A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton, NY 13617 315-379-9200 Dec. 1993 - Jan. 1994


A Review, by State, of Operating Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators.
# 13: MONTANA to Camden, NEW JERSEY

The 13th of our 24-part series continues the review of waste-to-energy MSW incinerators, including references to Waste Not issues. Vendor/Operator from GAA’s 1993 edition. Type: M=Mass Burn; R=RDF. Tons-Per-Day is incinerator design capacity. APC = Air Pollution Controls: 1-ESP. 2-Baghouse. 3-Dry Scrubber. 4-NOx Control. 5-Wet Scrubber.

INCINERATOR V = VENDOR Year TONS-PER-DAY

LOCATION O = OPERATOR Type APC On-Line 1988 1991 1993

MT - Livingston61 V: CONSUMAT; O: County M None 1982 75 75 75

NH - Claremont62 V/O: Wheelabrator/Clark-Kenith M 2,3 1987 200 200 200

Concord63 V/O: WHEELABRATOR M 2,3 1989 - 500 500

Durham64 V: CONSUMAT O: Region M 1 1980 108 108 108

Groveton65 V: Environmental Control M None 1975 24 - - O: James River Corp.

NJ - Camden66 V/O: FOSTER WHEELER M 1,3 1991 - 1050 1050

MONTANA

61. Livingston, Montana. Robert Redford’s film, A River Runs Through It, was shot in Livingston. The incinerator, which operates with no pollution control devices, is located approx. 1/2 mile from the Yellowstone River, one of the world’s most pristine trout streams. According to Bob Raney, who lives in the town, the only test the incinerator had to pass over the years was for opacity. Livingston is approx. 57 miles from the Yellowstone National Park. According to GAA 1993*, “Lost steam customer [Burlington Railroad] in 1986; still hoping to find new one. Tonnage processed during winter months; plant services Yellowstone National Park (closed in winter.)” - p 395-396. A worker at the incinerator told us “we almost passed the last round of tests, media played it up big...this winter we are adding a baghouse.” The ash goes to a landfill in Livingston. According to our research, this incinerator was built in direct contravention of the Clean Air Act. As reported in Waste Not # 60 Yellowstone National Park is classified as a Class 1 Air Quality Area. Sections 160-169A of the Clean Air Act, as amended on August 7, 1977, established the Prevention of Significant Deterioration program to protect the quality of air in regions of the U.S. in which the air is ‘cleaner’ than required by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Class 1 allows very little deterioration. Congress designated certain existing areas as mandatory Class 1, a designation which precludes redesignation of the area, in order to acknowledge the value of maintaining these areas in relatively pristine condition. GAA cites the pollution controls on this incinerator as ‘two chamber furnace, cyclones’ -- such “controls” come from a prehistoric age. The building of this incinerator should not have been allowed. See Waste Not #60 for a map of the 48 National Park Service areas and 21 Fish & Wildlife Service areas that are classified as Class 1 Air Quality Areas. A proposed incinerator for Atlantic County, New Jersey, was abandoned, after $7 million was spent, when it was discovered that the proposed incinerator site was adjacent to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, a Class 1 Air Quality Area. For more information contact Bob Raney, 212 S. 6th Street, Livingston,MT 59047. Tel: 406-222-8400. See WN # 56,60.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

62. Claremont, New Hampshire. This incinerator has one of the best watchdog-groups in the country. The incinerator has proved to be an albatross to the 29 communities, from Vermont and N.H., who have made long-term waste-delivery contracts with Wheelabrator. Through the put-or-pay scheme, they are losing money hand-over-fist. In September 1993 the Vermont State Legislature opened hearings into the financial and legal details of the Vermont-N.H. Solid Waste District which oversees incinerator operations. According to a front page report in the Wall Street Journal of August 11, 1993: “a $96.50-a-ton fee for local trash, a $40-a-ton fee to attract outside waste, and every indication the disparity will worsen...At its worst, a shortfall of trash begets a higher local dump fee to cover fixed costs, which chases away local haulers and begets a bigger shortfall: ‘the death spiral,’ waste officials call it. [The Claremont incinerator] is in full spin...” On September 16, 1993, 29 towns which make up the New Hampshire/Vermont Solid Waste Project, filed a Chapter 9 bankruptcy in an effort to break its incinerator contract with Wheelabrator. The towns have to pay for 47,500 tons per year even though they only generate approx. 40,000 tpy. According to Wheelabrator Vice-President Daniel P. Madigan “the worst thing for the Project has been the recession, reducing available tonnage of trash to below the minimum limits of the contract.”- N.H. Eagle Times, Sept 17, 1993.

This facility was one of the first incinerators in the U.S. to use a combination of a lime scrubber and baghouse for air pollution control. One of the consequences of this development was the finding that the ash produced was extremely alkaline (pH 10-12). This was of concern because it is well known that lead is soluble in both acidic and alkaline solutions. When Wheelabrator tested the ash with water instead of the dilute acetic acid usually employed in the EP leachate test, they found that 19 out of 20 samples produced lead levels above the toxic level. Wheelabrator’s response was to treat the ash with phosphoric acid prior to the testing. The phosphoric acid converts the soluble lead into the highly insoluble substance lead phosphate, thereby fixing the lead in the ash. While this treatment enables Wheelabrator to pass the leachate tests (and thus allow them to dump the ash in the local landfill), Dr. Richard Denison, of the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Defense Fund warned that (a) lead phosphate is a suspected human carcinogen and (b) this strategy may not tie up lead indefinitely in the landfill, since phosphate is known to be a nutrient for all living things including microorganisms. In fact, recent measurements at the ash landfill indicate that the lead in the leachate has increased 20 fold over a 12 month period. For more information contact Working on Waste: Katie Lajoie, RR 1, Box 417, Charlestown, NH 03603, Tel: 603-826-4803; or John Tuthill at 603-863-6366. See also WN #s 7,13,56,73,85,106,114,244.

63. Concord, New Hampshire. According to a Kidder Peabody report of May 5, 1988, Lazard Freres acted as Senior Financial Manager. See also WN # 73,107.

64. Durham, New Hampshire. Known as the Lamprey Regional Solid Waste Cooperative. “Steam used by University of New Hampshire for heating & hot water.” Camp, Dresser & McKee are listed as “Designer.” Ref GAA 1993*, p 402.

65. Groveton, New Hampshire. This incinerator is owned & operated by the James River Corp. As of Dec. 1988 the incinerator was listed as “operational but no steam production. No longer taking MSW; all wastes are now from the mill & most are paper.” Ref GAA 1991, pp 715-716; Ref GAA 1993, pp 623-624*.

NEW JERSEY

(A) For more information contact Madelyn Hofman, Director, Grass Roots Environmental Organization (GREO), PO Box 146, Flanders, NJ 07836. Phone & Fax: 201-252-0797.

(B) STRICTEST MERCURY EMISSION REGULATIONS ENACTED FOR MSW INCINERATORS. In July 1993 the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection and Energy Task Force on Mercury Emissions Standard Setting called for all MSW incinerators to reduce their mercury emissions 80% (65ug/dscm at 7% oxygen) by the end of 1985, and by the year 2,000, by more than 95 percent (28 ug/dscm at 7% oxygen). The Task Force recommendations were adopted by the State at the end of 1993. For more information contact Mark Lohbauer, 8235 Balfour Road, Pennsauken, NJ 08810. Tel: 609-663-4595. (Mark was a member of the Mercury Task Force.) See also WN # 168 & 208.

(C) OGDEN MARTIN BEGINS TEST BURNS AT RAHWAY INCINERATOR WITHOUT ANY MERCURY EMISSION CONTROLS. Though NJ’s regulations to reduce mercury emissions from MSW incinerators are the stiffest in the U.S., they meant little for Ogden Martin, which is about to conduct test burns at a newly constructed 1,440 tpd incinerator in Rahway, Union County, at the end of January 1994. The State is allowing Ogden to run the incinerator for 8 months without mercury emission controls. Ogden got the backing of Union County to proceed burning without the mercury controls. One and a half years ago Ogden volunteered to put on mercury emission controls and touted the incinerator as the best in the U.S. During the second week of January 1994, 8 people were arrested for blocking traffic at the incinerator in protest of the lack of mercury controls. Two people got hurt while blocking one car. The car came to a stop, the driver didn’t like the way the incinerator was being blocked and drove forward, sending 2 people to the emergency room. According to Madelyn Hofman, this car had been on the incinerator site, drove out, and 10 minutes later drove back. The 2 protestors were not seriously hurt. The driver was a worker at the incinerator plant. A video was taken of the incident. For more information contact Madelyn Hofman, Tel: 201-252-0797, address above.

66. Camden, New Jersey. On January 20, 1994, the County Freeholders are holding a public meeting to discuss solutions to the ‘problem’ of not having enough waste. On the agenda:. (1) They want to excavate the Pennsauken landfill and burn the materials in the incinerator. (2) They already are allowed to burn a certain number of tires and are now proposing that they burn tires from all municipalities in the county for free for a limited (!) amount of time. The incinerator is located on the edge of a very poor, African-American neighborhood and less than 5 miles from Gloucester County’s incinerator. Incinerator Owner: Foster Wheeler (51%) & Scientific Inc. (49%) in partnership called Camden County Energy Recovery Assoc.* According to GAA 1993, “Project is sized for 4 boilers although they only have 3 at the present time. 3 separate bond issues covers capital costs. Project is awaiting $26.6 million loan from proceeds of State Environmental Bond issue.”--p 406. Note: After a six year battle, citizens were able to defeat an Ogden Martin 500 tpd incinerator proposed for Pennsauken, also in Camden County --see WN # 119. For more information contact Mark Lohbauer, 8235 Balfour Road, Pennsauken, NJ 08810, tel: 609-663-4595; or Madelyn Hofman at 201-252-0797. See also, Waste Not #s 92,151,168,208.

*1993-1994 Resource Recovery Yearbook, Directory & Guide, by Eileen Berenyi, Ph.D. and Robert N. Gould, 718 pages, published by Governmental Advisory Associates, Inc. (a private consulting/research group), 177 E. 87th Street, NY, NY 10128.


WASTE NOT # 263. A publication of Work on Waste USA, published 48 times a year. Annual rates are: Groups & Non-Profits $50