Howard County hearing draws residents and W.R. Grace employees over proposed plastics pilot; council hears dueling testimony

Dozens of speakers packed a continued Howard County Council legislative public hearing and gave competing testimony over CB 11-20-25 and ZRA 2-11, a proposed zoning change tied to W.R. Grace’s plan for a small pilot facility on its Columbia campus near the Cedar Creek development.

Residents from Cedar Creek and neighboring villages pressed the council to approve the bill, saying the proposed pilot would be too close to homes and risk air pollution, fires or explosions. "Imagine waking up every day knowing that the air you are breathing in is slowly killing you," said Helen Jung, a River Hill High School student who testified she lives in Cedar Creek.

The crowd included many parents, physicians and local residents who said the pilot’s vents and thermal oxidizer — described in hearings as operating up to 16 hours a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year — would place hazardous emissions within what neighbors said is about 70 meters of some houses. "This incinerator is intended to be built 200 feet from our homes," said Shamika Preston, who cited MDE and EPA communications and a petition she said had more…