Monocacy Park Warns Of Proposed Incinerator's Intrusion
By Deborah Fitts

FREDERICK, Md. — Officials at Monocacy National Battlefield are reacting with dismay to a proposal by Frederick County to build a major waste-to-energy plant on the park’s doorstep.

 “It would loom over the battlefield,” said park superintendent Susan Trail, noting that the facility’s smokestack would rise 150 to 170 feet or even taller. “From most major areas of the park it would be visible.”

County officials are eyeing a site at the county-owned McKinney Industrial Park, which lies immediately across the Monocacy River from the battlefield. Trail estimated that the location of the proposed plant is only about 400 feet from the park boundary.

 Trail spoke at a seven-hour county commission hearing held Dec. 11 to consider the plant. In a letter to the commission she wrote: “The National Park Service has invested many hours and a considerable sum of money on restoring the historic character of the battlefield landscape and structures, and building infrastructure such as a new visitor center, trails and parking lots for the American public to visit and learn about the pivotal battle that occurred here, in a setting that is as historically accurate as possible. This proposed project would negate much of that effort.”

According to Park Ranger Brett Spaulding, at least half of the Confederate troops involved in the July 9, 1864, battle assaulted across the Monocacy at the McKinney-Worthington Ford, which is directly adjacent to the site under consideration.

“It was the crossing area for the Confederates,” Spaulding explained. Once across, Southern troops used the Worthington Farm as a staging area for repeated attacks onto the adjoining Thomas Farm. Confederate artillery set up around the Worthington House, now one of the park’s landmark battle witnesses.

“When we give programs out there, you can basically imagine what it looked like,” Spaulding said. “As soon as a smokestack gets in there, you’re going to have to start talking to them about imagining what it would be like without it.”

Jan Gardner, president of the Frederick Commissioners, hastened to assure Civil War News in an e-mail that her board had made no decision yet where to site the plant, or even whether the county will build a waste-to-energy incinerator (WTE).

Gardner stated, “The county commissioners certainly understand the concerns of the Superintendent of the Monocacy Battlefield and others interested in preserving the historic nature of the battlefield…. If we decide to pursue WTE, then a siting effort and discussion will be initiated.”

Frederick County sends more than 40 tractor-trailer loads of waste a day to a landfill in Virginia, a trip of 192 miles one way. The county pegged the cost at $15 million for this year. The commission stated that the lengthy haul, and having to rely on other states to accept Frederick County’s waste, “is not considered a sustainable solution.”

Superintendent Trail said that since 2000, the park has spent about $4.5 million to stabilize historic buildings, rehabilitate the battlefield landscape and remove non-historic structures.

The park spent an additional $4 million for its new visitor center, which opened last June. Trail said visitation last year was 22,225, up from 18,579 in 2006. The park is projecting about 30,000 visitors this year.

She noted that while the proposed WTE site lies outside the park boundary, it is within the bounds of Monocacy National Battlefield National Historic Landmark. An attempt by the county to build a plant inside the landmark would trigger a federal review under the National Historic Preservation Act.

Trail said that even though the county is densely developed and Interstate 270 bisects the battlefield, “because of geography a lot of it is hidden, or at least it’s not in the foreground.” The WTE plant with its smokestack “would definitely draw the eye away from the landscape.”

The park and the county have worked in harmony before, Trail said, expressing a hope that relationship will continue. “It’s a good group of county commissioners, and the local community is supportive” of the park.