Doral-inspired blocking new waste-to-energy plants a half-mile from populated areas advances in Senate

Two years after Miami-Dade County’s waste-to-energy plant burnt to a crisp, there may be new safeguards in place to protect residents from another such blaze.

Members of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee voted 8-0 to advance a bill (SB 1008) that would block any future waste incineration facility from being built within a half-mile of population centers.

The bill, effective July 1, would apply the restriction to sites a half-mile (2,640 feet) from any residential property, school or commercial property.

Hialeah Gardens Republican Sen. Bryan Ávila, the measure’s sponsor, said the proposed change wouldn’t apply to existing facilities. He’s also looking at amending the bill to allow more allowances near commercial properties.

Florida has 10 waste-to-energy facilities statewide, according to the Florida Waste-to-Energy Coalition whose Executive Director, Joe Kilsheimer, spoke against SB 1008 on Monday.

Kilsheimer argued that waste-to-energy, when compared to landfilling and older trash incineration methods, is far and away the superior method for disposing of trash. He said waste-to-energy facilities annually prevent landfilling 5 million tons of municipal solid waste that would otherwise produce methane emissions, create toxic runoff, take up huge areas of land and require post-closure remediation that can last up to a century.

It also recovers and recycles more than 200,000 tons of metal yearly, enough to build 140 cars, he said, adding that in other areas in the state and across the country — from Lake County and Fort Lauderdale to the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center outside the Twins’ ballpark in Minneapolis — waste-to-energy facilities are situated far closer to cities than Ávila’s bill would allow.

“In fact, in major countries around the world, waste-to-energy facilities are often sited in the middle of major cities, literally next to school and home,” he said. “Because waste-to-energy is a proven, safe and reliable technology.”

Residents of Doral, where the Miami-Dade plant burned for nearly three weeks in early 2023, have a different perspective, and they’ve fought plans to construct a replacement within the city’s bounds. So have those who live in the Broward County city of Miramar, where a nearby site has been floated as an alternative place to build the plant.

Facing that opposition already, Miami-Dade is also against SB 1008 in its present form. Executive Assistant County Attorney Jess McCarty told the committee the bill’s restriction on projects near commercial areas is a non-starter.

“The way the bill reads currently, all five sites currently under consideration for a new facility in Miami-Dade would be ineligible under the bill,” he said.

Ávila said that concern was already on his radar and would likely be addressed soon through an amendment. Other changes may include language specifying from what part of the facility the half-mile distance would be measured. Ávila said the incinerator stack or cooling tower could be the “central point from which we have that distance.”

But a change is needed, he said. A representative from the environmentally focused Sierra Club agreed and signaled support for SB 1008.

Ávila briefly detailed what Doral residents experienced after the facility caught fire. Flames erupted outside of the building numerous times. Ash filled the sky, covering cars and homes. Many residents couldn’t go outside for any extended length of time because of the contaminated air.

The incident caught the attention of President Donald Trump’s second son, Eric Trump, who has opposed rebuilding the plant in Doral, where his father owns a golf resort.

Ávila acknowledged the half-mile restriction may make it difficult for some local governments. Lake Mary Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur said that the commercial restriction, which encompasses agricultural operations, would make it all but impossible in some areas of the state.

“But I think having some sort of buffer there,” Ávila said, “is something that’s imperative. I don’t live within a half-mile of one of these facilities, but I know a lot of residents that do, and they tend to be not very well off, and they tend to not have many options as it relates to housing.

“So, my heart is really with those residents and trying to make sure that moving forward for any new facility that we have some protections for those residents and that local governments are not allowing for a massive development around these sites where there should be at least a little bit of space.”

SB 1008 will next go to the Senate Community Affairs Committee, after which it has one more stop before reaching a floor vote. Its House twin (HB 1609) by Republican Reps. David Borrero of Sweetwater and Meg Weinberger of Palm Beach Gardens awaits a hearing before the first of three committees to which it was referred this month.

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