Companies pursuing a Miami-Dade incinerator throw up their hands (for now)

As Miami-Dade’s elected leaders drag their feet on where to put a new garbage incinerator and how to pay for it, the two companies that were expected to build the facility are backing away from the project.

Two allied bidding teams headed by Florida Power and Light and FCC Environmental Services notified county leaders on Wednesday that they “jointly agreed to pause further advancement of the proposal until such time as the County confirms it is prepared to proceed in a decisive and coordinated manner.”

For now, the letter leaves Miami-Dade without a developer of what’s expected to be a $2 billion incinerator plant to replace the one in Doral that was shut down by a fire in early 2023. While the Doral incinerator used to burn about half of the county’s daily trash supply, Miami-Dade is now using trucks and trains to send its garbage to landfills across Florida.

While FPL and FCC initially planned to compete for the incinerator deal, the County Commission’s chair, Anthony Rodriguez, won approval for legislation asking them to join forces and submit one bid.

The companies have been negotiating a preliminary development deal with the administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, though she recently questioned whether an incinerator plan was even worth pursuing.

After county commissioners last month rejected her plan for a $14 increase in Miami-Dade’s yearly trash rate, the mayor released a memo warning there was no need to continue spending consultant dollars on an incinerator plan if the commission won’t get behind the higher trash rates needed to pay for it.

The letter from vice presidents from the two companies — FCC’s Ashley Corke and FPL’s Timothy Oliver — does not mention the flap over trash rates. But it has indirect criticism of the Levine Cava administration for roadblocks to reaching a preliminary development deal that could be brought to the commission for approval. The letter hints at friction behind closed doors.

“The Consortium has acted in good faith throughout this process, and cannot accept any characterization suggesting otherwise,” the letter read. “We have consistently and expeditiously responded to County requests, invested significant resources, and worked diligently to advance the project while addressing evolving County requirements.”

In a statement, Levine Cava’s office said the county hasn’t received enough information from the companies to send an agreement to commissioners.

“The Mayor believes it would be irresponsible to enter into an agreement before having a clear understanding of the costs, and confidence that it protects ratepayers,” the statement said.

FCC and FPL said they’re ready to restart work on the proposal once Miami-Dade addresses the main concerns. That could include the hardest question of all: where to build a trash-burning incinerator.

While Levine Cava and commissioners in late 2024 looked poised to build a replacement incinerator in Doral, that plan was abandoned after President Donald Trump won that year’s election and one of his sons, Eric Trump, promptly vowed to fight Miami-Dade on putting an incinerator near the family’s golf resort.

Various sites have been floated since then, but each faced pushback over finances or proximity to residential neighborhoods. FCC and FPL said it’s hard to plan for an incinerator without knowing where it would go.

“Site selection is a policy decision that directly impacts technical development, permitting strategy, commercial structuring, and overall project feasibility,” the letter read.