NPE Press Release - 829 Persons Say Keep WTE Closed

[John Thomas <jnthomas@infinet.com>]

  COLUMBUS AREA RESIDENTS WARN AGAINST SALE OF WTE
  
   
   
   Today, Neighbors Protecting Our Environment (NPE) delivered to
   Columbus City Council a demand from 829 Columbus residents that the
   Waste-to-Energy facility remain permanently closed. NPE believes that
   the sale of the WTE will have a detrimental impact on local residents.
   The sale will have an economic, health, and environmental impact says
   NPE.
   
   "The economics surrounding the sale of the WTE are bad" says John
   Thomas, an analyst for NPE. The City is seeking only a minimal return
   on the taxpayer investment in the property, a mere $18 million dollars
   on the remaining principal debt of a $160 million dollars. This is
   equivalent to an individual buying a sixty thousand dollar house and
   turning around and selling it for six thousand dollars. Selling the
   WTE for $18 million dollars would not cover one years mortgage payment
   for the facility. After the sale, the taxpayers would still be
   responsible for paying off the debt to the tune of $20 million a year
   for the next fourteen years.
   
   In addition, NPE fears that any future business venture conducted on
   the site of the WTE will create a health and environmental threat.
   "Even though the incinerator is closed, dioxin contamination remains
   inside the WTE and in the soils surrounding the WTE," says Teresa
   Mills, a spokesperson for NPE, "and we feel that this posses an
   unacceptable risk in the future for persons who may be employed at
   that location as well as for persons who live in the communities
   surrounding the WTE." To support this claim, NPE cites its own
   analysis of US EPA soil samples taken on the property of the WTE. A
   worker on the site of the WTE ingesting 100 milligrams of soil would
   consume 87 times what the US EPA considers an acceptable dose for an
   adult. Soil exposure can occur during windy conditions as dirt blows
   around, or by placing a hand on the ground when sitting or kneeling to
   tie a shoe. Since this kind of exposure cannot be predicted, it also
   cannot be prevented says NPE.
   
   NPE also does not trust that nothing will be burned in the future at
   the WTE. "As long as the boilers remain in the WTE we're worried!"
   says Teresa Mills. NPE sites the long line of broken promises
   surrounding the WTE as evidence that nothing can be guaranteed. The
   debate surrounding the WTE has always focused more on money than on
   health or environmental protection, says NPE. In a recent 7-0 vote,
   Columbus City Council approved the building of a pet incinerator down
   the road from the WTE. Members of City Council concluded that this
   would not produce a public nuisance due to the existence of the WTE,
   the animal rendering plant, the sewage sludge incinerators, and the
   numerous landfills. NPE counters that this proves that anything goes
   along this stretch of Frank Road. NPE fears that if garbage
   incineration becomes profitable at some future time, Columbus City
   Council would vote as easily to let the trash plant reopen.