Hearing On Trash Plant Permit May Spur New Debate

The environmental debate on the merits of a trash-to-energy plant in San Marcos may reopen at a public hearing today scheduled by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Stated purpose of the hearing is to discuss extending a previously approved permit by the EPA for the operation of a trash-to-energy plant, proposed for operation next to the county landfill on the southern edge of San Marcos.

The embattled proposal calls for the private construction of a facility that would recycle some of North County’s garbage and burn much of the rest as fuel to generate electricity. The proposal has stalled over the years for a variety of reasons, most recently over negotiations for a new contract between the builder and the county of San Diego to resolve such issues as to what degree the county should share in the financial liability of the plant.

EPA officials say they don’t want to debate the environmental merits of the plant itself, but limit discussion to whether the previously issued permit should be extended.

Critics May Challenge Extension

Longtime critics of the plant say they intend to challenge the extension of the permit because the plant’s current design may be different from the one on which the previously issued permit was based.

Bruce Hamilton, spokesman for North County Concerned Citizens, which has opposed the plant’s construction since it was first proposed in 1982, said he is concerned that if the plant’s design is different from the one on which the earlier permit was based, the projections on emissions may now be different and need to be re-evaluated by the EPA.

Bob Baker, the EPA official in San Francisco whose office approves emissions permits, said at least one new condition will be placed by the EPA on North County Resource Recovery Associates, which wants to build and operate the facility, if the emissions permit is extended. That is that the plant be designed to inject ammonia into the boilers to reduce the emission of nitrogen dioxide. The so-called “thermo de-nox device” is an EPA requirement that did not exist at the time the initial permit was issued to NCRRA several years ago, Baker said.

Company officials already have said they would comply with the new requirement.

The hearing will begin at 7 p.m. at the Joslyn Senior Center, 111 Richmar Ave., San Marcos.