Locals seeking to close refuse plant in Nara

[John Visher <visherjc@crisscross.com>]

http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/news06.html


                  Mainichi Daily News

                                      Sunday, November 14, 1999

         Locals seeking to close refuse plant in Nara

         By Hideo Iwasaki
         Mainichi Shimbun

         KORYO, Nara - Some residents here are scared stiff about dioxin

         contamination and they're poised to ask a local court to
temporarily
         halt the operation of a garbage incinerator run by the local
         government.

         About 310 households - nearly 90 percent of them members of an
         Umami-Minami neighborhood association - had previously agreed
         with the Koryo Municipal Government on the operation of the
         incineration plant until November 2001.

         But the government last month told the association that it
wants to
         continue operating the plant after the deadline because it has
failed to
         find a relocation site.

         Residents are afraid of dioxin contamination and smells
emanating
         from the facility, which incinerates 50 tons of garbage over
the course
         of 16 hours each day.

         Consequently, the suit to be filed with a local branch of the
Nara
         District Court will ask for the order of suspending operations
before
         the end of 2001.

         Negotiations between the local government and residents over
the
         operation of the plant go back 20 years.

         In 1979, when operations started, the local government and five

other
         neighborhood associations agreed that the plant would continue
         incineration for the next 15 years, locals claim.

         But the local government didn't stop operating the plant by the

         deadline of 1994.

         Local government officials admit that the amount of dioxin
emitted
         from the incineration plant is 8.2 nanograms per cubic meter,
which
         exceeds a new government regulation taking effect in 2002 that
         provides the upper limit of dioxin per cubic meter at 5
nanograms.
         What's more, this is 82 times the amount under current
regulations for
         a newly constructed incinerator, which is 0.1 nanogram.