In a letter mailed this week to U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski, Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie asks for federal help to fund a back route into the proposed-to-be-expanded Waste-to-Energy incinerator in Magnolia, which he contends will help alleviate traffic and health concerns in the area.
Guthrie said he “supports the concept” of quadrupling the size of the waste incinerator, but seeks to minimize impacts on the Magnolia community. His solution, contingent on support from APG and $1 million from Baltimore County, would be to cut a new road off Rt. 24 near the entrance to APG to be used exclusively for truck traffic to the incinerator.
Here is Guthrie’s letter to Mikulski:
Update: In an email exchange, County Executive David Craig told Guthrie that he spoke to Colonel Wiseman and clarified the colonel’s comments to Guthrie regarding the access road.
Craig said Colonel Wiseman could make no commitment on behalf of the Army to build a new access road or to allow one to be built on post at APG because the decision was not his to make. Craig said his administration would encourage the Army to work in good faith toward building the road or permitting one to be built.
Guthrie responded that he would not vote to approve the expansion of the Waste-to-Energy facility unless there was some guarantee regarding an access road. Guthrie later said he hoped to have support for his position from the other members of the County Council, but did not know if he had the votes to stop the expansion.
I live in Hickory and htis does not affect me, but at the minium they should cut a new road in there just for trucks and the increased traffic.
The new road off of route 24 is needed without question. The amendments passed by the County Council on this issue is nothing but “feel good” legislation and I voted against these amendments. It makes no one do anything and does not help the people in my district to get a break from the existing truck traffic. Right now there are 66 trucks in and out of this Waste to Energy plant, which is in addition to all the truck traffic going in and out of the Sand and Gravel pit at the end of Fort Hoyle Road. Add the school bus traffic and you have a nightmare. Now when this project is done, there will be additional trucks, between 68 and 80, running from 7pm until 6am; all night long. So you will have trucks running 24/6, 12 months a year. These people need a break and you can’t get that done with “feel good” legislation. It is disappointing that Council people from other Districts think they know better what’s is good for my District, I have only lived here for 43 years, some of them are not even that old.
Why don’t you propose an ordinance to ban work trucks going through there at night?