Times Beach Incinerator Update

[jablome@cdmnet.com]

The following is from the Thursday,
May 2, 1996 St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Brad Walpole
Eureka, MO
jablome@cdmnet.com

==========================================

TIMES BEACH INCINERATOR IN SHUTDOWN

By Tom Uhlenbrock
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff
 
The state of Missouri has ordered the diox-
in incinerator at Times Beach shut down
while it reviews the accidental release of
pollutants during Sunday's storms.
 
David Shorr, director of the Department of
Natural Resources, ordered the shutdown in
a letter sent Monday to Syntex Agribusiness,
which is conducting the cleanup of Times
Beach and the 26 other dioxin sites in eastern
Missouri.
 
"They have to demonstrate to us that this
did not present a risk to the public," Shorr
said.

The problems started at 9:24 a.m. Sunday
when the wind that battered the St. Louis
area blew through Times Beach. The wind
extinguished a pilot light on a combustion
system on an emergency vent, said Gary
Pendergrass of Syntex.

 The conveyor belt that feeds contaminated
material into the kiln automatically shut down
when the pilot light went off in the emergency
vent, which is called an ESTER stack for
"environmentally safe temporary emergency
relief."

But before workers could relight the pilot,
the storms knocked power out to the entire
incinerator. That caused gases in the kiln to
be released through the emergency vent,
which had no pollution controls because its
combustion system was not operating. Asked
what was released, Pendergrass said: "A very
small amount of fine dust, partially treated.
All indications right now are that it was safe
and would not pose a risk to the community."

 A wind shield has been installed over the
pilot light to prevent a similar occurrence,
Pendergrass said. He added that Syntex also
had contracted with a private weather firm to
forecast storms.

 "When we have projections of high winds,
we'll suspend the feed to the unit," he said.
 
Shorr said his department and the Environ-
mental Protection Agency were reviewing
data on what was released and would deter-
mine whether the incinerator would be allowed
lowed to resume operation. He predicted the
review would take several days.

 Pendergrass said the incinerator was not
operating anyway because power was not
fully restored to air monitors until Wednes-
day. The emergency shutdown was used to
perform maintenance that had been sched-
uled for later.