For the second time in recent months, one of three boilers at\u00a0Montgomery County\u2019s Dickerson incinerator has been shut down after emitting levels of pollutants\u00a0in excess of\u00a0state limits, according to Montgomery County officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Dickerson facility has been in operation since 1995. County officials have said the facility \u2014\u00a0operated\u00a0by\u00a0Reworld, a New Jersey-based company \u2014 processes approximately 60,000 tons of waste each year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a\u00a0Friday statement<\/a>, the county Department of Environmental Protection said compliance tests of the facility\u2019s Unit 2 found the average levels\u00a0of dioxins and furans emitted from the boiler were\u00a0226%\u00a0above the state\u00a0permitted\u00a0limit.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dioxins and\u00a0furans<\/a>\u00a0are a group of toxic chemical compounds regulated by the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the EPA, dioxins and furans are linked to several negative health outcomes including cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system and hormonal changes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The statement from the county environmental protection department said the compliance tests for Unit 2 were conducted Dec. 22 and 25.\u00a0Reworld\u00a0did not receive preliminary results from the December compliance tests until Jan .13. The test results were confirmed Feb. 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reworld\u00a0told county officials that Unit 2 was taken offline Jan. 4 for \u201cmajor refurbishment,\u201d\u00a0according to the county\u2019s statement.\u00a0After receiving the preliminary test results for Unit 2, the company performed\u00a0additional\u00a0maintenance inspections and repairs to address the cause of the emissions issue. The statement did not specify the cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) takes the health and safety of residents very seriously,\u201d the statement said, adding\u00a0the department has\u00a0requested\u00a0\u201cdetailed information\u201d from\u00a0Reworld\u00a0and the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority (NMWDA)\u00a0in Baltimore, which owns the facility.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The department has also \u201ctasked an expert health risk assessor\u201d with evaluating the potential impacts of the recent emissions exceedance, the statement said. The department plans to share the assessor\u2019s findings with the public as soon as they become available.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a Friday statement to Bethesda Today,\u00a0Reworld\u00a0spokesperson Linda\u00a0Ribakusky\u00a0said inspections of Unit 2\u00a0identified\u00a0\u201ca tear in a piece of air pollution control equipment, which may have contributed to the anomalous result.\u201d She added that the company \u201cconducted a full analysis\u201d of the affected boiler and the facility\u2019s air pollution controls.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRepairs to the air pollution control equipment are ongoing. We project Unit 2 compliance testing\u00a0in late March\u00a0to confirm emissions are within permitted limits,\u201d\u00a0Ribakusky\u00a0said. \u201cWe remain in close communication with the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection and the Maryland Department of the Environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of the Environment, which enforces state limits on air pollutants and radiation, did not\u00a0immediately\u00a0respond to emailed questions from Bethesda Today on Friday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier violation<\/p>\n Unit 2 is the second boiler at the Dickerson facility to be taken offline after violating state pollutant limits in recent months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n On Nov. 7, the\u00a0facility\u2019s\u00a0Unit 3 was taken offline<\/a>\u00a0after September compliance tests found\u00a0levels of dioxins and furans from the boiler\u00a0that were\u00a083% above the state limit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n A\u00a0subsequent\u00a0round of tests on Feb. 2 showed Unit 3 was back in compliance, according to the county environmental protection department. The facility\u2019s\u00a0Unit 1 is scheduled for testing on Feb. 26 and 27, with results expected 10 days after testing is completed.\u00a0<\/p>\n County Executive Marc Elrich (D) has long advocated for the closure of the Dickerson incinerator. The county in 2024 decided to\u00a0extend its contract<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0Reworld\u00a0as it explores more sustainable waste disposal options.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBurning our trash does not align with county goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the incinerator is not clean,\u201d Elrich said during his weekly virtual media briefing Wednesday. He did not mention the most recent emissions issue during the briefing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Elrich said Wednesday he plans to hold\u00a0three open houses<\/a>\u00a0next month to discuss the future of waste disposal in the county.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The open houses will be March 2 at the\u00a0Sidney Kramer\u00a0Upcounty Regional Services Center<\/a>\u00a0in Germantown; March 4 at the\u00a0Isiah \u201cIke\u201d Leggett Executive Office Building<\/a>\u00a0in Rockville; and\u00a0held\u00a0virtually<\/a>\u00a0on March 5. All three open houses are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second time in recent months, one of three boilers at\u00a0Montgomery County\u2019s Dickerson incinerator has been shut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,3,79],"class_list":["post-483304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-news","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}