As Eric Trump fights Miami-Dade’s Doral incinerator plan, mayor wants vote delayed

Eric Trump, the son of the president-elect, has joined the fight against Miami-Dade County building a new incinerator in Doral. 

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava reportedly told him that she’s requesting a delay in next week’s planned vote by the County Commission on whether to put the $1.5 billion facility in the city, where President-elect Donald Trump owns a golf resort.

President-elect Donald Trump owns a golf resort in Doral, and on Monday the city’s mayor, Christi Fraga, said she would enlist the incoming president’s help in blocking Levine Cava’s recent recommendation to build a replacement incinerator in the same Doral location where the existing one stands. 

READ MORE: Doral vows action against county on incinerator, may try to recruit Trump to its cause

By Tuesday, Eric Trump, who runs his father’s resort business, was in touch with multiple county officials urging Miami-Dade to consider Doral off limits for a replacement incinerator after the existing one was shuttered by a fire in early 2023. 

Juan Carlos Bermudez, the Miami-Dade commissioner who represents Doral, confirmed having lunch Tuesday with Eric Trump at the Trump National Doral Miami and said it was his understanding that Levine Cava planned to request a delay in the planned Dec. 3 vote by commissioners on where to put the new incinerator. 

Bermudez has been leading the fight against a Doral location, and said he urged Eric Trump to help with the effort. 

“I had lunch with Eric and asked that he provide communication with their vehement opposition to this facility staying in Doral,” Bermudez said. In a statement posted on social media Tuesday night, Bermudez said that he hoped his meeting with Eric Trump and others in the Trump Organization will “continue to steer this discussion toward what is right for our community...”

Levine Cava was not available for comment on Tuesday night. 

Ken Russell, a former Miami city commissioner who now lobbies for the Sierra Club, said he recently had a discussion with Levine Cava over the possibility of expanded use of environmentally friendly landfills — with an emphasis on composting and recycling — taking the pressure off the need for a new incinerator.

“They feel like they don’t have a choice,” he said. “But they really do.” 

Two sources familiar with the call said Eric Trump had a phone conversation with Levine Cava on Tuesday where the county mayor, a Democrat, said she planned on requesting a deferral for the commission vote. 

It’s not known if Levine Cava had already decided the county needed more time before the planned vote — a decision that has been delayed throughout much of 2024 as commissioners and the mayor navigated the tricky politics of where to burn trash. 

Levine Cava had initially proposed an abandoned county airfield in northern Miami-Dade, but that drew fierce opposition from nearby Miramar in Broward County. Last week, she switched to recommending construction of the new incinerator in Doral, citing excessive costs for building it elsewhere. 

So far, President-elect Trump has remained silent on the incinerator plan and Bermudez said any role of the incoming presidential administration did not come up in his lunch with Trump’s son and a local Trump lobbyist, Felix Lasarte. 

Miami-Dade needs federal permits to build the incinerator and is counting on federal funds to defray the costs-- actions that will come under Trump’s authority after Jan. 20, 2025. 

Lasarte said Tuesday night that he has not spoken to President-elect Trump about the incinerator issue, but that Trump is not a fan of having an incinerator about three miles from his golf resort. 

“I know over the years, he did not like those smoke stacks there were out there,” he said. 

Lasarte said the Trump Organization is calling a new incinerator a bad choice for the resort but also a population center like Doral. 

While the existing incinerator drew complaints of foul odors from nearby residents, Levine Cava said the planned modern facility has ventilation systems that prevent smells from traveling and will remove most if not all of the objections from surrounding property owners.

Lasarte confirmed he and Eric Trump had a call with Levine Cava. On the call, Lasarte said he made the Trump Organization’s case for not putting the incinerator in Doral.

“It was a cordial call,” Lasarte said. “I expressed our concerns with the impacts to the resort and to Doral. She said they were reconsidering it and trying to come up with another alternative.” 

This story was originally published November 26, 2024 at 7:45 PM.