County Council Continues Deliberations on the Future of the Dickerson Incinerator

County Deliberates on Trash Overhaul Plans

Your voice matters. County leaders are considering the timeline for closing the Dickerson incinerator. Please urge the Council to keep the closure process moving and end trash burning in Dickerson for good.

CONTACT THE COUNCIL →
(Or, email all council members here:

countycouncil@montgomerycountymd.gov)

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Updated October 23, 2026

On October 20, Montgomery County residents gathered for a town hall hosted by Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles to discuss the future of the County's aging Dickerson trash incinerator. Representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) addressed questions about the costs, environmental impacts, and practical challenges of transitioning away from incineration.

The County Council reviewed 4 options currently under consideration. The discussion highlighted the important choices facing the County: continuing to operate and upgrade the incinerator, transitioning to truck hauling and landfill disposal, and introducing advanced waste processing technologies to reduce the amount of trash requiring disposal. Following the discussion, the panel reviewed pre-submitted questions from the community.

As the County Council moves closer to a decision, Sugarloaf Citizens Association (SCA) continues to advocate for closing the incinerator and moving toward safer, more sustainable waste management practices.

Zero Waste Responds to Reworld's Claims

As part of the ongoing Council deliberations, Reworld, the company that operates the Dickerson incinerator, has presented arguments for keeping the facility operating.

Our partner organization, Zero Waste Montgomery County, has prepared a detailed rebuttal addressing claims made by Reworld about Montgomery County's waste disposal options.

The 11-page rebuttal challenges what we believe are significant inaccuracies, misleading comparisons, and omissions in Reworld's presentation.

READ THE FULL REBUTTAL →

Key points from the rebuttal include:

Costs of Continued Incineration: Maintaining and upgrading the aging facility could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The rebuttal argues that transitioning to landfill disposal would provide greater financial flexibility as waste volumes decline.
Air Pollution and Public Health: The rebuttal raises serious concerns about toxic emissions, including dioxins and heavy metals, and challenges Reworld's claims about the facility's environmental performance and health risks.
Inadequate Emissions Monitoring: Although some pollutants are continuously monitored, many hazardous emissions are tested only annually or not at all, potentially missing significant fluctuations.
Climate Impacts: The rebuttal challenges Reworld's comparisons of incineration and landfilling, citing analyses indicating that incineration produces greater overall greenhouse gas emissions, even when transportation is considered.
Trucking Alternatives: The rebuttal disputes claims about increased traffic and transportation impacts, citing DEP's proposed truck routes and schedules designed to minimize disruption.
Electricity Production: The rebuttal questions Reworld's claims about the amount of electricity the incinerator generates and the number of homes it can power.
Long-Term Sustainability: Continued incineration could delay investments in composting, recycling, waste reduction, and other alternatives that would move the County closer to its zero-waste goals.
Toxic Ash Disposal: The rebuttal challenges Reworld's characterization of incinerator ash as harmless and raises concerns about its disposal and potential reuse.

The Zero Waste rebuttal provides a closer examination of these issues and the long-term consequences of continuing to operate the Dickerson incinerator.

What Happens Next? Your Voice Matters

The County Council’s next worksession is October 27, followed by a November 10 vote on whether to continue incinerating trash or send residual waste to landfills.

SCA continues to urge the Council to move forward with transitioning to truck hauling and environmentally vetted landfills, close the Dickerson incinerator, and invest in composting, waste reduction and advanced waste processing strategies.

The decisions made in the coming weeks will shape Montgomery County's waste management system for decades. Review our rebuttal, stay informed and reach out to all of the County Councilmembers and let them know you want to stop burning our trash and start composting now.

Email all council members here → countycouncil@montgomerycountymd.gov

County Council Approves 18-month Pause on Data Centers

Updated July 29, 2026

The Montgomery County Council on July 28 unanimously approved an 18-month moratorium on large-scale data centers.

None can be approved, and no applications for data centers can be processed during the moratorium and before the County develops zoning rules regulating them.

The measure encompasses the proposal by a company called Atmosphere to build a 110-acre, 5-building data center campus in Dickerson.

The Council also adopted a definition of “large-scale” or “hyperscale” data centers to clarify the kind of facility it seeks to stop for now.

The 18-month pause is intended to allow the Council and other County officials to thoroughly evaluate the risks posed by large data centers, and to draft regulations that will specify where they can be built and what rules they have to abide by.

There’s tension in that space already. Atmosphere released an updated plan and analysis of its proposal on July 20. The company is saying it will likely be unable to meet certain desires and requests from County lawmakers and advocacy groups. And the company’s CEO, Chuck McBride, told media outlets he was “disappointed” in the Council’s approval of the moratorium.

“Throughout this process, we worked collaboratively with the Council and other stakeholders to demonstrate that the Dickerson Data Center Campus is a unique redevelopment opportunity and to develop what we believe would be one of the most sustainable data center campuses possible,” McBride told The Banner.

The company had filed an appeal against a previous 6-month administrative moratorium imposed by County Executive Marc Elrich, asserting he had overstepped his authority. A similar suit against the Council’s measure would almost certainly be unsuccessful. Notably, the company has threatened numerous times since January to abandon the project if a moratorium was imposed.

Per the company’s July 20 project analysis, some County officials and advocacy groups would like to see aggressive efforts to use cleaner renewable energy to power the proposed facility. The company is asserting, however, that the mix of power sources for the Dickerson data center will not be able to meet “unrealistic” renewable energy goals—due to restraints inherent in the power grid in the mid-Atlantic area.

Issues around water use (from the Potomac River), noise, the role of the facility’s diesel generators, taxation, and other challenges also need addressing. The company claims it is striving to achieve “best practices” in these areas. But no independent assessment of its plans has yet been done.

The moratorium is a clear victory for County residents’ advocacy. On June 16, some 80 people testified at a public hearing on the issue; the vast majority supported a moratorium. Hundreds of other citizens have submitted written comments in recent months, also overwhelmingly supporting a moratorium.

Montgomery County, with this action, becomes the latest jurisdiction in Maryland and nationally to place pauses on data centers approvals.

The reasons are now quite straightforward: lawmakers and citizens alike are just beginning to understand this complex technology and its significant scope and potential impact (positive and negative) on communities.

Many jurisdictions, including Montgomery County, now realize they must involve independent experts to help assess data center proposals.

The 18-month pause means that the present Council and the next Council—as well as a new County Executive—will be dealing with this issue.

Both the new Council and County Executive assume office at noon on Monday, December 7. Importantly, re-elected Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe will be Council President in 2027 and provide an important bridge and leadership on data centers. She has been the lead person to date drafting the data center zoning ordinance.

SCA Candidate Forums: Video & Candidate Position Summaries

SCA Candidate Forums: Video & Candidate Position Summary

May 20, 2026

Watch the Democratic Candidate Forum

A recording of the April 23, 2026 Democratic Candidate Forum is available here. We thank the participating Democratic candidates — Mithun Bangeree, Andrew Friedson, Evan Glass, Peter James, and Will Jawando — for sharing their priorities, experience, and vision for Montgomery County.

We also thank the Republican candidates — Shelley Skolnick and Ester Wells — who participated in the separate Republican Candidate Forum held on May 7, 2026. See photos below.

We are also grateful to the Montgomery County Farm Bureau for co-sponsoring these events.

SCA hosted two forums for Montgomery County Executive candidates at Clarksburg High School. The forum for five Democrat candidates on April 23 attracted approximately 70 people. The two Republican candidates presented their positions to an audience of around 25 people on May 7.

The focus of both sessions was farm policy, the Ag Reserve (AR), land use, and zoning in the up-county. Discussion of the county’s trash incinerator and the proposal for a data center in Dickerson was prominent. Attendees submitted their questions for candidates online prior to the event.

SCA, as a 501(c)(3) organization, does not endorse candidates for office. The purpose of the sessions was to facilitate public awareness of all the candidates and their positions on issues pertinent to the AR and rural areas of the county.

Notably, all the candidates expressed strong support for preserving and protecting the Ag Reserve—the nearly one-third of Montgomery County zoned for farmland preservation, low-density development, and open space. But different paths to supporting the AR against looming threats were presented. Indeed, some of the candidates didn’t seem to have a strong grasp of those threats. The debate over allowing non-farm related activities on farms that remove good quality farmland out of crop and food production is one such example.

The candidates were supportive of closing the Dickerson trash incinerator—a goal SCA has pursued for more than a decade. But the candidates had differences of opinion about the best path to achieve that goal even as the county seeks to transform and upgrade its trash management systems (including a transition from burning non-recyclable trash to trucking it to environmentally sound landfills).

The candidates were aware of the proposal to create a large-scale data center campus in Dickerson, on an existing industrial site. None expressed outright opposition to the proposal. But positions varied on how the county should evaluate the idea and in what timeframe, and how the County Council should proceed in its task to write rules to govern where data centers can be built and what environmental and safety protections should apply to them. One Democrat candidate has proposed a six-month moratorium on any approvals for data centers. Another Democrat has proposed a 2-year moratorium.

Both those measures will be taken up in the Council soon. SCA supports a six-month moratorium but only if the law encompasses the Dickerson proposal. An early version of the six-month moratorium lacked clarity on whether it applied to the Dickerson proposal.

Press Release: Immediate Closure of Montgomery County’s Aging Trash Incinerator Demanded Following Disclosure of Additional Dioxin Leak

Immediate Closure of Montgomery County’s Aging Trash Incinerator Demanded Following Disclosure of Additional Dioxin Leak

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2026

Printable/PDF Version

Media Contact:
Lauren Greenberger
Vice President, Sugarloaf Citizens Association
lgreenberger@hotmail.com

Immediate Closure of Montgomery County’s Aging Trash Incinerator Demanded Following Disclosure of Additional Dioxin Leak

DICKERSON, Md.— Following our February 20, 2026, press release on the topic, Sugarloaf Citizens Association received notification that a second and more hazardous dioxin and furan discharge occurred at the Montgomery County waste incinerator in Dickerson, MD.

The Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection has released two statements about this leak: Feb 20, 2026 and Dec 17, 2025. The most recent test results show Unit 3 total dioxins and furans discharged averaged 54.8 ng/dscm at 7% oxygen, exceeding the limit of 30 ng/dscm at 7% oxygen.

This discharge is nearly double the allowable limit and 30 times greater than the average annual stack test results (2.6ng/dscm) for the past 3 years, according to data reported on the County website. There are no established safe limits for dioxin emissions. We are not aware of any similar testing done yet on the third operating boiler, Unit 1.

The incinerator, operated by Reworld, is currently the endpoint for all the county’s non-recyclable solid waste.

Given this updated and highly concerning test result, Sugarloaf Citizen Association urgently calls on Montgomery County leadership to act:

We ask the County Executive and his Department of Environmental Protection for immediate closure of the waste incinerator as a response to this emergency and temporarily haul the county’s trash by truck to an interim landfill site.
We ask Montgomery County Council members to approve the County Executive’s FY27 budget that will include permanently shuttering the incinerator, ending toxic ash dumping on a community in Virginia, hauling what we can't recycle to a well-vetted landfill, and initiating robust food-scrap composting, and other well-studied waste reduction strategies.

Incinerator + Waste Management, Water + PollutionSCAFebruary 27, 2026Dickerson incinerator, dioxin leak, press release, spotlightComment

Press Release: Dioxin Leak at Dickerson Incinerator Prompts Call for Closure

Dioxin Leak at Dickerson Incinerator Prompts Call for Closure

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 20, 2026

Printable/PDF Version

Media Contact:
Lauren Greenberger
Vice President, Sugarloaf Citizens Association
lgreenberger@hotmail.com

Dioxin Leak Adds Urgency to Shuttering Montgomery County’s Aging Trash Incinerator

DICKERSON, Md. — Alarmed by reports of a recent massive dioxin leak at the aging Montgomery County trash incinerator in Dickerson, MD, Sugarloaf Citizens Association (SCA) urges the Montgomery County Council to move forward expeditiously with plans to end trash burning and haul the county’s waste to vetted landfills outside the County.

The incinerator, operated by Reworld, is currently the endpoint for all the county’s non-recyclable solid waste.

In November 2025, a report by the county’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) revealed that the incinerator was emitting nearly double the permitted limit—and 21 times more dioxin and furans than the last test in 2024. There is no safe emissions limit established for these toxic chemicals.

The dioxin leak from the 30-year-old incinerator comes amid longstanding concerns about health hazards to the community and local agriculture associated with trash incineration, which also produces other toxic chemical emissions such as mercury, sulfur dioxide, arsenic, beryllium, lead, nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter into the region’s air.

“Further delay by DEP or the County Council is unacceptable,” says Lauren Greenberger, SCA vice president. “We have advocated for an alternative to incineration for more than a decade, given the incinerator’s profile as the worst single source of air pollution and greenhouse gases in Montgomery County. This recent leak is yet more evidence that this aging facility is a continuing dire public health threat.”

Reworld estimated in 2025 that it would cost from $50 million to $100 million to keep the facility operating safely and efficiently for another 7 to 10 years. More recently, DEP cited potential costs as high as $365 million in that timeframe. Most trash incinerators are decommissioned after approximately 22 to 27 years of use.

Incinerator + Waste Management, Water + PollutionSCAFebruary 20, 2026Dickerson incinerator, dioxin leak, press release, spotlightComment

Our Position on Agritourism

November 17, 2025

The following statement was issued the week of November 10, 2025 by four organizations who are involved in protecting and preserving the Ag Reserve, including SCA. Please feel free to distribute it. And please consider commenting on it in the section below.

Position Statement PDF

Centering Agriculture in Agritourism: A Joint Position Statement on Agritourism
11/3/2025
Montgomery County Farm Bureau, Montgomery Agricultural Producers
Montgomery Countryside Alliance and Sugarloaf Citizens Association

In 1980, Montgomery County enacted a visionary solution to stem the loss of farms and farmland. It created the Agricultural Reserve, which has been lauded as the nation’s most innovative and successful farmland protection effort. Montgomery County has reaped the benefits of this initiative every day. The Ag Reserve has preserved farms and farming opportunities; it enables local food and grain production; it protects water and air quality for the region; and it provides an array of outdoor recreational opportunities for the entire County. The farms of the Ag Reserve contribute $281 million annually and support over 10,000 jobs in the County.

Maryland lost an average of 2,400 acres of farmland each year between 2017 and 2022. Montgomery County’s land use policies have helped stem the loss of producing farms here, but maintaining thriving farms requires care.

The Ag Reserve remains one of the County’s best ideas – an achievement many other jurisdictions envy. The fundamental purpose of the Reserve—to protect thriving farms—will be strengthened through enhanced connections between producing farms and residents in the County’s urban and suburban areas.

Agricultural tourism is thriving in the Ag Reserve. Many farmers are enhancing revenue by building new markets for their farm products. For decades, thousands of visitors have flocked to Ag Reserve farms to shop at farm stores, for “pick your own” produce, harvest festivals, wineries, breweries, cideries, corn mazes, educational farm tours, animal visits, farm-to-table dinners, and equestrian events. Agritourism connects consumers with local farms not only for purchasing local products but also to build greater understanding about how food is produced and why it is important to support a strong local food system.

A Fragile Balance

Why then is the subject of agritourism becoming somewhat controversial? It’s simple: Some landowners (or land speculators) seek to profit from land planned and zoned as protected farmland by introducing commercial activities that are not associated with farming. Land in the Reserve has been zoned to ensure that it will remain reasonably affordable for farmers to lease or purchase. Business investors who are not farmers, if allowed to divert land from the primary use of farming, will attract other land investors with non-farming ideas. Providing for non-agricultural commercial uses of the Reserve is already driving up the cost of land for bona fide farmers, including, importantly, next 2 generation producers. Promoting competition for land from distinctly non-agricultural commercial uses does not support the Ag Reserve and the local agricultural economy. Rather, it undermines it.

Agriculture + AgritourismSCANovember 17, 2025agritourism, Doug Lechlider, Bob Cissel, Caroline TaylorComment

Welcome to the new Royce Hanson Conservation Park in Dickerson

October 14, 2025

Kudos to Montgomery County, the Montgomery County Parks Foundation, and an advocacy group of County residents for creating the Royce Hanson Conservation Park at Broad Run.

This new 475-acre park at 21765 Club Hollow Road in Dickerson will celebrate farming and the Ag Reserve—through educational programs, interpretation of the area’s rich agricultural history, and the enjoyment of nature.

With trails and recreational opportunities for hikers, cyclists, and equestrians, there’s something for everyone.

Most important, the new park celebrates Dr. Royce Hanson—a true visionary—and the County policymakers that worked with him to create the Ag Reserve in 1980.

Born in Depression-era Oklahoma, Dr. Hanson grew up to become an academic, a public servant, author, urban planner, conservationist, and advocate for farming, wilderness, and outdoor recreation. He served two terms as Chairman of the Montgomery County Planning Board, first from 1972 to 1981, and again from 2006 to 2010. From 2009 to 2022, Dr. Hanson served on the Board of the Montgomery County Parks Foundation.

Thanks to his and the County’s commitment, the Ag Reserve—comprising a third of the county—has become a national model of agricultural preservation in a densely populated area.

The Montgomery Parks Foundation has launched a $100,000 fundraising campaign to enhance the park’s facilities and educational programming. You can donate via the Foundation’s website.

Conservation Land Use + Zoning, EventsSCAOctober 27, 2025Royce Hanson Conservation Park, spotlightComment

Our Position on Solar Energy in Montgomery County and Maryland

Updated: July 18, 2025

Note: The Summer 2025 issue of PLENTY magazine features an article by SCA President Steven Findlay on the new state solar law, which went into effect July 1. The piece explores how the legislation evolved, what it does, and the debate surrounding it.

Click here to view/download the full article.

Below is an updated web post on this issue. Details on the new law—which are complex—can be found in the PLENTY piece and are not addressed in this post.

A new state law—The Renewable Energy Certainty Act—went into effect on July 1. It aims to significantly expand solar energy generation in Maryland. It does that by:

Streamlining regulations for the assessment of proposed ground-based solar facilities
Giving solar companies easier access to farmland—around 120,000 acres throughout the state, and
Preventing counties from denying permits for utility-scale solar projects.

We’ll now see how the law affects the solar industry—whether it prompts a flood or just a trickle of new proposals. We’ll see how the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC), which is charged with reviewing solar proposals, adapts its process to the new law. We’ll see how easily the state’s energy companies and regulators accommodate new solar proposals—that is, accept them for addition to the grid, and in what timeframe. And, finally, we’ll see just how many landowners/farmers in the Ag Reserve are interested in converting some of their land from agriculture to solar energy generation.

Before the law passed the legislature in April, no certainty existed around the scope of landowner interest, beyond the anecdotal and a few projects already in process.

Joined by Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA), the Montgomery Farm Bureau (MFB), and Montgomery Agricultural Producers (MAP), SCA will be closely tracking implementation of the law and solar proposals in the Ag Reserve and Montgomery County.

The state’s Department of Agriculture is due to release a fact sheet and Q&A on the law soon. We’ll share those with you when we get them.

Solar companies continue to contact landowners in and near the Ag Reserve, offering to evaluate their land for possible solar development. Neither state nor county officials appear to be tracking those offers. Landowners have reported solar offers that would net them 10 to 20 times more money than leasing to a farmer.

That issue and the concept of converting historically agricultural land to non-farm use triggered fierce opposition to the new law in some quarters. SCA shared that concern and fought to amend the bill.

Our main concern: the law appears to create a “slippery slope” that could undermine the ag economy and Ag Reserve over time. But just how steep that slippery slope might be depends on many factors—not the least of which is how the entities that regulate energy supply react.

The most important of those entities is PJM Interconnection. PJM is responsible for operating the wholesale energy market in 13 states and Washington, DC, including Maryland. For years, PJM has told state lawmakers and regulators that it was “backlogged” on solar projects—because such projects had proliferated. Will that backlog now change under the new law and amid rising energy demand? It’s not clear.

Read Article: Maryland county may spend $57 million on incinerator it wants to close

Updated June 4, 2025

In case you missed it, an article published in The Washington Post on Monday June 2 covers machinations around the Dickerson incinerator. SCA is quoted. Read the full article: Maryland county may spend $57 million on incinerator it wants to close. For those who may not have access to The Washington Post, click here to read a PDF of the full article.

Trash Burning No Longer Considered “Renewable Energy” in Maryland

April 10, 2025

Maryland lawmakers enacted legislation on April 7 ending Maryland’s classification of trash incineration as “renewable energy.”

It’s been considered that since 2011, as part of the state’s “renewable portfolio standard” program. As such, the energy generated in “waste-to-energy” (or “refuse-derived fuel) facilities, such as the one in Dickerson, was treated the same as energy produced by solar and wind facilities. That included subsidies to help promote renewable energy sources.

Thus, incinerators effectively took money out of the pockets of solar, wind and other clean energy companies—even as incinerators polluted the air and generated greenhouse gases. Since 2011, Maryland consumers have supported the Dickerson incinerator to the tune of around $30 million.

The new law is a huge win for environmental, civic and energy justice groups—includingSCA—which have been pushing this outcome for years.

Maryland is now the second state, after California, to delete trash incineration from its renewable energy portfolio.

“It’s about time,” said Lauren Greenberger, SCA’s vice president and main advocate on the issue. “It’s been such a ‘waste’ of money—pun intended—and has helped prop up the remaining incinerators in the state, which are too old, inefficient, and produce dirty energy.”

Added Jennifer Kunze, Maryland Program Director with Clean Water Action: “This action will help support the development of zero waste infrastructure by making it easier for composting, reuse and recycling, and other healthier solid waste management practices to compete without fighting uphill against state subsidies supporting the worst solid waste management option.”

Power Line Project is a Bad Idea

December 5, 2024

A proposed high-energy power line extending 70 miles from the Baltimore area to Adamstown would threaten an estimated 4,000 acres of farmland, forests and wildlife habitats. It would also require permanent easements on dozens of farms and private properties to site hundreds of 140-foot-tall transmission towers.

SCA joins the Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick County governments, the Maryland Farm Bureau, Preservation Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and a host of regional environmental in opposition to the project. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in late November he had “grave concerns” about the project but has not yet opposed it.

We urge you to learn more online and at StopMPRP.com. MPRP stands for Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project.

Power lines are, of course, a necessary fixture of modern life. When they are justified, we support them and live with the eyesore. But the necessity of this one has been widely questioned. It will mainly provide power to the burgeoning data center industry in Virginia, and not Maryland homes and businesses. But Marylanders will help pay the estimated $424 million cost of the project.

The project also relies on outdated infrastructure. Experts consulted by StopMPRP say more sustainable and efficient alternatives are available.

There are larger issues at play, too. Maryland lacks a coherent long-term energy strategy that takes the environment, the well-being of residents, and climate change into consideration—even as demand for energy is expected to rise sharply over the next decade.

County Enhances Food Compost Effort

November 15, 2024

This month, Montgomery County launched the latest phase of its initiative to reduce food waste by encouraging businesses and residents to compost instead of discarding food scraps in the trash. (See a short video later in this article.)

Food scraps account for about one-quarter of the county's total trash volume. In 2023, the county estimates that approximately 90,000 tons of food waste ended up in the trash, most of which was incinerated at the county's facility in Dickerson.

Composting food scraps is an environmentally beneficial practice (and thus, a no-brainer), but it requires significant changes in behavior for households and businesses, as well as adaptations to the county’s waste management systems. The county has been running a pilot composting program for several years and now plans to increase participation and enhance its infrastructure.

Part of this effort includes allowing residents to “recycle” food scraps at the curbside, just as they do with glass, plastic, paper, and cardboard. The collected scraps would be transported to a central location, likely the Dickerson yard trim compost facility.

Click “Read More” to go to the full article and watch a short YouTube video of the County’s recent ceremony on the composting initiative.

Montgomery County Council Approves Limited Camping in Ag Reserve

Updated August 12, 2024

The Montgomery County Council in late July approved a zoning ordinance that will allow some landowners in the Ag Reserve to host overnight guests in what will essentially be private campgrounds open to the public. The measure goes into affect August 19.

The new ordinance—called Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 24-02—was approved by the 11-member Council after eight months of debate that ended in a compromise, scaled-down version of an earlier proposal. That proposal drew broad opposition from farmers and Ag Reserve groups, including SCA.

The measure as passed has the following allowances, limits, and restrictions:

• Campgrounds can be on working farms only. Thus, entrepreneurs thinking about buying land in the Ag Reserve solely to develop a private campground would not be permitted to do so.

• Landowners must submit plans for a private campground to the county for evaluation under “conditional use” rules. That means County officials will evaluate each proposal on its own merits and “conditions” may be imposed depending on the specific needs of the property and neighborhood.

• A property must be at least 25 acres to qualify for a campground.

• A campground can encompass only 10% of a property’s total acreage, or 5 acres, whichever is smaller.

• Campsites don’t have to be clustered in one area. If spread out, however, they still must comply with the 10% or 5-acre limit

• A campground must be 100 feet from any neighboring property line.

• Properties of 25 to 100 acres can have up to 5 sites for tent or RV camping, or temporary removable structures such as yurts or small cabin on wheels.

• Properties larger than 100 acres can have up to 10 such sites, of which only 5 can be for RV camping.

• No tents, RVs, or removable structures are permitted in a stream buffer or floodplain, and cutting down trees to create a campground is prohibited.

• Temporary removable structures cannot be larger than 200 square feet.

• Such structures cannot have heating or air conditioning systems, kitchens or bathrooms. RVs can have such amenities.

• Property owners are not required to provide separate bathrooms, bathing facilities, or cooking facilities. If they do, those facilities must meet existing county codes, including those for septic systems, and be approved by county authorities.

• Guests can stay a maximum of 3 nights only.

SCA Supports Proposed White’s Ferry Deal

April 29, 2024

After more than three years, a possible deal is in the works to reopen White’s Ferry. This is an unexpected and very promising development.

Before it stopped operating in December 2020, the ferry served as a vital and historic link between Virginia and northern Montgomery County for over 200 years. It was one of the oldest such car ferries in the country, the only remaining ferry running on the Potomac (of more than 100 that once operated), and the only river crossing in a 35-mile stretch between the American Legion Bridge and a bridge near Point of Rocks.

As such, White’s Ferry was an historic treasure as well as a functional service. Routine commuter and commercial traffic—between 600 and 800 cars a day—yielded benefits to both Virginia and Maryland communities.

Protecting the Sugarloaf Mountain Area

Updated January 6, 2024

On December 19, 2023, the Frederick County Council voted down a once-in-a-generation proposal to strengthen conservation and agricultural zoning on 19,700 acres in the southern part of the county.

The area in question in Frederick County is contiguous with Montgomery County’s Ag Reserve. It encompasses 3,400-acre Sugarloaf Mountain and an additional 16,300 acres to the east of the mountain all the way to I-270.

The vote came after a three-year process, which saw the Frederick County Council approve a comprehensive land-use plan—the Sugarloaf Mountain Treasured Landscape Management Plan—for the area in the fall of 2022. The Council struggled, however, to come to political consensus and agreement in 2022 and again in 2023 on an accompanying zoning ordinance—called an “overlay”—that would implement and enforce the plan’s land-use guidance.

That struggle occurred despite urging by Frederick County’s own planning commission and the Maryland’s Department of the Environment to approve the overlay.

In a nutshell, the debate pitted environmental and civic groups (including SCA) against developers, real estate interests, and business groups. The latter prevailed in a county long bent on loosely regulated growth.

The practical upshot is that the area’s existing zoning stays in place, with no updated conservation protections for natural resources, streams, trees or natural habitat— amid the known and unknown threats posed by climate change.

Importantly, that existing zoning largely prevents commercial and dense housing development without explicit permission from Frederick County authorities. But the failure of the Frederick County Council to enact the overlay opens up a path for developers and landowners to apply for zoning exemptions on a case-by-case basis.

Montgomery County's Sole Source Aquifer — The Good Gift

Montgomery County's Sole Source Aquifer - The Good Gift

January 9, 2024

This article is excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of Plenty Magazine. We present the initial portion of the article. You may then link to Plenty’s website to read the remainder of the piece, and see the charts and photos that accompany it.

“Our aquifer is the bloodstream for all farmers in the Agricultural Reserve. It’s what sustains us.”
Gene Kingsbury, Kingsbury’s Orchard

More often than not, when asked, folks in the D.C. metro region do not really have a fix on where the water that flows from their faucets comes from. Sure, residents and businesses know that they pay Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) for their water and sewage service, and they may know that the origin of their water is the mighty Potomac River. But as to the details—filtration plant operations, the infrastructure that delivers the water from plants to homes and businesses, what happens when there is prolonged drought, these bits are hardly known.

More mysterious to many is where roughly 25-30,000 homes, businesses and farm enterprises get their water from in the nearly one-third of Montgomery County that is wholly outside the WSSC service area by design. nd that if the story I aim to share in two parts.

Our Unfolding Food Emergency

January 3, 2024

This article is excerpted from the Autumn Harvest Season 2023 issue of Plenty Magazine. We present the initial portion of the article. You may then link to Plenty’s website to read the remainder of the piece, and see the charts and photos that accompany it.

The Montgomery County Council was uniquely visionary in 1980 when it protected 90,000 acres, nearly one-third of the county, for agricultural purposes. Now is the time to create more opportunities in the Agricultural Reserve for robust food production.

Stepping into a supermarket in 2020 or 2021 was a surreal experience—and wearing masks was only one reason. Empty shelves glared out at us. Where were the neatly shrink-wrapped packages of chicken? Why were there no eggs to be had? Peanut butter was in short supply, as were coffee and milk. There were many factors behind these shortages, but according to the Center for Strategic Studies, “The U.S. Food supply chain is highly efficient with low levels of redundancy, meaning that a small disruption in one part of the system can have cascading effects and cause food shipments to be delayed by days or weeks.”

Agriculture + AgritourismSCAJanuary 3, 2024Plenty MagazineComment

Going Underground

December 18, 2023

By Ellen Gordon

“We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.” —Leonardo Da Vinci

This article is excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of Plenty Magazine. We present the initial portion of the article. You may then link to Plenty’s website to read the remainder of the piece, and see the charts and photos that accompany it.

Stand outside during the tail end of winter and the local landscape is quiet, a palette of soft grays and browns—dormant-seeming, except for the scurrying of squirrels or a line of honking geese overhead. Deciduous trees are largely bare, apart from oaks and beeches, whose dead leaves cling to them for most of winter—a strategy dubbed marcescence—but that’s another story. No new sprigs of green, no burst of floral colors. By early March, many of us are desperate for spring, overflowing with signs of its rebirth.

But just below our feet lies an entire world whose activity barely shows all winter, a vital realm brimming with as much life, if not more, than we can see in plain sight. In reality, there are more living organisms in the soil than all the other life forms above ground! When we aren’t disrupting their work, the nourishment they help liberate is ready the moment the soil warms enough to activate growth in plants and to awaken seeds. In fact, “Soil is alive. Much more than a prop to hold up your plants, healthy soil is a jungle of voracious creatures eating and pooping and reproducing their way toward glorious soil fertility,” says Kathy Merrifield, a retired Oregon State University scientist.

SCA is 2023 Recipient of Royce Hanson Award

October 10, 2023

Great News! SCA is this year’s recipient of the Royce Hanson award. The award is given each year by Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA) “in recognition of outstanding commitment toward the protection of Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve.”

The award is named for its first recipient, Dr. Royce Hanson, former Chair of the Montgomery County Planning Commission and original architect of the Ag Reserve. You can view past winners, since 2005, here.

In its write-up on this year’s award, MCA said of SCA:

“Tenacious, and scrappy when needed, SCA is on the frontlines when ill-conceived land use proposals surface. But they are also forward thinking about the need to promote the Reserve’s role in climate change and food system resiliency. Their headquarters, Linden Farm in Dickerson, serves dual roles as community event/meeting space and home to an important regenerative farming pilot. No doubt that the Reserve’s future vibrancy will rely on the continued work of SCA and their resourceful and dedicated members.”

Conservation Land Use + ZoningSCAOctober 8, 2023Royce Hanson Award, awardsComment

Probing Toxic Chemicals in the Ag Reserve

February 22, 2023

A class of toxic chemicals called PFAS can contaminate water, farmland, wells, and crops. These chemicals have been linked to cancer and other diseases and do not break down in the environment. An organization called PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) is leading an effort to probe whether PFAS chemicals are present—and if so, to what degree—on Ag Reserve land and in water sources.

Testing to date has yielded concerning results. Levels of several forms of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances of which there are thousands) are substantially higher than EPA recommended quantities in drinking water in Poolesville. As a result, the town closed two of its 12 wells. These concerning results also led SCA and Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA) to join PEER in January in calling on Montgomery County officials to prohibit the use of certain PFAS-containing fertilizers, called biosolids, on county agricultural land—to prevent further contamination of ground and surface waters.

PFAS in such fertilizers have led to shutdowns of dairies, ranches, and other farming operations in states from Maine to New Mexico. In Maryland, lab testing found high levels of PFAS in certain fertilizers. These products are used on county agriculture fields, golf courses and public lands. PFAS from biosolids migrate to surface water and groundwater. They are also absorbed by plants and ingested by humans and livestock.

PEER and its affiliated groups are now exploring the logistics of testing for PFAS in other areas of the Ag Reserve. If you’re interested in learning more, contact Tim Whitehouse at PEER, twhitehouse@peer.org.

SCA Issues

County Deliberates on Trash Overhaul Plans

Zero Waste Responds to Reworld's Claims

What Happens Next? Your Voice Matters

County Council Approves 18-month Pause on Data Centers

SCA Candidate Forums: Video & Candidate Position Summary

Watch the Democratic Candidate Forum

Immediate Closure of Montgomery County’s Aging Trash Incinerator Demanded Following Disclosure of Additional Dioxin Leak

Dioxin Leak at Dickerson Incinerator Prompts Call for Closure

Our Position on Agritourism

A Fragile Balance

Welcome to the new Royce Hanson Conservation Park in Dickerson

Our Position on Solar Energy in Montgomery County and Maryland

Read Article: Maryland county may spend $57 million on incinerator it wants to close

Trash Burning No Longer Considered “Renewable Energy” in Maryland

Power Line Project is a Bad Idea

County Enhances Food Compost Effort

Montgomery County Council Approves Limited Camping in Ag Reserve

SCA Supports Proposed White’s Ferry Deal

Protecting the Sugarloaf Mountain Area

Montgomery County's Sole Source Aquifer - The Good Gift

Our Unfolding Food Emergency

Going Underground

SCA is 2023 Recipient of Royce Hanson Award

Probing Toxic Chemicals in the Ag Reserve