Priorities '95 Report

[John Thomas <jnthomas@infinet.com>]

Priorities '95 was a comparative risk assessment conducted in Columbus, 
Ohio.  The purpose (according to city officials) was to identify, 
evaluate, and recommend solutions to the city's worst environmental 
problems.  Officially, according to Richard Hicks, Priorities '95 was a 
citizen controlled project.  Unofficially, the project was under the 
control of the Columbus Department of Health.  This is the very same city 
department that has spearheaded the unfunded mandates assualt and also 
suggested that dioxin is not a health threat.

In the initial ranking phase the Columbus Waste-to-Energy facility 
recieved the highest ranking of any environmental issue considered by 
Priorities '95.  According to that report, this incinerator was a 
meduim-high to high concern of columbus residents.

However, in the most recent Priorities '95 report, 52% of the report was
dedicated to greenspace, parkland, and development issues.  This
constitues 99 of the total 192 recommendations in the report.  The
Columbus Waste-to-Energy facility received only one recommendation, or
approximately 1% of the report. 

The recommendation was that if the incinerator is reopened it should 
have state of the art pollution control equipment.

Once again, our local health officials have attempted to downplay the 
importance of this facility, and the impossibility of reopening the 
incinerator.  Richard Hicks, the director of the Priorities '95 project 
said in a radio inerview yesterday (January 8, 1996) that there was 
discussion about recommending that the facility be closed permanently.  
However, this recommendation was rejected because it was though that such 
a recommendation could have had a negative impact on other incinerators 
in the area.

One wonders why a "health" department would worry about other 
incinerators (which were not even considered during the priorities '95 
project) when phrasing their recommendations against the one facility 
they know should never be reopened.

For more information on Priorities '95 contact Richard Hicks or Dana 
Warner at the Columbus Department of Health (614) 645-4772, 181 
Washington Blvd., Columbus, Ohio 43215.

Also, you may find other Priority '95 reports on the PARTA WEB page at 
our URL:

http://www.infinet.com/~jnthomas/columbus_ohio

With Respect, in Gentleness and Peace.


John Thomas