Delaware Solid Waste Authority to ship Delaware State waste to Chester, PA
After protesting the Delaware Solid Waste Authority in November,
Chester Residents won a major victory when the Authority voted in January to stop sending their waste
to Chester, PA. This was reversed on Thursday, May 1st, when the Authority signed
a contract to continue sending their waste out of state to the 78-80% black
community of Chester. This contract represents 25% of the American Ref-Fuel
incinerator’s waste stream (the incinerator is the largest in the state and the 7th largest in the nation).
The vote was 4 to 3 in favor of the new contract. Please help by calling
those who voted for it and demand that they reverse this disgraceful decision.
These people neeed to be FLOODED with calls! The commissioners who voted in favor were:
Richard Pryor (Chair) 302-656-3570 (h) 410-850-9060 (w) Phyllis McKinley 302-735-5611 (h) 302-674-5868 (w) Ronald McCabe 302-539-7725 (h) Theodore Ryan 302-378-0881 (h)
Please also call Delaware Governor Tom Carper 302-577-3210 (office) and
demand that the Soild Waste Authority be disbanded if they cannot take
responsibility for the state’s waste without shipping it to Chester.
The Authority doesn’t allow out-of-state waste to be dumped in Delaware, but
it has no difficulties with sending their problems to Pennsylvania.
Release from Green Delaware
444 Mansion House Road
Bear, DE 19701
(302)834-3466
fax (302)836-3005
amuller@dca.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Alan Muller (302) 834-3466
DELAWARE SOLID WASTE AUTHORITY VOTES TO CONTINUE BURNING DELAWARE
GARBAGE IN CHESTER, PA
DOVER, DE, MAY 1, 1997 — The Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA) Board of
Directors voted this evening to sign a contract with American Ref-fuel, new
operators of the former Westinghouse incinerator in Chester City PA. 300
thousand tons per year of Delaware waste may be burned in Chester. The
Chester incinerator is permitted to put out more than 12 million pounds per
year of harmful air pollutants and is considered a major contributor to one
of the worst examples of “environmental racism” or “environmental injustice”
in the United States.
On February 23, 1997, the DSWA gave a contract cancellation notice to
Westinghouse, giving Chester residents hope that Delaware garbage would stop
coming to their community, which is beset with health problems associated
with the pollution from several large waste disposal facilities.
Officials of the Solid Waste Authority have always maintained that their
decisions in this matter are purely economic and deny any responsibility for
consequences to the people of Chester.
The vote was 4 to 3 in favor of the new contract. Voting in favor were
commissioners Richard Pryor (Chair), Phyllis McKinley, Ronald McCabe, and
Theodore Ryan. Voting no were commissioners William Turner, Donald Isaacs,
and John Healy.
Stephen Simmons, Business Manager of the incinerator, indicated that
Ref-fuel did not intend to install emission controls for highly toxic
mercury unless required to do so by Pennsylvania regulators. “This is a
private business,” he claimed. The incinerator is believed to be owned by
Delaware County, PA.
At the same meeting, Green Delaware presented its own resolution to the
Board, calling on the Authority to “permanently” abandon incineration and to
adopt source reduction and recycling as “the primary waste management
techniques.” Green Delaware coordinator Alan Muller asked the Board to
consider and vote on the “green” resolution, but Board Chair Richard Pryor
rejected it out of hand and adjourned the meeting without allowing discussion.
Comment from Alan Muller of Green Delaware:
“This is a shameful decision. Given the realities of Chester, it’s
tantamount to a conscious decision to poison babies. We do commend
commissioners Turner, Isaacs and Healy for their ‘no’ votes. The time may
have come to dissolve the Delaware Solid Waste Authority.”
-more-
RESOLUTION
May 1, 1997
(Presented to the Board of Directors of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority
by Green Delaware)
WHEREAS, apparently conflicting information has circulated about the
intentions of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority with respect to
incineration (sometimes described in other terms) of Delaware municipal
waste; and
WHEREAS, in hearings held by the DSWA, testimony ran strongly against
incineration and in favor of recycling; and
WHEREAS, the rate of recycling achieved in Delaware is only about one-fifth
of the national average [Delaware’s recycling rate is a mere 5%… Pennsylvania’s is 25% and New Jersey’s is about 50%]; and
WHEREAS, previous experience of the Authority with municipal waste
incineration has been highly unsatisfactory; and
WHEREAS, incineration of municipal waste in Delaware would contribute to our
already excessive air pollution and would discharge mercury, dioxin and
other very dangerous materials into our environment, to the detriment of
public health; and
WHEREAS, the prospect of another incinerator is a source of anxiety to the
public; and
WHEREAS, no incinerator should be sited without the consent of the host
community, and such consent is unlikely to be obtained anywhere in Delaware.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Directors of the Delaware
Solid Waste Authority that:
The Authority permanently abandons incineration, or any form of combustion,
of municipal solid waste and/or refuse derived fuel as a management
technique for such waste.
Source reduction and recycling are hereby adopted as the primary waste
management techniques.
The Authority expresses its support for action by the General Assembly to
ban municipal waste incineration, to set firm recyling goals, and to protect
Delaware’s Coastal Zone from siting of incinerators therein.
FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED that the staff is directed to develop revisions to
the Solid Waste Management Plan consistent with this resolution, and to
provide at least a preliminary report within four weeks.
###
By: Andy Murray
When Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living picketed the
Newcastle, Delaware offices of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority on
November 22, 1996, their protest seemed somewhat unorthodox. While the
group included residents of Chester, environmental activists and
college students, the number of protesters probably never surpassed
twenty. Furthermore, the Newcastle offices for the Solid Waste
Authority were located in an industrial park that saw little public
traffic. The passers-by who saw the protest were most likely to be
employees of the Waste Authority or truck drivers hauling trash to the
nearby Pigeon Point Waste Transfer Station.
The trash was what the residents of Chester, PA and their supporters
were there to protest. One quarter of the trash incinerated at the
Westinghouse Resource Recovery Facility in Chester-or approximately
225,000 tons each year-is sent there from Delaware. The Delaware Solid
Waste Authority was on the brink of increasing this amount to 260,000
tons per year. What DSWA was unaware of, however, was that since the
Westinghouse Facility began operating in Chester in the early 1990s,
its emission of pollutants like sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide has
been found to continually exceed levels deemed safe for the surrounding
community. Even the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection-currently under investigation by the EPA for being too
lenient with industrial polluters-has levied more than $350,000 in
fines against Westinghouse for its pollution violations.
Yet, in spite of small numbers and its unusual location, the Newcastle
protest proved a pleasing, if mellow, success. The primary purpose
behind the protest was achieved before an hour of picketing had gone
by, as officials from the Solid Waste Authority agreed to a future
meeting to discuss the residents concerns. This follow-up meeting was
held two weeks later in Newcastle and brought together representatives
of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, Chester Residents Concerned for
Quality Living and Westinghouse. Over the course of the meeting, it
became clear that the Delaware Solid Waste Authority had received no
report of the incinerator’s prior violations of the emission levels for
which it is permitted. As a result of the follow-up meeting, the
Delaware Solid Waste Authority has now asked to receive a list of the
incinerator’s pollution violations, a list of all the warnings of
violations from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection, and monthly reports compiled from the incinerator’s
continuous emissions monitoring system. When asked how she thinks this
information will affect the Delaware Solid Waste Authority’s practice
of sending its trash to Chester, Zulene Mayfield, Chairperson of
Chester Residents Concerned For Quality Living, responded that she was
hopeful it would at least prevent the amount of solid waste being sent
to Chester from being increased.
Just as significantly, however, what seemed like a somewhat laughable
November morning protest may actually have demonstrated the viability
of a future course of action for Chester Residents Concerned for
Quality Living. For years, CRCQL has worked constantly to shut down
facilities like the infectious medical waste autoclave on Chester’s
West End and to prevent new facilities like Soil Remediation Services
from being permitted to come to Chester. Unfortunately, the
Westinghouse Incinerator, the largest facility in Chester, has proven
the most resilient to opposition from the CRCQL and the city. But the
possibility of confronting the incinerator’s oblivious business
partners-the ill-informed states and municipalities that have chosen to
send their trash to Chester-is a pro-active strategy that CRCQL and its
supporters hope holds tremendous potential. Westinghouse, which sent
representatives from the Chester incinerator and from its Pittsburgh
offices to the follow-up meeting in Newcastle, has demonstrated that
they are concerned by this course of action taken by CRCQL. While
CRCQL and its supporters realize that convincing state agencies and
city councils to be responsible about their trash disposal will
undoubtedly be difficult, there is a feeling of excitement that one
simple protest might have illuminated an excellent method of striking
back at polluting industries that are destroying the quality of life in
Chester.
Update from Green Delaware
Tonite, Jan 23 [1997], the Delaware Solid Waste Authority voted to
(1) Terminate its contract with Westinghouse for incineration of New Castle
County Del. waste at the Chester PA facility. 60 days notice was given, on
the grounds that the Authority finds it economically preferable to landfill
the waste in Delaware. (This is a contract provision.)
(As I understand it, the Delaware contract was using about 25% of the
capacity of the Chester incinerator.)
(2) Begin a study leading to a “conceptual plan” for a “waste to energy”
operation in Delaware. This would include an evaluation of health effects
of such a facility with input from (corporate controlled) “advocacy” groups.
(Have not seen the actual text, about which there were some contradictory
claims).
Alan
amuller@dca.net
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Last modified: 2 May 1997
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