Mes

A tri-county composting facility appears to be as dead as the waste matter within.The Maryland Environmental Service will put its failed regional yard-waste compost site on the Anne Arundel-Howard border up for sale next week in an effort to cut its losses and escape neighborhood complaints, legal challenges and political fury.MES, a quasi-public agency, is developing a marketing plan this week and is "selecting a commercial real estate broker," James W. Peck, director of MES, said yesterday.

An assessment of the Harford Waste Disposal Center has uncovered 56 violations, including unsafe areas and equipment, escaping litter, inadequate trash cover and erosion of surrounding ground at the county landfill in Street. The county received the results nearly two months ago and has since developed a response plan with some improvements in place, officials said yesterday. "Some violations are minor, and several have gone on for more than 10 years, back two previous administrations," said county spokesman Robert B. Thomas Jr. "A variety of factors led to long-and short-term issues.

THE END OF leaf and grass composting at Maryland Environmental Service's facility in Dorsey will be good news for nearby residents, oppressed by horrific smells.The news is not so comforting, however, for the three county governments that joined in a regional plan to process their yard waste on an industrial parcel on the Anne Arundel-Howard county line. Closure of the plant means the cost of disposing of tTC leaves and grass clippings is likely to rise for Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties.

What looked to Carroll officials to be a money-saving, resource-sharing, all-around good deal between the county and the state has fallen through. County commissioners said they were taken by surprise by the state's decision to build a pipeline through the Springfield Hospital property in Sykesville that is smaller than the one they had tentatively agreed to build, and use, together. The state's decision means that the county might have to build a parallel water line along Route 32. As the state planned improvements to the aging water system at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville, it offered Carroll a chance to share in the construction of a water pipeline that would serve the southernmost areas of the county.

Chlorine levels in drinking water from the Campus Hills Water Works company have returned to normal, but the results of bacteria level tests will not be available until today, state officials said.Baltimore Circuit Judge Ellen M. Heller yesterday continued an injunction issued Friday at the request of the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to have the Maryland Environmental Service (MES) run the privately owned Harford County water company.The action came after samples taken by the MDE showed levels of chlorine judged to be a health hazard.

MARYLAND ENVIRONMENTAL Service apparently has decided to throw in the towel on its ill-starred regional yard waste facility in Dorsey.What had been designed as a composting plant will now become a mere transfer station for trash. Leaves, grass clippings and other yard waste will be collected at the plant, but then shipped to other MES facilities for composting.Declaring this ambitious experiment a failure may be premature, but the project has certainly fallen far short of expectations.Since opening 13 months ago, the 56-acre facility has been plagued by operating problems.

Three state workers were injured yesterday in an explosion at a Cambridge sewage treatment plant, officials said. Robert Craig Russell, 42, of St. Michaels, and Rexford T. Powell, 40, of Dagsboro, Del., were in critical but stable condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Hall J. Carter, 43, of Cambridge, was being treated last night at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. His condition was unknown. Cambridge police, firefighters and paramedics were called to the Maryland Environmental Services' Trenton Street Pumping Station -- which supplies water to the Eastern Shore city -- at 3:16 p.m. after a "pressurized explosion" from a valve seal, police said.

The Maryland Environmental Service (MES) announced yesterday that it has reopened its Dorsey composting operation after taking steps to control odors from the facility, including installing an odor-neutralizing mist system that will be used in extreme cases.Residents near the Dorsey Regional Composting Facility , which sits off U.S. 1 on Dorsey Run Road, have complained for months about odors from the 5-month-old operation wafting into their yards. The Maryland Department of the Environment cited the composting facility -- an operation that has served Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties since it opened in November -- 13 times for environmental violations.

A tri-county composting facility appears to be as dead as the waste matter within.The Maryland Environmental Service will put its failed regional yard-waste compost site on the Anne Arundel-Howard border up for sale next week in an effort to cut its losses and escape neighborhood complaints, legal challenges and political fury.MES, a quasi-public agency, is developing a marketing plan this week and is "selecting a commercial real estate broker," MES director James W. Peck said yesterday.The news pleased residents, who had complained about the stench from the 54-acre site.

For now, the experiment is over.Stung by complaints about stench and a lawsuit, the Maryland Environmental Service this week temporarily stopped composting at the $5.9 million regional yard-debris facility in Dorsey.Debris to be hauled awayInstead, the 56-acre yard will be used as a transfer station for dead leaves and grass clippings from the three participating counties. MES will continue to gather debris from Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties there, but will haul the waste to another MES composting center in Prince George's County.

What looked to Carroll officials to be a money-saving, resource-sharing, all-around good deal between the county and the state has fallen through. County commissioners said they were taken by surprise by the state's decision to build a pipeline through the Springfield Hospital property in Sykesville that is smaller than the one they had tentatively agreed to build, and use, together. The state's decision means that the county might have to build a parallel water line along Route 32. As the state planned improvements to the aging water system at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville, it offered Carroll a chance to share in the construction of a water pipeline that would serve the southernmost areas of the county.

Three state workers were injured yesterday in an explosion at a Cambridge sewage treatment plant, officials said. Robert Craig Russell, 42, of St. Michaels, and Rexford T. Powell, 40, of Dagsboro, Del., were in critical but stable condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Hall J. Carter, 43, of Cambridge, was being treated last night at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. His condition was unknown. Cambridge police, firefighters and paramedics were called to the Maryland Environmental Services' Trenton Street Pumping Station -- which supplies water to the Eastern Shore city -- at 3:16 p.m. after a "pressurized explosion" from a valve seal, police said.

The once malodorous compost yard shared by Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties has been turned into a transfer station for yard clippings, and all three counties recently approved selling most of the 54-acre Jessup/Hanover property.But the counties still have to shell out interest payments, which will total $2.8 million by the time bonds on the property are paid off in 2005. Anne Arundel's share of that is about $1.4 million, according to County Auditor Teresa Sutherland.Anne Arundel County Councilman Thomas W. Redmond has long been skeptical about a deal that burdened the county with 50 percent of liability for a project and didn't allow private composters a share in handling yard waste.

The once malodorous compost yard shared by Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties has been turned into a transfer station for yard clippings, and all three counties recently approved selling most of the 54-acre Jessup/Hanover property.But the counties still have to pay interest that will total $2.8 million by the time bonds on the property are paid off in 2005. Anne Arundel's share of that will be about $1.4 million, according to County Auditor Teresa Sutherland.Anne Arundel County Councilman Thomas W. Redmond Sr. has long been skeptical about a deal that burdened the county with 50 percent of the liability for the project and didn't allow private composters a share in handling yard waste.

THE END OF leaf and grass composting at Maryland Environmental Service's facility in Dorsey will be good news for nearby residents, oppressed by horrific smells.The news is not so comforting, however, for the three county governments that joined in a regional plan to process their yard waste on an industrial parcel on the Anne Arundel-Howard county line. Closure of the plant means the cost of disposing of tTC leaves and grass clippings is likely to rise for Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties.

A tri-county composting facility appears to be as dead as the waste matter within.The Maryland Environmental Service will put its failed regional yard-waste compost site on the Anne Arundel-Howard border up for sale next week in an effort to cut its losses and escape neighborhood complaints, legal challenges and political fury.MES, a quasi-public agency, is developing a marketing plan this week and is "selecting a commercial real estate broker," MES director James W. Peck said yesterday.The news pleased residents, who had complained about the stench from the 54-acre site.

IT IS UNFORTUNATE that operators of a regional composting plant in Dorsey have yet to figure out how to avoid bothering neighbors with odors drifting from the fermenting yard waste. Composting, in general, has enormous advantages for the environment, recycling wastes that otherwise would be dumped into costly, unpopular landfills.But opponents of composting undoubtedly will cite the Maryland Environmental Services (MES) facility on the border of Howard and Anne Arundel counties as fodder for an argument against such operations.

Maryland Environmental Service, which oversees the much-criticized composting yard on the Anne Arundel-Howard border, has fired the company supervising the plant's daily operation after receiving numerous state sanctions for the yard's foul smell.During a hearing last night before the Anne Arundel County Council, MES director James W. Peck announced that the quasi-public agency was severing a $425,000 annual contract with Browning Ferris Industries. MES will take over operations on March 2 after buying the composting equipment from BFI.In addition, Mr. Peck outlined a series of steps to lessen odors from the 56-acre yard that residents on both sides of the county line have described as sickening.

A tri-county composting facility appears to be as dead as the waste matter within.The Maryland Environmental Service will put its failed regional yard-waste compost site on the Anne Arundel-Howard border up for sale next week in an effort to cut its losses and escape neighborhood complaints, legal challenges and political fury.MES, a quasi-public agency, is developing a marketing plan this week and is "selecting a commercial real estate broker," James W. Peck, director of MES, said yesterday.

MARYLAND ENVIRONMENTAL Service apparently has decided to throw in the towel on its ill-starred regional yard waste facility in Dorsey.What had been designed as a composting plant will now become a mere transfer station for trash. Leaves, grass clippings and other yard waste will be collected at the plant, but then shipped to other MES facilities for composting.Declaring this ambitious experiment a failure may be premature, but the project has certainly fallen far short of expectations.Since opening 13 months ago, the 56-acre facility has been plagued by operating problems.