Updated Dec. 18, 2024

Montgomery County officials on November 25, 2024 released an update on the County’s plans to overhaul its waste management systems over the next decade. The plans include enhanced recycling, food waste composting, and new processes and technologies to reduce the amount of garbage being burned in the trash incinerator in Dickerson.

SCA strongly supports the intent of this initiative and County leaders’ focus on making Montgomery County a national model of responsible and sustainable waste management—aiming for a “zero waste” (or at least a “much-less-waste”) system.

Regrettably, however, the County’s announcement included a plan to continue trash incineration in Dickerson for up to eight more years—rather than shutting the incinerator down in April 2026 as previously scheduled. County officials said they have authorized the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority (an entity that manages the County’s waste disposal) to extend for five years (from April 2026 to April 2031) its contract with the private company Reworld (formerly known as Covanta), which operates the incinerator.

The announcement states that the County has the “option for early termination” of the contract. A planning timeline on the county website indicates, however, that decommissioning would not begin until 2030.

County officials say the reason for extending the contract is that trash incineration cannot be terminated until waste reduction strategies are substantially built-out and fully implemented.

We believe an alternative path exists, one that would allow the incinerator to be shuttered much sooner. This alternative path involves pivoting to hauling trash to an approved out-of-state landfill that meets strict environmental standards—even as the County more aggressively pursues trash volume reduction. According to two reports commissioned by the County Executive in recent years, such an approach would be less harmful and likely less costly.

We and other groups have requested that the County Council formally review and hold a public hearing on the contract extension.

Updated November 19, 2024

Note: This updated post discusses proposals for two large-scale solar projects, one in Dickerson and the other near Poolesville. See the note at the end about making your views knows to the relevant government agency.

Click here to view the recording and slides from our recent Community Zoom Forum on the Montgomery Countryside Alliance website. This forum on a proposed solar installation was held on November 14 . SCA and Montgomery Countryside Alliance work together to protect the Ag Reserve.

Background

SCA helped shape a Montgomery County zoning ordinance in 2021 that allows farmers and landowners in the Ag Reserve—working with solar developers—to place ground-based solar arrays on portions of their land if those arrays don’t take prime arable land out of agricultural use.

Under this new policy, solar arrays must meet certain requirements and be approved by county regulators. For now, the total acreage allowed for solar array placement in the Ag Reserve is 1,800 acres, which equates to about 2% of agricultural land in the county. In addition to preserving agricultural land, the rules governing the initiative protect forests and environmentally sensitive areas.

The ordinance permits up to two megawatts of energy per project. It also allows homeowners who install solar arrays (whether on their roofs or on the ground) to produce twice as much energy as they need and sell it back into the grid. Thus, if a homeowner needed 30 kilowatt-hours per day for their own needs, they could produce 60 and sell 30 back to the grid.

Report from the County

This policy and zoning change has been in effect for almost three years. In an assessment of the impact to date, published in December 2023, the County’s Planning Department took stock, highlighted some problems, and identified outcomes to date.

First, the report says two Ag Reserve solar projects are in process under the terms of the 2021 zoning change. Construction on both is scheduled to begin this year. One project plans about 13 acres in solar, the other about 8 acres.

In the words of the report: “While [these projects] demonstrate a modest start to the county’s solar program…it also demonstrates it is possible to promote solar projects on agricultural lands, aiding in reducing carbon emissions and contributing towards our larger renewable energy and solar production goals, while ensuring agriculture remains the primary use within the Agricultural Reserve.”

Second, the report notes that the Maryland state legislature passed legislation in 2022 affecting “community” solar projects, including those on farms. Recent court decisions also apply. Both are complex. The upshot is that state law could eclipse county law for solar projects that will generate more than 2 megawatts of energy—the limit established under the 2021 solar initiative for projects on farmland in the Ag Reserve. And, notably, the state law also allows such larger “community” solar projects (up to 5 megawatts) to be on arable land if the landowner prefers.

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.

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

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 mWashington 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.

A class of toxic chemicals called PFAS can contaminate water, farmland, wells, and crops.  These chemicals have been linked to cancer and other diseases and do not break down in the environment.  An organization called PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) is leading an effort to probe whether PFAS chemicals are present—and if so, to what degree—on Ag Reserve land and in water sources.  

Testing to date has yielded concerning results. Levels of several forms of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances of which there are thousands) are substantially higher than EPA recommended quantities in drinking water in Poolesville. As a result, the town closed two of its 12 wells. These concerning results also led SCA and Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA) to join PEER in January in calling on Montgomery County officials to prohibit the use of certain PFAS-containing fertilizers, called biosolids, on county agricultural land—to prevent further contamination of ground and surface waters.  

January 5, 2024

“Agrivoltaics,” is a new buzzword in solar energy circles. The term applies to land used for agriculture (“agri”) and for generating solar energy (“voltaics”) by solar panels. Agrivoltaics can refer to just a few solar panels mounted on ground-based structures (as opposed to rooftops) or a whole field of them, with crops or animals grazing underneath.

A successful agrivoltaic project has some type of farming thriving adjacent to or under the panels, with the panels generating sufficient power to justify the economics of constructing and installing them. That can be a tall order—but not an impossible one. Agrivoltaics projects are very much in the research phase. The approach is not a fully proven yet, though it’s being viewed as workable under the right circumstances. For now, much of what’s known about agrivoltaics has come from research in dry areas in the western U.S. Some of these areas are sunnier and hotter than the Mid-Atlantic region in the summer and colder in the winter. Thus, agrivoltaic projects that are successful out west aren’t necessarily relevant to the Mid-Atlantic.

Other concerns and potential downsides are emerging. Ground solar panels can disturb and compact soil. They also decrease the amount of sun that reaches plants, affecting photosynthesis. And ground panels can adversely affect how much rain reaches plants and in what pattern. For example, run-off from panels can cause water to pool in some areas. Another practical concern is how farmers get equipment in and around ground panels. All these issues, and others, are being studied. 

Agrivoltaic proposals for the Ag Reserve

In 2020, Montgomery County adopted a zoning change that allowed solar arrays on land zoned for agriculture in Montgomery’s County’s Ag Reserve. The measure was a compromise. It recognized the need to generate more renewable energy in the county while at the same time preserving farming, especially on the county’s best soils. The measure also encouraged more production of rooftop solar. It increased the allowable amount of solar production for landowners from 120% of their personal use to 200%. That meant people could sell any excess solar electricity they generated back into the electricity grid. Community solar arrays, which are smaller than “utility scale” arrays, are also allowed under the measure. They can produce up to 2 megawatts of electricity, and generally require 10 to 12 acres of land. Importantly, placing solar arrays on farming soils designated class 1 or class 2 (high quality soils) is prohibited.