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Doral drops landfill expansion challenge. In return: Steps to reduce rotten-egg smell

The highest natural point in Florida is Britton Hill, which rises 345 feet above sea level in the Panhandle’s Walton County. Now, a man-made mound of garbage in Miami-Dade County might someday rival it.

The Medley landfill is expected to get final state approval to grow from a maximum 265 feet to 340 feet — making Broward County’s so-called “Mount Trashmore” landfill, which maxes out at 225 feet, look puny in comparison.

On Wednesday, the city council of Doral, which neighbors Medley, voted unanimously to drop its challenge of the landfill’s expansion permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Under a settlement agreement, Waste Management, which owns and operates the site, has agreed to a 12-point plan to mitigate a rotten-egg smell that’s disturbed residents for decades.

The settlement outlines a range of steps Waste Management must take to try to address the foul smell, which is likely caused — according to testing by a consultant — by hydrogen sulfide gas in the air. The stench has prompted hundreds of complaints from residents of northwest Doral, which have only become more frequent in recent years as development has exploded in the area.

Among the steps Waste Management has pledged to take: A cap will be installed on the southwest portion of the landfill that faces Doral, meaning no more trash will be added there. Waste Management will also expand its gas collection system at the site to add about a dozen new collection wells and 10,000 feet of piping. And the company will install two “misting cannons” to spray odor-neutralizing chemicals on waste as it arrives.

“I think we’ve made a lot of headway,” said Councilman Pete Cabrera, noting that the landfill’s proposed expansion likely gave the city leverage to negotiate.

Doral WasteManagement Terms by Aaron Leibowitz on Scribd

The settlement goes “above and beyond” what’s required by state and federal law, said Waste Management spokeswoman Dawn McCormick. She called the steps “very significant” in addressing odor concerns, though she couldn’t say for sure how effective they would be in improving residents’ quality of life.

“It’s always a challenge when residential communities grow and thrive around an existing landfill,” McCormick said. “The city of Doral, if you track its population growth over the past 10 to 15 years, it’s a growing, thriving community.”

(Doral’s population in 2010 was around 45,000. It was estimated at 65,000 in 2019.)

The Medley landfill opened in 1952. Cabrera, the city councilman, said foul smells have been a problem in parts of the city since he first moved there 33 years ago. He recalled “unbearable” odors that sometimes put an end to outdoor barbecues in the northwest part of Doral.

“I don’t think it’s gonna go away 100%, ever,” he said.

And the landfill off Northwest 93rd Street and 89th Avenue isn’t the city’s only concern. Doral is also home to the county’s Covanta Waste Energy Facility near Northwest 69th Street and 97th Avenue, an incinerator where over a million tons of garbage is burned each year.

Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez said he suspects odor issues at the Covanta facility may be even more problematic than those at the Medley landfill. That’s the city’s next challenge, he said, adding that he will urge Miami-Dade County to relocate the facility when its contract expires in 2023.

The Covanta waste facility photographed in 2017. Residents have complained about odors from the facility, which burns 1.2 million tons of garbage a year.
The Covanta waste facility photographed in 2017. Residents have complained about odors from the facility, which burns 1.2 million tons of garbage a year.

“We all would prefer for those things to be gone,” Cabrera said of the landfill and the incinerator. “The reality is, we’re next to a landfill and we’re next to a resource recovery plant.”

Pierre Christ, who lives near Morgan Levy Park at Northwest 52nd Street and 102nd Avenue — just south of the Covanta facility and a bit farther south of the landfill — said the smell has become harder to deal with lately as he spends more time at home due to COVID-19.

The odor, he said, is “like spoiled organic food.” An alternative description: “It’s like smelling or drinking vinegar. That’s kind of the sensation.”

Most days it’s not a problem, Christ said, but the stench gets bad when it’s humid after it rains and when the wind blows north to south. The issue has been consistent ever since he moved in almost 20 years ago, he said.

“The fact that [the city] is trying and invested time to get an agreement, that’s a positive,” Christ said. “The intention to get some improvement is there.”

Testing conducted in the area

There doesn’t appear to be a health risk associated with the smell.

While negotiating the settlement with Waste Management, Doral hired a consultant to sample groundwater and surface water at the Medley site. Despite detectable levels of sulfide and ammonia, they weren’t enough to be smelled by residents, the consultant concluded, and were well below state action thresholds.

The consultant also took air samples in two locations near the landfill over 33 days. On 25 of those days at the Grand Bay apartments, hydrogen sulfide was detected. The same was true on 15 days at Doral Glades Park. At times, “the odor was discernible” as hydrogen sulfide, the consultant found, but it never exceeded the federal government’s safety limits.

Both the Medley landfill and the Covanta facility were likely contributing factors to the smell, said the consultant, E Sciences — and the source depended on whether the wind was blowing north or south at a given time.

Bernardo Bieler, who oversees pollution regulation for Miami-Dade County’s environmental department, said the steps Waste Management has agreed to take to improve the situation “are the traditional ones for odor mitigation.”

Whether it will ultimately work, he said, “we wouldn’t be able to confirm or deny.”