Politicians' Positions on the Waste-to-Energy Incinerator

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Carroll County Commissioner Candidate Richard Rothschild (District 4)

Opposed to the current waste-to-energy incinerator plan

"I'm already on record in the newspapers as opposing it as it is currently structured. And I oppose it because it's not financially well justified."

Read Richard Rothschild's letter to the editor of the Carroll County Times.

Here is his e-mail sent on 09/07/10 to the Frederick County Board of County Commissioners and others:

I spend my life investing in capital projects, and I'm pretty disappointed with the lack of realism in the assumptions used to justify Carroll's portion of this incinerator.

To produce the $229M cost savings, the models assume Carroll's tipping fee revenue will increase 126% by 2015, and hauling expense will increase 180% by 2015.

NEITHER COUNTY HAS PROVIDED A CREDIBLE BUSINESS REASON FOR THESE HIGHLY SPECULATIVE INCREASES. They are nonsense. We would be thrown out of the boardroom of any investment capital company in the U.S.

When realistic assumptions are inserted into the models, incineration, as currently structured, is a money loser for Carroll.

And one more thing... I am concerned the misleading press releases and letters going out to the public by certain official(s) to be borderline malfeasance.

We need to take the politics out of this decision and apply sound business judgment to get to a point that is financially sensible for both counties.