LETTER: BRWA urges Elbert BOC to vote ‘no’ on incinerator

We urge that before approving this or any similar waste incineration facility, Elbert County, the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission, and governments of surrounding counties make sure they have the answers to questions about immediate and long-term hazards posed by incinerating municipal waste and land-filling the associated toxic ash.

Incinerating municipal solid waste is controversial. Proponents of incineration argue that with proper pollution controls, solid waste incinerators pose no risks to human health or the environment. Opponents point out that, according to the EPA, even with modern scrubbing equipment incinerators emit nitrous oxides (a greenhouse gas and threat to the atmospheric ozone layer), sulfur dioxides (a major cause of acid rain), carbon dioxide (the primary gas responsible for global climate change), and at least small amounts of heavy metals including mercury and dioxins (which are highly toxic to people, fish and wildlife in small amounts).

Proponents of incineration counter that burning our garbage to generate electricity addresses two problems at once – waste disposal and energy production – eliminating the need for expansive landfills and actually producing less greenhouse gases than from generating the same amount of energy from coal.

Opponents point out that the incineration process leaves behind toxic ash that must be contained and managed in perpetuity to prevent contamination of streams and groundwater. Perhaps most importantly, opponents of incineration point out that other, less harmful, energy efficient and resource efficient technologies are available now for reducing and reusing municipal waste, with additional advancements being developed.

The true costs and benefits of incinerating municipal garbage depend on the details. It is not surprising that the people seeking to develop this incinerator in Elbert County are dismissive of concerns expressed by citizens and landowners who will be affected. Nonetheless, our concerns are legitimate and address immediate and long-term consequences of having our home become the center of garbage incineration for a 25,000 square mile or greater area (based on garbage being trucked in from as far as 90 miles away). This will be our legacy, not something those developing the project will live with or leave to their children. We ask that the commissioners have unambiguous answers to the following:

•What will the incinerator emit, and in what quantities? Dioxins? Heavy metals?

•Who will monitor emissions to ensure that the incinerator does not threaten human health?

•How will emissions affect regional air quality, including in areas such as Athens-Clarke County, already failing to meet federal air quality standards for smog?

•What toxins will be in the ash that is left from incineration?

•What toxins, and in what concentrations, will be in the leachate collected from the land-filled ash? How will this toxic waste be disposed of?

•Who will monitor to see that the toxic waste generated by water seeping through the landfill is collected and disposed in a way that does not threaten humans or wildlife?

•How will recyclable and hazardous materials be separated from the burnable garbage? How will materials separated from the garbage be either recycled or disposed of as hazardous waste?

•What will be the effects of having a large-scale, regional waste incinerator and landfill on property values in Elbert and adjacent counties? These effects will last for the several decades that the plant is in operation, and potentially long afterward it we’re left with acres of toxic contaminants.

•Who will be responsible for maintaining the hazardous waste landfill to prevent risks to human health in the decades after the incinerator’s useful life is over?

We join many citizens and landowners in Elbert and surrounding counties in urging that our governments weigh carefully long-term costs against short-term benefits of permitting and developing a waste incineration facility in our community.

Sincerely,

Mary Freeman

Chair, Board of Directors

Broad River Watershed Association