Presidential political pressure could end up playing role in Doral's incinerator saga

It was a productive meeting. 

That’s how Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez described his conversation with Eric Trump over Doral’s incinerator problem. 

“He understood it,” said Bermudez, talking about Eric Trump, the son of President-elect Donald Trump. “I can tell you that he shares my opinion that this is not good.”

Bermudez told NBC6 this is not the first time he brings up the issue with members of the Trump family, but this time he asked Trump’s son to get personally involved. 

“I hope in the next couple days we’ll be getting…or the mayor will be getting a correspondence from the Trump organization,” Bermudez added. 

Bermudez represents the county’s district 12, which includes the City of Doral and Trump National Doral Resort, which Bermudez recounted is older than the incinerator. 

“We have two landfills that still have space that are owned by the county. We’re not talking about what we’re going to down with them. So we need a plan,” he said. 

Bermudez partly blames the country for the mess as it was the county he said that zoned the area north of the facility from industrial to residential and added people in Doral did not expect the facility to be located there forever as it has been the case with similar facilities in nearby cities. 

Relocating the incinerator has been an ongoing issue for politicians, especially the county mayor, after the existing facility was destroyed in a fire in 2023.

Since then, four areas had been proposed as possible relocation sites for the facility, including the existing site, a site in Medley and two sites near the western Miami-Dade, Broward County border. 

Last week, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava recommended the facility remain at the current Doral site. 

Levine Cava explained her reason. 

“It's just too expensive to go to another location. We are determined that we're going to have a solid waste sustainable campus. It's going to have every possible modern technology in addition to the waste to energy and we need a bigger space,” she said, adding had they moved the site to another location, the city of Doral would have had to pick up some of the costs, which she estimated to be in the rage of $400 million way beyond the city’s financial capacity. 

Levine Cava also touted the new technology, which she argues would make it safer for residents living in nearby neighborhoods. 

 “There are no health risks that are going to really compromise because it’s a new modern approach,” Levine Cava said. "It's an extremely efficient filtration process that has been proven all around the world to be safer than just walking down the street.”

While the mayor’s office would not confirm, Bermudez told NBC6 Levine Cava told Eric Trump she would likely ask the county commission to defer the item. 

Whether they defer or not, the county commission is expected to vote Tuesday, Dec. 3.