Shinkampo Company denies dioxin dangers outside Atsugi

[John Visher <visherjc@crisscross.com>]

http://www.pstripes.com/edsu.html
Sunday, October 31, 1999

              Company denies dioxin dangers outside Atsugi

              By Matt Curtis
              Stripes Staff Writer

              Officials from Enviro-Tech, the incinerator located next
to
              Atsugi Naval Air Facility, Japan, on Friday denied they
are
              polluting the area with dangerous levels of the carcinogen

              dioxin.

              Last week, Command Naval Forces Japan and the
              Japanese government released the first findings of a joint

              inspection of the air and soil surrounding Enviro-Tech's
              Ayase incinerator.

              According to the report, the waste plant's smokestacks
              churn out as much as 58 picograms of dioxin per cubic
              meter of air. Dioxin is a compound formed by burning
              plastics and other materials at low temperatures.

              Japanese agencies consider anything above 0.8 picograms
              (less than a trillionth of a gram) as unsafe.

              While the joint study won't be completed for another year,

              the Navy says these latest numbers validate what it's been

              stating since 1995 - the incinerator poses a serious
health
              risk to those living at the Atsugi base.

              But in a letter addressed to the Kanagawa Prefectural
              government, Enviro-Tech officials said they can't be
              blamed for air-quality problems at the base.

              The study, the letter says, cannot prove the elevated
dioxin
              levels came from the incinerator's smokestacks.

              It is impossible, Enviro-Tech said, to figure out how much

              dioxin it's emitting compared to other incinerators in the

              area.

              Japanese officials have already marked Enviro-Tech's
              facility for a number of structural improvements.

              By February, workers are supposed to have installed
filters
              to screen some hazardous materials from the plant's
              exhaust.

              By March 2001, the incinerator was to begin using
              100-meter tall smokestacks.

              In the letter, however, Enviro-Tech officials say they
refuse
              to install the smokestacks unless the Kanagawa Prefectural

              government agrees to cover the bill.

              "It is impossible for us to share the cost of this
renovation,"
              the letter reads.

              Enviro-Tech executives have long fought the changes
              proposed by Japanese regulators. Earlier this month, the
              company sent a letter to Japan's Defense Facilities
              Administration Agency "rejecting" the idea of filters,
saying
              a dust-collecting system the company was considering
              would be adequate.

              "We will not accept the construction plan of
              100-meter-high smokestacks," the letter reads. "We don't
              have enough information to prove that attaching
              100-meter-high smokestacks to our present incinerator
              would not affect its burning capabilities. Furthermore, it
is
              uncertain if we will be able to maintain the safety of the

              facility while we are running the incinerators with
              100-meter-tall smokestacks."

              DFAA spokesman Toshihiko Matsumoto said
              Enviro-Tech officials can protest the plans all they want.

              But, he added, the company will still have to make the
              modifications.

              "They rejected the order from Kanagawa Prefectural
              officials to upgrade their facility," he said. "But they
have no
              choice but to obey the order. We have no comment about
              how we will deal with this issue. For now, all we can do
is
              keep on having meetings with the related ministries."

              (Mayumi Yamamoto contributed to this report.)


Asahi Shinbun October 29, 1999
Dioxin at NAF Atsugi

Prefecture Sends Improvement Recommendation to Operator
Violation of the Waste Law
With regard to the problem of high dioxin concentrations detected at the
US Navy base at Atsugi, the prefecture confirmed on the 28th that it had
advised the industrial waste disposal firm Envirotech (formerly
Shinkampo) to improve its stack emissions. Although the prefecture has
received tips from the US military and other sources, until now it has
taken the position that, “The facility is in compliance with the law.”
This time, though, for the first time, the prefecture opined that
“[Envirotech] is violating the Waste Law.”
The Joint Monitoring Program conducted by Japan and the US from July to
September [1999] detected atmospheric dioxin concentrations that were 66
times the Environment Agency’s guideline.
On the 27th, the prefecture’s Central Area Administrative Center said,
“Giving careful consideration to the topography and other factors, one
cannot fail to think that Envirotech’s emissions are having an effect on
pollution. [One] can see that there is a violation of the Waste Law,”
and advised the company to install bag filters and take other
countermeasures to improve stack emissions.
If this advice is not obeyed, “We can penalize them,” they explained.
Pollution at the Atsugi Base is a diplomatic problem, and in response to
the strong demands of the US military, the Japanese government has
already paid this company ¥1.2 billion yen for facilities improvement.
This company and its former chairman were charged in March of this year
with evasion of approximately ¥800 million in corporation taxes, and the
Yokohama district attorney is currently prosecuting this case.
Envirotech’s rebuttal is, “It is thinkable that another company’s
emissions are causing the pollution. We are currently discussing a
hundred meter stack with the national government, and until that issue
is settled, we can’t install bag filters.”


YOMIURI (LOCAL PAGE) 991027
EMERGENCY INVESTIGATION OF DIOXIN TO BEGIN OFF BASE
TOKYO, Yokohama - The Environment Agency and Kanagawa prefectural
government
(KPG) decided on October 26 to conduct an emergency investigation of
dioxin outside the Naval Air Facility (NAF), Atsugi, which sits on the
northern side of the industrial waste disposal facility in Ayase City.
According to the agency, the joint investigation was requested by the
American side. Both the Japanese and U.S. Governments operated together
dioxin investigation inside the base. Now the agency and the KPG will
also investigate air and soil of a residential area and an industrial
area which are located southern part of the facility due to the seasonal
wind changes; south wind in summer and north wind in winter.

The Environment and Agricultural Administration Department of the KPG
has not disclosed details of the coming investigation. The department is
to announce an interim report at the end of next month.




(October 26)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/news10-99/news10-26.html
Record dioxin levels found at Atsugi
A privately run incinerator adjacent to the Atsugi Naval Air
Facility in Kanagawa Prefecture was operating as usual Tuesday, one day
after the Environment Agency revealed that unprecedented  levels of
dioxin had been detected in air above the base. The incinerator
operator, Enviro-Tech, would not say whether it had been contacted by
authorities since Monday’s release of a joint study conducted by the
Environment Agency and the U.S. military.
The 56-day study of ambient dioxin levels within the military base
recorded a high of 58 picograms of the chemical per cubic meter of air
nearly 100 times the 0.6 picogram figure the agency’s
advisory body has approved as the new environmental limit.
Environment Agency officials admit the situation requires immediate
attention but say that because past surveys of ash and emissions from
the incinerator have not contravened  environmental standards, it cannot
act under the Air Pollution Control Law.
Officials say they are currently conferring with the Health and Welfare
Ministry and Kanagawa Prefecture on how to address the issue.
The highest air contamination level previously recorded in Japan was 4.9
picograms, logged in Yokohama in 1997. A picogram is a trillionth of a
gram.
During the nearly two-month study, dioxin levels in the air exceeded the
current government guideline of 0.8 picograms for 44 days and averaged
7.4 picograms, a level the agency says requires immediate action.
Agency officials attributed the high levels in part to geographic
features—the incinerator is located in a valley below the base—as well
as wind direction.
A U.S. military spokesman said dioxin pollution has been a serious
concern for at least a decade and data on dioxin levels in the air
compiled by the U.S. Navy over the past five years are very
similar to the recent findings.
“(The incinerator) is still burning, still polluting,” public affairs
officer Lt. Cmdr. James Graybeal said. “It is burning as much as ever
and we anxiously await the final solution to this problem.”
A health risk assessment by the navy found that a three-year stint on
the base was the equivalent of smoking cigarettes for more than 70
years, he added.
Graybeal also said that base officials have long been calling on the
Japanese government to require that taller smokestacks be built 100
meters compared to the current smokestacks, which are about 27 meters
tall and sit in a 13-meter deep valley—and install baghouse filters to
catch particulate matter, especially dioxin. At least one of these steps
is supposed to be implemented early next year.
The joint survey included soil samples and dioxin levels in air were
studied at three areas within the base from July to September. According
to the government, the incinerator was built in 1980 and burns an
assortment of waste, including paper, wood scraps, plastic and household
garbage.