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political issues including: precursor controversies, choice of landfill or incinerator sites, and the
political strategies that sustained or brought about the demise of a project.
Monroe County: By the late 1980s, Monroe County had already endured a number of solid
waste battles but had yet to reach a successful resolution. The Republican county executive had
previously constructed a WTE facility
6
that cost the county over $50 million and never worked
properly. His solid waste proposals became such a volatile issue that they were a major problem
in his re-election and many, including the local paper, attributed his defeat in 1987 in part to the
failed WTE. His successor, a Democrat, made development of a county-wide landfill one of his
top priorities.
In 1988, this new county executive picked up a long-standing but somewhat desultory
effort to site a landfill in the county and proceeded to revisit the site selection process. Although
the creation of a public authority was broached in the debate, according to his staff, he chose “on
principal” not to create one.
The county went through a formal site selection process; however, according to staff who
worked on the project, most insiders knew the site in advance. The site was believed to be
environmentally sound but just as important, the site was in a rural area at the edge of the county
line, which made it politically feasible. While the landfill proposal required the county
legislators and executive to face down significant protest and lawsuits from the host community
and surrounding jurisdictions, the landfill ultimately survived the political process. At one point,
the project even required a mandatory two-thirds vote of the legislature to approve the almost
$50 million in debt necessary to finance the facility. This vote was initially held up by the
6
The facility was technically a “refuse derived fuels” facility, which turns garbage into fuel for energy production.
The problem with these facilities was that the fuel produced did not burn cleanly or evenly.
Convention