Covanta on Agenda of Plymouth Township’s Council on November 11th

Covanta is on the agenda for the Monday, November 11th meeting of Plymouth Township’s Council. Covanta, which burns trash as part of a process to generate energy, operates a plant near Ikea in Conshohocken (Plymouth Township).

Many municipalities have a contract with Covanta for this service and all of the contracts are set to expire on December 31st of this year.

Due to the series of malfunctions that have taken place over the past year, Conshohocken, West Conshohocken, Whitemarsh Township, and Plymouth Township, have all thus far tabled renewing a five-year agreement. Plymouth Township has also hired an environmental lawyer to assess the operations of the facility.

During a public meeting last week in Conshohocken, it came out that Conshohocken, West Conshohocken, and Plymouth Township are now considering a two-year agreement with conditions.

In addition, we believe the item before Covanta that is just listed as “Environmental Engineer (10-056)” is connected to Covanta. The law firm that the township hired was to recommend an environmental engineer.

Transparency Review

In the Plymouth Township agenda for the November 11th meeting, it simply states:

Covanta Contract Extension (11-003)

That is all the information that is being offered to the public. The transparency pledge MoreThanTheCurve.com asked all the candidates in the recent election to sign was meant to encourage local officials to provide more information to the public. Now, you get the barest of descriptions.

What are the terms of the extension? How long? Doesn’t the public have the right to learn these things without sitting through a meeting?

Incumbent Chris Manero (D) declined to sign it, as did Kathy Bandish (D), who will take office in January.