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Plans for two gas-to-energy facilities proposed for former landfill sites in Derwood and Laytonsville can move forward.
The county Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Solid Waste Services, working with state agencies and an engineering firm, plans to build and run facilities at the former Gude and Oaks landfills that would convert landfill gas being generated by decomposing waste into electricity.
The two projects first went before the Planning Board on Oct. 23, but the board deferred issuing advice on the projects, saying more information was needed after two residents posed several questions.
Their concerns ranged from emissions produced at the site to whether the county had considered other technologies.
On Thursday, the Planning Board took little time to put their stamp of approval on the project.
Peter Karasik, a section chief for the Division of Solid Waste Services, wrote in an Oct. 31 letter to Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson that the Gude Landfill project in Derwood is relatively small.
"Any attempts to assess its specific effects at a significant distance from the facility would be insignificant when compared to the thousands of other emission sources in this area including thousands of automobiles, lawnmowers and furnaces," he wrote.
He also wrote that coal-burning power plants from the Ohio Valley "significantly impact air quality in our region."
Staff says the solid waste division should report regularly to neighboring civic and homeowners associations about operations at the facilities and conduct and disclose additional noise level measurements.
The Gude Landfill, which used a gas-to-energy facility until 2006, was built in 1965 and served as a trash dump until 1982, according to a planning staff report.
The Oaks Landfill in Laytonsville was used for waste disposal from 1982 to 1995 and then for ash residue and rubble disposal from 1995 to 1997.
Both sites still produce gas, which is collected in specially drilled wells and burned. The gas-to-energy facilities would take the gas being combusted and use the methane in the gas to run a generator, which would produce electricity.
Karasik said the proposed engines and existing flares are efficient combustion units and reduce pollutant emissions to levels below regulatory limits. He also said there is no commercially available treatment of the exhaust gas from the engines to further reduce their emissions because they have not proven to be viable.
The facilities will be designed, built and run by SCS Engineers of Reston, Va., under a lease with the solid waste division, which is also working with the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority.
The board accepted planning staff's additional recommendation that the solid waste division survey the Gude Landfill to determine the percentage of recoverable landfill gases being collected and add to the system of recovery pipelines if necessary.
Karasik said the county plans to have the facilities, which will cost approximately $7 million in total, built within the next six months.
