The defunct facility was one of the main ways Miami-Dade got rid of its trash: It burned solid waste to provide electricity to nearby homes. But after the fire destroyed the facility, residents did not stop producing thousands of tons of trash every day. Scrambling, Miami-Dade decided to ship much of it north through a route that ran directly through Fort Pierce.<\/p>\n
Three years later, the trains and trucks have become a fact of life in St. Lucie County.<\/p>\n
Miami-Dade contracts with the company Waste Management to ship much of its trash to a landfill in Okeechobee County. To get there, the company transports the trash to Fort Pierce by rail, where it is offloaded. Heavy-duty trucks then pick up the garbage and drive through the center of Fort Pierce, across St. Lucie County and into Okeechobee County to the landfill owned by Waste Management.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Environmental concerns, Doral’s objections, Trump’s ‘illegal’ involvement – what now for Miami-Dade’s new incinerator?<\/a><\/p>\n Landry said the trucks present a traffic issue for his community as well as increased wear and tear on roads and environmental issues.<\/p>\n The railyard borders the Indian Hills Golf Course. Golfers have not been fond of the smell, said Landry.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThere is a nuisance from the public’s perspective on the smell and the traffic,\u201d said Landry. \u201cAnd our understanding is that volume may go up even more.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Lucie County George Landry did not understand why dozens of heavy duty trucks were passing his office everyday until he followed them to a rail yard, where trainloads full of garbage from Miami-Dade County are shipped in.<\/p>\n The rail yard sits a few blocks south of downtown Fort Pierce, a historic district lined with boutique shops, colorful bars, fish shacks, a theater and restaurants. Trainloads of garbage from Miami were parked there for days on end.<\/p>\n Sitting under the hot sun, the stench from tons of waste wafted over the train tracks and into the noses of nearby residents. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not getting any revenue from this. I\u2019m not sure we would want revenue, we just don\u2019t want the trash here.”<\/p>\n Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson<\/p>\n Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson said her phone began to ring shortly after the \u201ctrash trains,\u201d as she calls them, began to arrive.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can imagine sitting right next to a great big trainload of garbage next to your house that sits on the beautiful Indian River,\u201d said the mayor. \u201cThat is causing us problems because the trash is open air and the stench and it causes rodents, roaches, coyotes, flies and horrible smells.\u201d<\/p>\n Mayor Hudson told WLRN that her complaints to the company led to Waste Management putting a tarp on the trash containers as opposed to leaving them open air. Her calls led to the Florida Department of Health twice visiting the site, she said, but no issues were reported.<\/p>\n Railroads are regulated by the federal government, not municipalities, so there is little her office can do.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aAs a public official I don’t like to not be able to do something about something. So we tell them that we will do what we can,\u201d said Hudson.<\/p>\n Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, who represents Fort Pierce, posted a fiery video in February about the trains full of Miami-Dade trash. He said the trash issue was \u201cruining\u201d Fort Pierce. He blamed Florida East Coast Railway, the company that owns the railroad tracks and railyard.<\/p>\n Mast said \u2014 in the now-deleted post<\/a>: \u201cYou’re gonna stop hauling garbage from Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n For Hudson, the trains full of trash and the hundred or so trucks driving through the city center every day are a lose-lose situation: \u201cWe\u2019re not getting any revenue from this. I\u2019m not sure we would want revenue, we just don\u2019t want the trash here. That\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Big decisions for Miami-Dade<\/p>\n Miami-Dade\u2019s trash transportation was supposed to be a temporary measure. But three years later, the county is still sending their trash out of county.<\/p>\n After the massive accidental fire destroyed the county\u2019s 1980s-era waste facility in Doral on Super Bowl Sunday 2023, leaders have been trying unsuccessfully to agree on a site for a new waste-to-energy plant.<\/p>\n Simply moving the trash to other landfills inside the county meant that they would fill up much sooner than anticipated.<\/p>\n In short, the fire created a short-, medium- and long-term problem for the county, and shipping out of county was the obvious immediate solution \u2014 at no small cost.<\/p>\n In the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year, the county spent $41 million to haul the trash north, and that ticked up to $44 million the following year. For the current fiscal year, which ends in September, the county estimates that it will spend $65 million to transport the trash as an interim solution.<\/p>\n Daniel Rivero<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n WLRN News <\/p>\n The Okeechobee Landfill in eastern Okeechobee County is owned by Waste Management. Miami-Dade regularly ships trash to the site, first by rail up to Fort Pierce, where it is transfered to truck and hauled to the site.<\/p>\n For the medium and long term, the county began a three-year search for a new waste-to-energy facility site. Public debates garnered significant pushback from residents and elected leaders who don\u2019t want a garbage facility near residential areas.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI don’t care what district it’s in. I do not believe it should be near residents for many different reasons,\u201d said Miami-Dade Commissioner J.C. Bermudez told WLRN in an interview. His district includes Doral.<\/p>\n When the Covanta facility was first built, the City of Doral (which was incorporated in 2003) did not exist. Bermudez, who also served as Doral\u2019s founding mayor, said he personally objected when the county zoned the area around the plant as residential and townhouses were allowed to go up on the perimeter.<\/p>\n With the facility gone, nearby residents have spoken out<\/a> against rebuilding a waste-to-energy plant in Doral.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump\u2019s son, Eric, met with Bermudez <\/a>in 2024 and expressed his family\u2019s objection to rebuilding a solid waste plant near the Trump National Doral resort and golf course, just over a mile to the south of the site.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIt would probably have an impact on the resort regardless who would be the owner. In this case, you’re just talking about the fact that today it’s owned by President Trump’s family,\u201d Bermudez told WLRN.<\/p>\n After that meeting in 2024, discussions of rebuilding the Covanta facility were thrown out. Bermudez said he has not met with Eric or the Trump family recently, but is adamant that a new facility not be built in Doral.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing for us as a county commission to say that we haven\u2019t selected a site or who is going to be doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia.<\/p>\n Fellow Miami-Dade commissioner Rene Garcia, District 13, is equally adamant that any new waste-to-energy plant should, in fact, be built in the old location, in Doral.<\/p>\n Garcia agrees with Bermudez that housing should have never been built nearby, but also points to the fact that residents bought homes next to the plant regardless. Nearby homes were built as recently as 2020, according to county property records. By that same token, the Trump Organization bought the resort in 2012, when the plant was already operating and clearly visible for all to see.<\/p>\n \u201cThey knew what they were buying,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cA lot of politics gets played into this.\u201d<\/p>\n Garcia said that as the county commission has dragged its feet on making a decision, the cost for building a new facility keeps increasing. Estimates for a building new site already hover around $2 billion<\/a>. That cost will only increase if the county has to purchase new land on which to put that facility.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThe studies all say Doral is the cheapest site because the infrastructure that’s there, and the insurance monies would have kicked in to help rebuild it there,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing for us as a county commission to say that we haven\u2019t selected a site or who is going to be doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond Doral, the county is looking for new sites while fielding proposals from several companies. Florida Power and Light (FPL), and FCC Environmental Services each submitted individual proposals to build and run a new waste-to-energy facility.<\/p>\n![\"St.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776500182_665_.jpeg\"\/)
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