[Dioxin-l] READ ME FIRST !

[Alan Muller]

At 11:31 PM 2/2/00 +0000, you wrote:
>RE; ANTI-MSW INCINERATOR BATTLE IN IRELAND.
>We don't have any, but the government wants to build them .
>Hi all,
>Our councillors have been to see incinerators abroad ...


Hello Sioban,

I can only comment on what arguments against incinerators have worked for us.  The promoters will say they are clean and green and won't pollute and all that.  Ask what the permit will actually say.  How many pounds per day of CO, NOx, SOx, and so on are they asking for permission to put out?  How much metals and what kinds, how much dioxin, and so on.  How much Diesel exhaust in the area?  Emphasize permit limits not what they say their emissions will actually be. (Why are they asking for permit limits higher than they say the emissions will actually be.....?)  What sorts of emissions won't be covered in the permit at all?  And so on.  Ask these questions in writing.  Likely these numbers will be high enough to give pause to even the most blockheaded politicians.  On the other hand, if the promoters say they don't know, or refuse to answer, this is another sort of ammunition.....

Also, what is driving this interest in incinerators?  Are you responding to it directly?

I have the impression that Eire has clean air due to not being heavily industrialized?  Is this true?  What proportionate contribution to air pollution would these incinerators make?  How do we know there will NOT be health effects?

I think I've noticed that promoters often manage to set the terms of the discussion to suit themselves--meaning advantage to she who can hire the most "experts."  Have you conceded any ground without noticing?  For instance:  air quality regulation is commonly based on the notion that certain levels of pollutants are OK.  From this point of view, the cleaner the air already, the better is the locality for an incinerator and the weaker need be the emission controls and permit limits.  But does this really make sense?  Is there not a dose-response relationship between many air pollutants and health?  If you can get this across to people they may recognize nonsense and begin to rethink.....

On recycling, have you been in touch with Paul and Ellen Connett on this one?

For whatever its worth, when we began to fight incinerators in Delaware several years ago, nobody, least of all the established environmental advocates, thought success was possible.  Delaware is a colony of banks and the chemical industry; people are used to being told how to think by DuPonts, ICI, and so on.  Most of the politicians, newspaper and radio owners, and regulators hate us.  Still, several incinerator projects have gone down and legislation is gradually tightening the noose on burners.  I got a very fine piece of advice from someone who has been fighting air pollution since 1962 and been involved in more than 600 environmental cases:  "never be reasonable."

am



Alan Muller, Executive Director
Green Delaware
Box 69
Port Penn, DE 19731 USA
(302)834-3466
fax (302)836-3005 
greendel@dca.net
http://members.dca.net/greendel/