Incinerator

By the 1950s, most of the Main Line's baronial mansions were rendered architectural dinosaurs by both their expensive upkeep and the soaring value of the land they occupied. Some of the 40-, 50-, even 70-room neo-classical, Gothic and Elizabethan edifices were converted to institutional use, such as school buildings and retirement homes. Others were razed to make way for housing developments. But none left the Main Line scene with as much flourish as the 75-room Penn Valley manor of Percival Roberts Jr. Dubbed the Baron of Pencoyd, Roberts was one of Lower Merion's most prominent figures and his feud with township officials a little over 50 years ago ranks as a landmark dispute between a private citizen and local government.

Bucks County should support the idea of an incinerator to get rid of the county's solid waste, Wrightstown supervisors said Monday in response to the county commissioners' poll of municipalities on the issue. But the resolution approved by the township's Board of Supervisors stopped short of an unqualified endorsement of the incinerator proposed in Falls Township. The board added four provisions. First, it said that recycling efforts should be "stepped up and used to dramatically cut the flow of trash.

A three-member negotiating committee of a citizens' group, the Community Council on Lankenau, has reached a tentative agreement with Lankenau Hospital officials on the installation of a new, higher-grade incinerator, both sides said this week. The agreement, which was completed Monday after more than a year of discussions, specifies the quality of equipment to be used in the incinerator as well as procedures for community oversight of its operation, the two parties said Tuesday in announcing the accord.

Continuing its effort to keep an incinerator from being built on the edge of town, the Cinnaminson Township Council decided last night to join Palmyra Township in appealing the construction permit. In a special meeting, the council agreed to join Palmyra in retaining the Newark law firm Gordan & Gordan, specialists in environmental law, for $5,000. Riverton and Beverly Townships might also join the effort. Mayor Donn Lamon said Palmyra Mayor Bob Leather called a meeting June 10 for area mayors to consider sharing litigation costs to try to block the controversial trash incinerator.

A citizens' group opposing Camden's proposed incinerator has finally secured enough valid signatures to mandate a binding referendum on the issue, both the Camden County Board of Elections and a Superior Court judge ruled yesterday. If the majority of voters rejects the incinerator, Camden would be required to adopt an ordinance banning its operation within city limits. But an assistant city attorney argued that the results of the referendum still would not be binding on the state, which he said has superseding power over local laws in solid-waste matters.

The controversy over a proposed trash incinerator in Pennsauken spilled over into neighboring Cherry Hill last night, as the Township Council tabled a resolution endorsing construction of the incinerator. Council members debated not only the need for the incinerator, but also the need for a resolution concerning it. "Why bother?" asked Michael Bristow, Republican council member and Camden County freeholder, saying that Cherry Hill had no control over the project's fate. Bristow said the resolution was sent to the township by Jack Tarditi, the Democratic mayor of Haddonfield, where the Board of Commissioners recently passed a similar resolution.

Bucks County Judge Susan Devlin Scott yesterday rejected a request for a preliminary injunction by an environmental group seeking to stop the planned trash incinerator in Falls Township. Members of the group, Bucks People United to Restore the Environment (B- PURE), had sought to overturn a permit that the Falls Township Supervisors granted to Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. for the proposed incinerator. The group contended that the township supervisors violated the state Sunshine Law three times, March 15 and 22 and April 12, by not providing enough chairs in the auditorium and by intimidating people opposed to the incinerator.

Without much discussion, the Upper Makefield supervisors agreed Wednesday that they did not favor using an incinerator to dispose of the township's trash. The supervisors voted, 4-0, to approve a resolution that they do not wish to preserve the local option of incineration for the municipality's solid waste. Supervisor Lester Balderston abstained. "Do you really think they will not build the incinerator in Falls Township because we don't favor it?" Balderston said.

The National Park Borough Council rejected a bid Wednesday from a Woodbury Heights well-drilling company to build a trash-to-steam incinerator on the town's abandoned Hawthorne landfill. By a 5-0 vote, the council defeated a proposal to lease a portion of the 73.5-acre property to W.C. Services. The firm planned to construct a facility that could burn up to 100 tons of trash daily. The council rejected the plan after W.C. Services had sought to amend its original proposal.

A Superior Court judge in Burlington County yesterday refused to stop construction of the incinerator at the Pennsauken landfill. Judge Martin L. Haines denied a motion by the attorney for three Burlington County municipalities, who had asked for a restraining order to stop construction. Haines said too many facts were in question for him to agree that the incinerator would pose health hazards. At the same time, Haines delayed until Sept. 28 a motion by the attorney for the Pennsauken Solid Waste Management Authority to throw out the municipalities' case.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Clashes between Afghan troops and protesters angry over the burning of Muslim holy books at a U.S. military base left at least seven people dead and dozens wounded Wednesday, as anger spread despite U.S. apologies over what it said was a mistake. The demonstrations across four eastern provinces illustrated the intensity of Afghans' anger at what they saw as foreign forces flouting their laws and insulting their culture. The violence was also a reminder of how easily Afghan-U.S.

OK, KIDS, IT'S official, the Capital City of the nation's sixth-largest state is in a "fiscal emergency" and one step closer to a state takeover. The Legislature and Gov. Corbett, acting with fervor, speed and resolve not seen in the Capitol since Ed Rendell worked buffet lines, brought the hammer down. The Jewel of the Susquehanna, the birthplace of Newt Gingrich, the home of the longest stone-arch railroad bridge in the world, is belly up. How could this happen? What does it mean?

Camden County officials could soon be out of the incinerator management business. Under a plan being considered, the South Camden incinerator, built in the early 1990s, would be turned over to Foster Wheeler, the Swiss corporation that runs the facility, Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said. The question of whether to end government control over the incinerator comes as three of the county's largest towns - Cherry Hill, Voorhees, and Gloucester Townships - have agreed to join forces to see if they can find cheaper trash-disposal options on the open market.

Camden County officials could soon be out of the incinerator management business. The South Camden incinerator, built in the early 1990s, would be turned over to Foster Wheeler, the Switzerland-based corporation that runs the facility, under a plan being considered, said Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli, Jr. The question of whether to end government control over the incinerator comes as three of the county's largest towns, Cherry Hill...

TRENTON - Camden County's trash authority has just seven days to make a final $25 million bond payment, and little money to pay it. But the Local Finance Board adjourned a Tuesday meeting with leaders of the authority without finalizing a plan to prevent what the state says could be New Jersey's first government bond default since the 1930s. After knowing for at least five months that neither the state nor the authority could pay investors by Dec. 1, officials are working to dig up the cash over the Thanksgiving holiday.

One morning in July, David Luthman, an executive at Camden County's troubled trash agency, flew to San Diego and checked into the Hilton Del Mar Hotel. He was there for an event billed as a place where "critical dealmakers will gather . . . to move the industry forward and find profitable opportunities in the new era of waste-to-energy projects. " Luthman took part in a four-member panel at the Hilton with representatives from Miami, Los Angeles, and Durham, N.C., to speak about trash-to-steam technology.

For the first time in more than a decade, New Jersey taxpayers won't be bailing out the troubled government agency that oversees trash disposal for Camden County. Since 1999, the state has paid $152 million in solid-waste subsidies to the Pollution Control Financing Authority of Camden County, to prevent it from defaulting on debt payments for a trash incinerator built in the early 1990s. But the cash-strapped state didn't budget enough this year to cover the payment to investors, and the authority's revenues won't make up the difference.

HARRISBURG - Only a few years ago, it seemed unthinkable that Pennsylvania's capital city could be teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. A renaissance of restaurants and shops was gently transforming its downtown, and after years of neglect, Harrisburg had become a surprising and unexpected destination in central Pennsylvania. Now that newfound image has faded like the morning mists on the Susquehanna River. Harrisburg is reaping the fruits of a string of bad spending decisions and a catfight among the city's political leaders - a mix that with each passing day seems more likely to land the city in the definition of municipal embarrassment: bankruptcy court.

Burlington County officials lament that they regularly lose a chunk of their trash business to Camden County, where waste-disposal fees are about 10 percent lower. But Camden County offers bargain rates not because it has an especially efficient, well-run operation. The reason is largely that New Jersey taxpayers for the last decade have been bailing out enormous money-managing firms that made an ill-fated investment in a trash incinerator that serves all but one of Camden County's 37 towns.

Without taxpayer bailouts, the bonds for Camden County's money-losing trash operation would barely be worth the garbage it takes in, according to credit agencies. The Pollution Control Financing Authority of Camden County has received $152 million in state solid-waste subsidies during the last decade - more than any other county in New Jersey has gotten - to pay the debt on an incinerator built in the early 1990s. But that's not enough. In recent days, leaders of the authority, which handles trash disposal for all but one of Camden County's 37 municipalities, have pressed the state for yet another bailout.