FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 25, 2001
 

Stuart – On January 25, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency and Waste Management, Inc., approved a plan to dispose of ash, which has been sitting on barges in Stuart since May 2000. Waste Management has worked with DEP and the Federal government to do the environmentally responsible thing and be a part of the ultimate solution to a nagging problem.

The disposal plan calls for Waste Management, Inc. (WMI) to off-load, transport, and re-burn the ash at their Wheelabrator North Broward waste-to-energy plant in Pompano Beach and dispose of the re-burned ash in the adjacent Central Landfill. Disposal will be in accordance with all legal and regulatory requirements.

"We believe this plan represents the best disposal option available," said Melissa Meeker, Director of Florida DEP’s Southeast District "and one that is in the best interest of public health and the environment."

The ash originated in Philadelphia, and is simply refuse that remained from the burning of municipal waste. In the summer of 1986, the City of Philadelphia signed a contract with a company to ship the material, and in 1986, the vessel Khian Sea left Philadelphia. It traveled to several ports around the world, but was unable to find a nation willing to accept it. Eventually it arrived in Haiti where the crew was allowed to begin removing the ash, which Haitian officials were led to believe was beach nourishment material. When Haitian officials learned of the source of this material, the ship ceased unloading operations and left Haiti, leaving what was offloaded behind. Reportedly, the remainder of the ash was illegally dumped into the Indian Ocean.

Plans were then made to return the ash to the United States. Over the course of the next year hosts of potential sites rejected the cargo for a variety of reasons. The ash was loaded onto a Greek-owned ship (M/V Captain P) and taken to Port Everglades in Broward County. The Captain P was cleared to enter Port Everglades, but the material was not offloaded at this time because it did not have the proper authorization from a disposal site.

Because the Captain P was to be used for other duties, it sailed to the Port of Ft. Pierce where it unloaded the ash onto 5 small barges. Those barges have since been relocated to Stuart, where they have been consolidated into one large hopper barge along the Intracoastal Waterway.

"Waste Management is happy to be part of an environmentally responsible solution," said Glenn R. Holcomb, Florida Region Vice President for Waste Management.

Material: The material is non-hazardous and not dangerous to public health according to four separate lab reports, which were performed by U.S. Biosystems and the US EPA. The lab tests were co-directed by the US EPA and Florida DEP. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has determined that the material is non-infectious. The waste appears to be black aggregate with some glass and limestone mixed within the material. A survey by Florida DEP found the total volume to be approximately 2,050 cubic yards. Expected total tonnage is 3,000 tons.

Barge: The barge is contracted by Maritime Tug and Barge. The barge is 245’ long by 45’ by 18’ deep. The bow deck of the barge has a 20’ by 45’ space for an excavator. It draws 9 feet of water and cannot move back through the Stuart Locks.

1. Site Set Up: The site will be improved to allow heavy truck access, a flat barge will be moved to the shoreline, the hopper barge will be moved alongside the flat barge, and additional equipment will be mobilized and placed.
2. Unloading of the barge: An excavator will unload the ash from the hopper barge into trucks placed on the flat barge.
3. Disinfection: Each load will be soaked with a disinfectant solution to address any perceived risk of agricultural contaminants.
4. Liquids present in the hold will be mixed with the ash in order to minimize the amount of free liquid remaining after the ash is completely removed. Any liquids remaining within the barge at the close of the operation will be managed as leachate and removed using a liquid waste truck and moved to the Central Disposal Sanitary Landfill as leachate.
5. Transportation: Lined tri-axle dump trucks will haul the material to Wheelabrator North waste-to-energy plant in Pompano Beach, Broward County, FL.
6. Reburning: The ash will be reburned at the Wheelabrator facility. The material will be stored in a designated area prior to reburning. The ash will be blended with the normal waste stream at a rate of 5% ash to total waste. By adding 5% to the waste stream at a time, this will ensure the temperature of the burner is maintained at 1,600 degrees F, a temperature that assures all waste is burned in compliance with regulations. While all studies have indicated that the ash is non-hazardous, re-burning will provide redundancy for any perceived issues.
7. Land Disposal: The daily ash output from Wheelabrator during this period will be buried on a daily basis in a lined cell under a layer of municipal solid waste and approved daily cover material at Central Disposal Sanitary Landfill, also in Pompano Beach, Broward County, FL.

Timetable: Total unloading time should be two to three days