By Megan O'Matz, Broward Metro Edition, Sun-Sentinal Newspaper 

"I've requested that Waste Management not move forward on this plan just yet to give us the opportunity to review it further," said Melissa Meeker, director of the Department of Environmental Protection's Southeast Florida office.

Company officials agreed to work with the state and county to allay concerns about the safety of the ash, which environmentalists say may contain hazardous levels of mercury, lead and other toxins.

"We weren't going to be moving ahead for a while, anyway," said Don Payne, a spokesman for Waste Management. "In the interim, of course, we'll work with the Broward officials and answer whatever questions they may have."

Meeker's request came a day after the state announced it had approved Waste Management's plan to unload 3,000 tons of ash from a barge in Stuart and haul the material to the company's dump in unincorporated Broward, near Pompano Beach. That would mark the end of a 15-year journey for the incinerated municipal waste, which left Philadelphia in 1986.

It was rejected from ports in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guinea-Bissau and the Netherlands Antilles before being dumped in Haiti under the guise of "soil fertilizer." Last spring, under pressure from environmentalists, the ash was recovered from Haiti and brought to Stuart.

State and federal regulators, who have tested the ash, insist it is nonhazardous and not dangerous to public health.

News of the decision to make Broward County the material's final resting place, however, outraged city and county officials and residents.

"Is it safe? We really don't know," said Pompano Beach Mayor William Griffin. "I think politically it's been kicking around for a number of years from this country to that country. Let them take it back to Philadelphia where they got it."

Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach scheduled special city commission meetings Monday to discuss their options, including possibly seeking court injunctions. The Broward County Commission, meanwhile, will take up the matter at its regular meeting Tuesday.

"We have told our attorney to begin preparing whatever documents he needs should we want to file for an injunction," said Deerfield Mayor Al Capellini.

State, county and local officials, as well as Waste Management representatives, were deluged with phone calls Friday from angry residents opposed to the plan.

"I've called the mayor. I called our commissioner, and I also called our governor's office," said Pompano Beach resident Janet Garry Sguera. "Nobody wants it. To bring it into our area devalues our property,"

Sguera said. "People all over the world will know garbage was dumped in an area next to Pompano Beach."

Deerfield Beach Manager Larry Deetjen vowed that the city will "take whatever means necessary to protect the quality of life in our community."

Deetjen said Deerfield Beach police were monitoring the barge in Stuart and activities around the landfill "by the hour."

"If Waste Management takes any action over the weekend we are prepared to go to court."

Payne, however, said the company does not intend to move the ash in the next few days. Waste Management first must contract with dump truck operators, which will make 170 trips to haul the ash from the barge to the Wheelabrator North Broward waste-to-energy plant. There it will be reincinerated and then buried in the company's adjacent landfill. That process could take several weeks.

"We think the plan is a good one," Payne said. "We think the plan is a safe plan. But even besides that, it's one that will resolve a long-standing problem."

But pressure is mounting on the company to change course. County attorneys were examining their legal options Friday.

"What we don't know is whether we have any legal grounds to have any effect on where this ash goes," County Administrator Roger Desjarlais said.

The county may decide to conduct its own tests on the ash, Desjarlais said.

"I am so outraged by this whole issue," said County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs. "If there's truly nothing wrong, how is it everyone else was legally able to turn it away and Broward County can't?"

Jacobs said she will conduct a news conference Monday to call on Gov. Jeb Bush to revoke the state's approval.

"The governor clearly has the ability to say no," she said.

The governor's office did not return a call for comment Friday. City officials, meanwhile, said they were dismayed to learn about the plan from news reports.

"We do not like surprises of this nature," Pompano Beach City Manager William Hargett said.

Pompano Beach commissioners will meet at noon Monday in the Commission Chambers to take up the issue. Deerfield Beach commissioners set a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. the same day at City Hall.

Coconut Creek City Manager John Kelly, a staunch environmentalist, expressed doubt that the cities would be successful in stopping the plan.

"It's a private-sector venture," he said. "They own the landfill. They have the right to dump it there. We don't have any real input on it. Neither the county nor the city have any standing in that regard."

Still, Kelly couldn't help but ask: "Why us?"

"The most well-traveled garbage in the world and we get it," he said. "The garbage stops here."

Staff Writers Robert Nolin and Neil Santaniello contributed to this report.

Megan O'Matz can be reached at momatz@sun-sentinel.com or

954-356-4518.