Only six months ago, environmental activists claimed a victory in their fight against lifting Baltimore's incinerator moratorium. Now, at a critical time, their truce with City Hall is falling apart over plans for a new landfill next to the Gwynns Falls.
Environmental groups and neighborhood leaders are mobilizing against the proposal by Genstar Stone Products Co. to convert its 27-acre quarry into a rubble recycling center and landfill.
The opposition could again delay efforts to create a long-range strategy for trash disposal. Baltimore Public Works Director George G. Balog is asking the City Council to incorporate the proposal as a last-minute amendment to the city's 10-year solid waste plan. A final public hearing on the plan, which has been in the works for years, is scheduled for 5 p.m. tomorrow at City Hall.
"This is being slid in without going through public scrutiny. It's kind of what they tried to do with the incinerator, just slip it in and hope no one would notice," said Daniel Jerrems, co-chair of the Baltimore Parks Coalition.
Third District Councilman Wilbur E. "Bill" Cunningham, who chairs the committee reviewing the plan, said he's received letters in support of the landfill from nearby residents in southwestern Baltimore.
Otis Lee and Dwight Williams are not among the supporters. Mr. Williams, 45, who is head of the Baltimore-Hilton Community Association, said the last thing the neighborhood needs is trucks driving through to the quarry every day. He also is worried about toxins seeping from the landfill.
"We are highly concerned," agreed Mr. Lee, who lives on Mount Olivet Lane, two blocks from the stone quarry that Genstar stopped operating 15 years ago. "Our property values will go down. Who will move into a home sitting next to a dump?"
In his Jan. 30 memo requesting the amendment, Mr. Balog said the landfill would not accept asbestos, fly ash, hazardous waste or any unsafe construction debris.
The proposal by Genstar and its British parent company, Redland, a leading producer of construction materials, is to convert the quarry into a modern landfill with a capacity of 1.5 million tons.
About 150,000 tons of debris would be dumped a year in the landfill, which would be the first of its kind in Maryland to be fully lined, according to company documents.
Mr. Jerrems and other environmentalists argue that the quarry is much too close to the Gwynns Falls to allow the dumping of rubble, which could include cement, pipes, shingles and insulation, along with less-hazardous gravel and topsoil.
"Rubble landfills are not environmentally benign," said Richard Klein, president of Community and Environmental Defense Services, who plans to testify at the hearing.
National studies have shown that as many as 26 toxic and carcinogenic compounds seep from rubble landfills, he said. They also are the source of noxious fumes of hydrogen sulfide gas that often lead to headaches and nausea.
Genstar officials declined to comment and referred calls to the company's attorney, George Russell of the Baltimore law firm Piper & Marbury. Mr. Russell could not be reached yesterday.
The proposal comes after six months of peaceful negotiations on the 10-year trash plan. The last opposition was to the Schmoke administration's support of a prematureend to the city's incinerator moratorium to pave the way for private construction of a $300 million waste-to-energy plant.
A year ago, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke backed a bill to prematurely end the five-year ban on incinerator construction. The chief beneficiary was Willard J. Hackerman, a construction magnate who wanted to build the plant at the site of his aging Pulaski Highway incinerator.
In September, Mr. Schmoke stalled the fast-track effort, citing plans by Baltimore County and other surrounding jurisdictions to ship their trash to landfills outside Maryland. Mr. Hackerman could not be reached for comment on his latest plans for the incinerator.