MIRAMAR, FLA. (WSVN) - South Florida leaders, along with environmentalist groups, voiced their concerns to the Miami-Dade Commission regarding the proposal of constructing a new incinerator facility near the City of Miramar.
Speaking at a news conference held Tuesday, Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam did not mince words about the possibility of a waste-to-energy facility that would include a trash burning incinerator being built next to the city.
“Our community has been here for decades. Don’t bring your trash to our backyard,” he said.
The county’s search for a new incinerator comes more than a year after a fire destroyed the previous facility in Doral, slashing the amount of trash that the count is capable of processing.
Back in February 2023, firefighters battled a four-alarm blaze for more than a week, causing nearby residents, especially those with respiratory ailments, to refrain from going outside due to the smoky conditions.
Since then, Miami-Dade has shortlisted a few potential sites as of last summer.
While no decision has been made about where to build the new site, Miramar officials fear it will land less than a mile away from West Miramar, at the Opa-locka West Airport, which raised concerns of environmental hazards and health complications in the community.
“There are nearly a quarter million Broward County residents within the direct vicinity that would be impacted by the construction of this site,” said Messam.
Environmentalists against the incinerator’s construction near the Everglades point out the concerns over local wildlife, including protected and endangered species. They also mention the threat to the region’s air and water quality.
“While this is an issue of where to build the incinerator, it’s also an issue of not building the incinerator at all,” said Anagha Iyer with the Broward Juniors Sierra Group.
“Studies have shown that the areas near waste incineration experience higher rates of cancer asthma and reproductive complications,” said Mackenzie Marcelin with Rising Florida, an organization that advocates for marginalized communities. “The burning of trash also releases harmful and toxic pollutants into the atmosphere affecting the respiratory, cardiovascular, immune and, like I’ve mentioned, reproductive and nervous systems of those who live nearby.”
Other municipal leaders in Broward standing alongside the residents closest to the proposed incinerator.
“We have to come up with viable solutions to that dynamic because it’s poisoning our water,” said Pembroke Pines Mayor Angelo Castillo. “It’s poisoning our land, our air, our lungs — it’s affecting our health. There has to be a better way to do it.”
“Incineration is not right right across the border. Incineration is not right anywhere,” said Southwest Ranches Mayor Steve Breitkreuz. “We’ve come a long way. There are better solutions and that’s where we need to be going.”
Miramar residents voiced their concerns to local leaders Tuesday morning.
“It’s completely intrusive to our community,” said residents Judy Jawer. “The air, the water, the environment, of course, in terms of the Everglades, but I’m considering what’s really going to happen, from a health standpoint, to the people around me.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has advocated for moving the facility to a county-owned airfield several miles from the Everglades, with the alternative locations in Doral and near the existing incinerator in Medley. No final decision on where to build the new incinerator has been made.
“Do the right thing and build this site on a more suitable site,” said Messam. “A site that has less impact on the environment, a site that impacts fewer people and a site that just makes sense.”
“If the waste-to-energy plant is not good for the residents of Doral, it’s not good for Miami-Dade County, then it is not good for the residents of the City of Miramar,” said Miramar City Commissioner Yvette Colbourne.
After the flames demolished the waste plant in Doral, the amount of trash processed by Miami-Dade County has been cut in half. Miami-Dade’s Public Works director resigned following the fire.
Tuesday afternoon, Levine Cava issued a statement about the proposed incinerator site. It reads in part.
“Our priority continues to be to minimize the impact of the facility’s operations to the community and the environment, as we prepare our community and our infrastructure for the future.”
Miami-Dade officials said they may reach a decision about where to build the facility at some point later this year.
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