Update on the possible Borgwardt Crematorium

There was an updated, albeit, informal community meeting at the Beltsville Library on August 18th. It was held as a hybrid meeting as well, there was a virtual option via Google meetings.

There was a presentation by Donna Borgwardt-Mabry and then by Paul Seyler, from Mathews Environmental Solutions, the company who makes the possible equipment that would comprise the possible crematorium. The Maryland Department of the Environment was also on hand to answer any questions.

There will be a formal hearing, should the permit for the building be approved. Currently, there will be a technical review done by the state, with the comments and concerns voiced during this meeting taken into account.

There were many concerns raised during the Q & A session, chief among them health and environment concerns.

Among the variety of comments, questions and concerns raised:

·       If this crematorium were to be built, there would be a yearly check on the facilities and employees, as well as unannounced visits along with announced visits.

·       While emissions are tracked in real time to avoid any issues, particularly power outages, the amount of emissions is not zero. There is also a shut down override that the company can trigger remotely.

·       Steve Smith and his wife mentioned the recent NBC4 coverage and a petition they were circulating. They also wanted to be able to limit the amount of cremations a year, as Beltsville already has a high environmental justice score of 83.3.

·       The Air Quality Permits Office will be doing their own testing/modeling. This data would be provided ahead of any forthcoming hearings.

·       Paul Seyler noted that “Machines run extremely clean, couldn’t do this 10, 20 years ago”.

·       Another Beltsville resident noted that someone has already listed their house due to the possible crematorium.

·       A retired public health expert from Johns Hopkins spoke in favor of the crematorium.

·       Out of all the crematoriums in the US, 55-60% are from the company Borgwardt’s is using.

·       A question was asked about mercury abatement, which apparently the state no longer checks for and the company does not have filters for, due to many less people having mercury fillings in their teeth.

·       A question was asked about weather conditions preventing the machine from running, which currently are none, but with climate change and higher temps, it is something the company is looking at.

·       Were the funeral home to get the permit, there would be an initial period of checking before the five year permit could be applied for. It would need to be renewed every five years.

·       I asked about remediation, if there were more emissions than usual and it seems it’d just be tracking and possible fines.

·       The fuel used would be natural gas.

·       Someone noted about the crematorium in Baltimore, which is already under investigation for air quality issues, after being opened in April. MDE said since it was still under investigation, they had no comment.

The meeting was recorded and will be available on MDE’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@mdenvironment.