasible with respect to air permits, but will likely be the most complicated and challenging of the three sites due to nearby major emissions sources (a concrete plant and existing landfill)… . The site will require extensive modeling analyzes to demonstrate compliance with (standards)… The site is slightly further away from the Everglades (National Park) and therefore no adverse effects on visibility and sulphate/nitrate deposition loads need to be demonstrated during the air permit and model approval process.”

The report estimated the county would have to pay $113 million for the land in Medley, making it the most expensive of the three options. The current location would be the cheapest because some infrastructure is already in place and would take the least time to complete, just under eight years. It would take more than nine years for the other two locations to be completed.

With regard to human health risk, all three sites are low risk with results within or below regulatory risk levels. According to the report, the worst-case health risk level estimate at all three locations is below the risk posed by simply walking on the road. street and inhaling car exhaust fumes. (But it is noted that plants near residential areas would expose more people than one further from residential areas.)

From an ecological risk perspective, the report concludes that “the potential ecological risks associated with air emissions at the three proposed sites are minimal and should not impact the health of the surrounding ecological communities.”

The county executive told commissioners in a memo sent Friday that “the next step is to engage in community outreach regarding the analyzes and findings outlined in the respective reports, ensuring that all affected cities, communities and organizations are included, as well as any information that may be obtained from the various regulatory authorities. It is our plan to put a report with our location advice to the board on the agenda for the board meeting of September 4, 2024.”