County Deliberates on Trash Overhaul Plans

Your voice matters. County leaders are considering the timeline for closing the Dickerson incinerator. Please urge the Council to keep the closure process moving and end trash burning in Dickerson for good.

CONTACT THE COUNCIL →
(Or, email all council members here:

countycouncil@montgomerycountymd.gov)

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Updated October 23, 2026

On October 20, Montgomery County residents gathered for a town hall hosted by Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles to discuss the future of the County's aging Dickerson trash incinerator. Representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) addressed questions about the costs, environmental impacts, and practical challenges of transitioning away from incineration.

The County Council reviewed 4 options currently under consideration. The discussion highlighted the important choices facing the County: continuing to operate and upgrade the incinerator, transitioning to truck hauling and landfill disposal, and introducing advanced waste processing technologies to reduce the amount of trash requiring disposal. Following the discussion, the panel reviewed pre-submitted questions from the community. 

As the County Council moves closer to a decision, Sugarloaf Citizens Association (SCA) continues to advocate for closing the incinerator and moving toward safer, more sustainable waste management practices.

Zero Waste Responds to Reworld's Claims

As part of the ongoing Council deliberations, Reworld, the company that operates the Dickerson incinerator, has presented arguments for keeping the facility operating.

Our partner organization, Zero Waste Montgomery County, has prepared a detailed rebuttal addressing claims made by Reworld about Montgomery County's waste disposal options.

The 11-page rebuttal challenges what we believe are significant inaccuracies, misleading comparisons, and omissions in Reworld's presentation.

READ THE FULL REBUTTAL →

Key points from the rebuttal include:

• Costs of Continued Incineration: Maintaining and upgrading the aging facility could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The rebuttal argues that transitioning to landfill disposal would provide greater financial flexibility as waste volumes decline.

• Air Pollution and Public Health: The rebuttal raises serious concerns about toxic emissions, including dioxins and heavy metals, and challenges Reworld's claims about the facility's environmental performance and health risks.

• Inadequate Emissions Monitoring: Although some pollutants are continuously monitored, many hazardous emissions are tested only annually or not at all, potentially missing significant fluctuations.

• Climate Impacts: The rebuttal challenges Reworld's comparisons of incineration and landfilling, citing analyses indicating that incineration produces greater overall greenhouse gas emissions, even when transportation is considered.

• Trucking Alternatives: The rebuttal disputes claims about increased traffic and transportation impacts, citing DEP's proposed truck routes and schedules designed to minimize disruption.

• Electricity Production: The rebuttal questions Reworld's claims about the amount of electricity the incinerator generates and the number of homes it can power.

• Long-Term Sustainability: Continued incineration could delay investments in composting, recycling, waste reduction, and other alternatives that would move the County closer to its zero-waste goals.

• Toxic Ash Disposal: The rebuttal challenges Reworld's characterization of incinerator ash as harmless and raises concerns about its disposal and potential reuse.

The Zero Waste rebuttal provides a closer examination of these issues and the long-term consequences of continuing to operate the Dickerson incinerator.

What Happens Next? Your Voice Matters

The County Council’s next worksession is October 27, followed by a November 10 vote on whether to continue incinerating trash or send residual waste to landfills.

SCA continues to urge the Council to move forward with transitioning to truck hauling and environmentally vetted landfills, close the Dickerson incinerator, and invest in composting, waste reduction and  advanced waste processing strategies.

The decisions made in the coming weeks will shape Montgomery County's waste management system for decades. Review our rebuttal, stay informed and reach out to all of the County Councilmembers and let them know you want to stop burning our trash and start composting now.

Email all council members here → countycouncil@montgomerycountymd.gov

County Council Approves 18-month Pause on Data Centers

Updated July 29, 2026

The Montgomery County Council on July 28 unanimously approved an 18-month moratorium on large-scale data centers.

None can be approved, and no applications for data centers can be processed during the moratorium and before the County develops zoning rules regulating them.

The measure encompasses the proposal by a company called Atmosphere to build a 110-acre, 5-building data center campus in Dickerson.

The Council also adopted a definition of “large-scale” or “hyperscale” data centers to clarify the kind of facility it seeks to stop for now.

The 18-month pause is intended to allow the Council and other County officials to thoroughly evaluate the risks posed by large data centers, and to draft regulations that will specify where they can be built and what rules they have to abide by.

There’s tension in that space already. Atmosphere released an updated plan and analysis of its proposal on July 20. The company is saying it will likely be unable to meet certain desires and requests from County lawmakers and advocacy groups. And the company’s CEO, Chuck McBride, told media outlets he was “disappointed” in the Council’s approval of the moratorium.

“Throughout this process, we worked collaboratively with the Council and other stakeholders to demonstrate that the Dickerson Data Center Campus is a unique redevelopment opportunity and to develop what we believe would be one of the most sustainable data center campuses possible,” McBride told The Banner.

The company had filed an appeal against a previous 6-month administrative moratorium imposed by County Executive Marc Elrich, asserting he had overstepped his authority. A similar suit against the Council’s measure would almost certainly be unsuccessful. Notably, the company has threatened numerous times since January to abandon the project if a moratorium was imposed.

Per the company’s July 20 project analysis, some County officials and advocacy groups would like to see aggressive efforts to use cleaner renewable energy to power the proposed facility. The company is asserting, however, that the mix of power sources for the Dickerson data center will not be able to meet “unrealistic” renewable energy goals—due to restraints inherent in the power grid in the mid-Atlantic area.

Issues around water use (from the Potomac River), noise, the role of the facility’s diesel generators, taxation, and other challenges also need addressing. The company claims it is striving to achieve “best practices” in these areas. But no independent assessment of its plans has yet been done.

The moratorium is a clear victory for County residents’ advocacy. On June 16, some 80 people testified at a public hearing on the issue; the vast majority supported a moratorium. Hundreds of other citizens have submitted written comments in recent months, also overwhelmingly supporting a moratorium.

Montgomery County, with this action, becomes the latest jurisdiction in Maryland and nationally to place pauses on data centers approvals.

The reasons are now quite straightforward: lawmakers and citizens alike are just beginning to understand this complex technology and its significant scope and potential impact (positive and negative) on communities.

Many jurisdictions, including Montgomery County, now realize they must involve independent experts to help assess data center proposals.

The 18-month pause means that the present Council and the next Council—as well as a new County Executive—will be dealing with this issue.

Both the new Council and County Executive assume office at noon on Monday, December 7. Importantly, re-elected Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe will be Council President in 2027 and provide an important bridge and leadership on data centers. She has been the lead person to date drafting the data center zoning ordinance.

SCA Candidate Forums: Video & Candidate Position Summary

May 20, 2026

Watch the Democratic Candidate Forum

A recording of the April 23, 2026 Democratic Candidate Forum is available here. We thank the participating Democratic candidates — Mithun Bangeree, Andrew Friedson, Evan Glass, Peter James, and Will Jawando — for sharing their priorities, experience, and vision for Montgomery County.

We also thank the Republican candidates — Shelley Skolnick and Ester Wells — who participated in the separate Republican Candidate Forum held on May 7, 2026. See photos below.

We are also grateful to the Montgomery County Farm Bureau for co-sponsoring these events.

SCA hosted two forums for Montgomery County Executive candidates at Clarksburg High School. The forum for five Democrat candidates on April 23 attracted approximately 70 people. The two Republican candidates presented their positions to an audience of around 25 people on May 7.

The focus of both sessions was farm policy, the Ag Reserve (AR), land use, and zoning in the up-county. Discussion of the county’s trash incinerator and the proposal for a data center in Dickerson was prominent. Attendees submitted their questions for candidates online prior to the event.

SCA, as a 501(c)(3) organization, does not endorse candidates for office. The purpose of the sessions was to facilitate public awareness of all the candidates and their positions on issues pertinent to the AR and rural areas of the county.

Notably, all the candidates expressed strong support for preserving and protecting the Ag Reserve—the nearly one-third of Montgomery County zoned for farmland preservation, low-density development, and open space. But different paths to supporting the AR against looming threats were presented. Indeed, some of the candidates didn’t seem to have a strong grasp of those threats. The debate over allowing non-farm related activities on farms that remove good quality farmland out of crop and food production is one such example.

The candidates were supportive of closing the Dickerson trash incinerator—a goal SCA has pursued for more than a decade. But the candidates had differences of opinion about the best path to achieve that goal even as the county seeks to transform and upgrade its trash management systems (including a transition from burning non-recyclable trash to trucking it to environmentally sound landfills).

The candidates were aware of the proposal to create a large-scale data center campus in Dickerson, on an existing industrial site. None expressed outright opposition to the proposal. But positions varied on how the county should evaluate the idea and in what timeframe, and how the County Council should proceed in its task to write rules to govern where data centers can be built and what environmental and safety protections should apply to them. One Democrat candidate has proposed a six-month moratorium on any approvals for data centers. Another Democrat has proposed a 2-year moratorium.

Both those measures will be taken up in the Council soon. SCA supports a six-month moratorium but only if the law encompasses the Dickerson proposal. An early version of the six-month moratorium lacked clarity on whether it applied to the Dickerson proposal.

Welcome to the new Royce Hanson Conservation Park in Dickerson

October 14, 2025

Kudos to Montgomery County, the Montgomery County Parks Foundation, and an advocacy group of County residents for creating the Royce Hanson Conservation Park at Broad Run.

This new 475-acre park at 21765 Club Hollow Road in Dickerson will celebrate farming and the Ag Reserve—through educational programs, interpretation of the area’s rich agricultural history, and the enjoyment of nature.

With trails and recreational opportunities for hikers, cyclists, and equestrians, there’s something for everyone.

Most important, the new park celebrates Dr. Royce Hanson—a true visionary—and the County policymakers that worked with him to create the Ag Reserve in 1980.

Born in Depression-era Oklahoma, Dr. Hanson grew up to become an academic, a public servant, author, urban planner, conservationist, and advocate for farming, wilderness, and outdoor recreation. He served two terms as Chairman of the Montgomery County Planning Board, first from 1972 to 1981, and again from 2006 to 2010. From 2009 to 2022, Dr. Hanson served on the Board of the Montgomery County Parks Foundation.

Thanks to his and the County’s commitment, the Ag Reserve—comprising a third of the county—has become a national model of agricultural preservation in a densely populated area.

The Montgomery Parks Foundation has launched a $100,000 fundraising campaign to enhance the park’s facilities and educational programming. You can donate via the Foundation’s website.

Our Position on Solar Energy in Montgomery County and Maryland

Updated: July 18, 2025

Note: The Summer 2025 issue of PLENTY magazine features an article by SCA President Steven Findlay on the new state solar law, which went into effect July 1. The piece explores how the legislation evolved, what it does, and the debate surrounding it.

Click here to view/download the full article.

Below is an updated web post on this issue. Details on the new law—which are complex—can be found in the PLENTY piece and are not addressed in this post.

A new state law—The Renewable Energy Certainty Act—went into effect on July 1. It aims to significantly expand solar energy generation in Maryland. It does that by:

• Streamlining regulations for the assessment of proposed ground-based solar facilities

• Giving solar companies easier access to farmland—around 120,000 acres throughout the state, and

• Preventing counties from denying permits for utility-scale solar projects.

We’ll now see how the law affects the solar industry—whether it prompts a flood or just a trickle of new proposals. We’ll see how the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC), which is charged with reviewing solar proposals, adapts its process to the new law. We’ll see how easily the state’s energy companies and regulators accommodate new solar proposals—that is, accept them for addition to the grid, and in what timeframe. And, finally, we’ll see just how many landowners/farmers in the Ag Reserve are interested in converting some of their land from agriculture to solar energy generation.

Before the law passed the legislature in April, no certainty existed around the scope of landowner interest, beyond the anecdotal and a few projects already in process.

Joined by Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA), the Montgomery Farm Bureau (MFB), and Montgomery Agricultural Producers (MAP), SCA will be closely tracking implementation of the law and solar proposals in the Ag Reserve and Montgomery County.

The state’s Department of Agriculture is due to release a fact sheet and Q&A on the law soon. We’ll share those with you when we get them.

Solar companies continue to contact landowners in and near the Ag Reserve, offering to evaluate their land for possible solar development. Neither state nor county officials appear to be tracking those offers. Landowners have reported solar offers that would net them 10 to 20 times more money than leasing to a farmer.

That issue and the concept of converting historically agricultural land to non-farm use triggered fierce opposition to the new law in some quarters. SCA shared that concern and fought to amend the bill.

Our main concern: the law appears to create a “slippery slope” that could undermine the ag economy and Ag Reserve over time. But just how steep that slippery slope might be depends on many factors—not the least of which is how the entities that regulate energy supply react.

The most important of those entities is PJM Interconnection. PJM is responsible for operating the wholesale energy market in 13 states and Washington, DC, including Maryland. For years, PJM has told state lawmakers and regulators that it was “backlogged” on solar projects—because such projects had proliferated. Will that backlog now change under the new law and amid rising energy demand? It’s not clear.

Power Line Project is a Bad Idea

December 5, 2024

A proposed high-energy power line extending 70 miles from the Baltimore area to Adamstown would threaten an estimated 4,000 acres of farmland, forests and wildlife habitats. It would also require permanent easements on dozens of farms and private properties to site hundreds of 140-foot-tall transmission towers.

SCA joins the Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick County governments, the Maryland Farm Bureau, Preservation Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and a host of regional environmental in opposition to the project. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in late November he had “grave concerns” about the project but has not yet opposed it.

We urge you to learn more online and at StopMPRP.com. MPRP stands for Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project.

Power lines are, of course, a necessary fixture of modern life. When they are justified, we support them and live with the eyesore. But the necessity of this one has been widely questioned. It will mainly provide power to the burgeoning data center industry in Virginia, and not Maryland homes and businesses. But Marylanders will help pay the estimated $424 million cost of the project.

The project also relies on outdated infrastructure. Experts consulted by StopMPRP say more sustainable and efficient alternatives are available.

There are larger issues at play, too. Maryland lacks a coherent long-term energy strategy that takes the environment, the well-being of residents, and climate change into consideration—even as demand for energy is expected to rise sharply over the next decade.

County Enhances Food Compost Effort

November 15, 2024

This month, Montgomery County launched the latest phase of its initiative to reduce food waste by encouraging businesses and residents to compost instead of discarding food scraps in the trash. (See a short video later in this article.)

Food scraps account for about one-quarter of the county's total trash volume. In 2023, the county estimates that approximately 90,000 tons of food waste ended up in the trash, most of which was incinerated at the county's facility in Dickerson.

Composting food scraps is an environmentally beneficial practice (and thus, a no-brainer), but it requires significant changes in behavior for households and businesses, as well as adaptations to the county’s waste management systems. The county has been running a pilot composting program for several years and now plans to increase participation and enhance its infrastructure.

Part of this effort includes allowing residents to “recycle” food scraps at the curbside, just as they do with glass, plastic, paper, and cardboard. The collected scraps would be transported to a central location, likely the Dickerson yard trim compost facility.

Click “Read More” to go to the full article and watch a short YouTube video of the County’s recent ceremony on the composting initiative.

Montgomery County's Sole Source Aquifer - The Good Gift

January 9, 2024

This article is excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of Plenty Magazine.  We present the initial portion of the article. You may then link to Plenty’s website to read the remainder of the piece, and see the charts and photos that accompany it.

“Our aquifer is the bloodstream for all farmers in the Agricultural Reserve. It’s what sustains us.”
Gene Kingsbury, Kingsbury’s Orchard

More often than not, when asked, folks in the D.C. metro region do not really have a fix on where the water that flows from their faucets comes from. Sure, residents and businesses know that they pay Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) for their water and sewage service, and they may know that the origin of their water is the mighty Potomac River. But as to the details—filtration plant operations, the infrastructure that delivers the water from plants to homes and businesses, what happens when there is prolonged drought, these bits are hardly known.

More mysterious to many is where roughly 25-30,000 homes, businesses and farm enterprises get their water from in the nearly one-third of Montgomery County that is wholly outside the WSSC service area by design. nd that if the story I aim to share in two parts.