Environmentalist Edmund Benson has built his reputation on cleaning up garbage incinerators and making the world a safer place for children. Dade County even named a street in his honor, and he has received numerous civic awards for his campaign to clean up the environment.

Now, an emotional battle over a proposed neighborhood school has generated a series of accusations questioning Benson's motives.

His warnings of health risks posed by a West Dade incinerator operated by Montenay Power Corp. and other nearby incinerators and landfills have made Dade County School Board members think twice about building an elementary school in Doral Park -- much to the dismay of some families who don't want to bus their children to Miami Springs.

They assail Benson for allegedly dreaming up medical nightmares that children will suffer if they go to school on land Lennar Homes has donated to the school board at Northwest 52nd Street and 104th Avenue. Some suggest that by blocking construction of the school, Benson helps Montenay -- a company that contributes to his nonprofit environmental foundation. A new school in the area could be an obstacle to future incinerator expansion, they say.

Nonsense, says Benson. He maintains that his neighbors have never sat down with him to go over the purported health risks in detail: fine ash particles with lead, mercury and other carcinogens floating downwind to Doral. The Costa del Sol environmentalist worries they miss the point.

"In order to divert attention from the real issue, I have been selected for a slur, harassment and innuendo campaign," said Benson, 63, who has waged successful campaigns in the past to clean up medical incinerators and landfills and close down the Agripost composting plant across from Skyway Elementary.

At least a handful of parents now say they question Benson's agenda.

They point to the $45,000 in contributions given to his nonprofit ARISE Foundation last year by Montenay International -- the parent company of the incinerator operator. Contributions have risen steadily since 1989 -- $15,000 in 1989-90, $30,000 in 1990-91, and $45,000 in 1991-92. The amounts represent one- quarter to one-third of his overall contributions.

"It's never been a secret," said Benson. He said he had prominently displayed signs with Montenay's name at several ARISE events. "I'm proud of our relationship. . . "

He says Montenay's money goes to Enviro-Cops, an award- winning public school program being replicated nationwide, where kids pledge to police their environment. His wife, Susan Benson, runs the program. The couple contributed their own money to ARISE as well, $34,934 in 1988-89 and $38,834 in 1990-91.

Doral resident Jim O'Connell says that with Montenay's encouragement, Benson is intentionally launching a campaign to keep the school out of Doral so the county will be free to expand the incinerator in the future -- without worrying about the expansion's effects on elementary school children. "Montenay is very much the beneficiary of the expansion," said O'Connell. "The bigger the thing is out there, the more money Montenay makes."

Benson said the idea that he would favor Montenay in any way because of the contributions, "is absolutely ridiculous . . . We are diametrically opposed. Montenay thinks their plant is wonderful. But I don't think it's wonderful."

West Dade Federation of Homeowner Associations president Morgan Levy, O'Connell and other residents who are lobbying for the school say that while Benson berates Montenay to the school board, he praises the company to the Metro-Dade Commission for running a much cleaner plant since he helped the county kick out its former operator in 1985.

"It would be very difficult for Edmund Benson to oppose (Montenay)," said Levy. "And I would think he would want to support them in their expansion efforts. It seems logical that that would be their reason for their contribution to ARISE."

Montenay denies any association with Benson on the incinerator issue. The company's president, Juan Portuondo, said the company merely supports Benson's efforts to educate children, even though the environmentalist often maligns their plant.

"Ed Benson is not and has never been a lobbyist for Montenay . . . In fact, we often disagree with him and feel his statements regarding a health threat from the county's Resources Recovery Facility have no scientific basis."

This spring, the county was considering expanding the plant by 50 percent. On March 30, the Metro Commission decided to expand the plant's operations by only 25 percent, using a method that doesn't burn trash. The county will decide in the fall how to process another 25 percent without incineration.

Ben Guilford, director of Solid Waste Management, said he hopes the county never has to increase burning at the plant, but there's a possibility it will have to. Montenay has a contract with the county until the year 2013.

Benson said he strongly supported the 25 percent expansion to the county commission recently because it made environmental sense. Montenay, he said, is an "above average" operator.

But just because Montenay has improved the county's operation doesn't mean he thinks Doral is safe for children, Benson said. He said his relationship with Montenay is like that with the county, which also provided $75,000 last year to the ARISE Foundation.

Former Metro Mayor Steve Clark and Solid Waste's Guilford have cautioned the school board against building the school, although Guilford says he worries only about children suffering from increased truck traffic to the plant, not from emissions.

"Does Montenay have something to gain by not having a school there? Not that I know of," said Guilford.

Montenay Power, meanwhile, has taken no public position on the school site, although Portuondo reminded the school board last week that there are other hazardous waste sites nearby.

Several people, including Doral residents and Virginia Rosen, assistant superintendent for planning, said Benson never indicated Montenay was supporting his foundation.

"I consider it to be dishonest, because he is leading the school board to believe that his opposition is based entirely on scientific evidence and the interests of child safety," said David DeMaio, vice president of the West Dade Federation. "But he's not telling them exactly the thing that would make them doubt his credibility."

"I personally would be distressed about the connection that's there and the failure to provide open information about that connection," Rosen said.

Tax records show that two school board members serve on ARISE Foundation's board of directors, Rosa Castro Feinberg and Frederica Wilson. Both said they weren't aware of Montenay's contributions.

Board member Rosa Castro Feinberg said the contributions from Montenay don't injure Benson's credibility.

"I believe many of us on the board are pleased when he comes, because we appreciate what he's doing and what he has to say," Castro Feinberg said. "No, I don't think it makes a difference. It puts Mr. Benson in even more of a position of credibility that Mr. Benson is saying things that Montenay doesn't even want to hear, even though they are contributing to him."

Nevertheless, bruised from fighting a battle he says others don't appreciate, Edmund Benson says he's tempted to curtail his environmental crusades.

"I have been through midnight phone calls, nails in my tires, my street signs being torn down," Benson said. "It's undeserved and it bothers me."

"I see that perhaps the big people involved are trying to squeeze this little person because I'm interested in children and their well-being," he said. "I have no ax to grind. We have one single priority. One: Making the world safe for children."

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