For all their talk about not wanting to “kick the can” down the road, Miami-Dade commissioners are really good at it. Last week, the commission once again postponed making a decision on the long-term solution to the county’s solid waste disposal needs — which became an urgent issue after the waste-to-energy facility in Doral burned down about two years ago.
And their lack of action has led state legislators to, once again, put their grubby little hands on our local issues with proposed laws that would create a buffer zone for any new solid waste facility — potentially limiting the county’s options.
State Sen. Bryan Avila this week introduced a bill that would prohibit local governments and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection from issuing construction permits for new solid waste disposal or waste-to-energy facilities within a half mile of residential properties, commercial properties or schools.
So, basically, anywhere?
Read related: Miami-Dade garbage incinerator talks look more like a stinky dumpster fire
“After extensive input from my residents in NW Miami-Dade County, I am proud to have filed SB 1008 (Waste Incineration) this morning,” Avila posted on his social media Monday. “This bill will prohibit a local government from issuing a construction permit for a new solid waste disposal facility that uses an ash-producing incinerator or for a waste-to-energy facility if the proposed location of 
the facility is within a one-half mile radius of any residential property, commercial property, or school.”
Specifically, the bill adds new restrictions “that explicitly prevent the issuance of construction permits for ash-producing incinerator facilities or waste-to-energy facilities near populated or educational areas,” according to the Bill Tracker 50 website. The bill is set to take effect on July 1.
Well, what do you know? That’s when the commission will take it up again. They voted last week to direct Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to come back in 120 days with a report — or more like an analysis with side-by-side comparison — giving them some time to digest the options before meeting in July to make a decision.
Maybe. If they don’t play kick the can again. Which, Ladra would not bet against. No matter how many assurances we got from Chairman Anthony Rodriguez.
Several commissioners, notably Oliver Gilbert and Danielle Cohen Higgins, could not imagine what new information the administration might bring. Cohen Higgins suggested letting the private sector pick a site and make an unsolicited proposal. Gilbert kept pushing Doral and wondered what happened to the proposition that the city pay a special tax (read: extortion fee) so that the incinerator would not be rebuilt there.
Read related: To keep a new Miami-Dade garbage incinerator away, get ready to pay
Commissioner Raquel Regalado said that there had been several decisions made already, like transporting our trash on trains to central Florida landfills, which she said we got at a “locked in” price for the next 10 years.
Commissioner Eileen Higgins is “less hopeful we’ll get clear and incise information,” as she said at the meeting last week. 
“Every time they write a memo it contradicts the memo they wrote before.”
And the administration has gone around and around on this. First they like Doral for a location to rebuild, it’s the cheapest and fastest option. Then they pivoted to the western property near the Everglades and Miramar. Then they pivoted to landfills.
It’s no wonder state legislators want to take it out of the local yokels’ hands.
Wait, aren’t Rodriguez and Avila pals? A head’s up might have been nice.
Avila’s is not the only bill trying to take the decision out of the county commission’s hands. State Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez introduced a bill last week that would prohibit a local government entity from applying for or approving a permit for certain waste facilities — include “solid waste facilities, municipal solid waste-to-energy facilities, pyrolysis facilities, solid waste disposal facilities, and incinerators” — within two miles of the Everglades Protection Area, the Everglades Construction Project, or any water storage or conveyance structures” related to certain water management projects.
This bill, which preempts local regulations on this matter, giving the state exclusive authority to manage such permitting, would also take effect July 1.
Like Commissioner Marlien Bastien said at last week’s meeting: “This all sounds like deja vu again.”
As Miami-Dade stalls again on incinerator, state legislators take it on added by Ladra on
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