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Axios Miami
Miami-Dade needs somewhere to burn its trash
By Martin Vassolo,
2024-04-24
The site of the old Doral trash incinerator would likely be the cheapest and quickest location for a new incinerator plant planned by Miami-Dade County, according to a new report.
Why it matters: The county needs a plan for the 1 million tons of garbage the Doral facility used to burn every year before it was destroyed in a fire.
Catch up fast: The waste-to-energy facility blaze burned for over a week and led to reports of neighbors feeling sick.
The county is studying three proposed locations for a new plant: the existing Doral site, the former Opa-locka Airport West and a privately owned space near a landfill in Medley.
The latest: County consultant Arcadis released a report this month analyzing potential health and environmental impacts, and the feasibility of obtaining air permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
A new incinerator would cost at least $1.48 billion, per the report.
What they found: Each site would present a "low risk" to human health and "minimal" impact to the environment, Arcadis says.
Permitting for each site will be "challenging" due to close proximity to both existing emissions sources and the Everglades, per the report.
Zoom in: The Airport West location appears to be "more favorable for air permitting than the two other sites," Arcadis found.
The Doral location may offer advantages during the permitting process due to its history as an incinerator site, but it is the closest to the Everglades, per the report.
The report found that the Medley site "will likely be the most complicated and challenging" due to the large emissions produced at a nearby landfill and cement plant.
Friction point: The city of Miramar, located near the Airport West site, has launched a " Stop the Incinerator " campaign.
Of note: The owner of the Medley site has offered to sell the county the property to build the incinerator, though the county already owns the other two sites.
What's next: The county wants to do community outreach to communicate the findings in the report to impacted cities, communities and organizations.
The administration plans to bring a report with its recommendations to the County Commission in September.
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