A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton,
NY 13617 315-379-9200 April 19, 1990
TENNESSEE: PROPOSAL FOR 900 TPD FOSTER-WHEELER INCINERATOR
FOR KNOXVILLE IS DEFEATED TWO DAYS BEFORE BOND ISSUANCE.
“A bitterly fought incinerator proposal went up in flames
today after Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe announced he no longer
supports the project. Ashe’s sudden turnaround caused the
company issuing the bonds to yank its support making it impossible
to remarket $162 million in bonds to pay for the incinerator,
recycling, landfilling and composting programs. Ashe said the
frenzied last-minute effort to ensure that all the details are
in place is like the story of the Dutch boy trying to stop a flood
by sticking his finger in a hole in a dike. ‘The project
has more holes than there are fingers,’ Ashe said. Ashe
announced that he would recommend to City Council members that
they ‘take whatever legal steps are necessary to extricate
itself from the transaction,’ including withdrawing from
a waste disposal agreement with the county and the Metropolitan
Knox Solid Waste Authority. The city, county and authority signed
a waste disposal agreement giving control over the waste stream
to the authority and pledging the government’s financial
backing for the bonds. ‘What he’s done is unprecedented,
to change direction two days before the [bond issuance] deadline,’
said Steve Olsen of Prudential-Bache, the company hired
to market the bonds. ‘We wouldn’t have gone forward
with this without the city’s contract’ on the waste
disposal agreement, he said. Ashe’s list of concerns included
the state legislature’s rejection of a bill that would have
let the authority assess a user fee to homeowners. That action
dumped the user fee responsibility the on city council and county
commission during an election year. He also complained that contracts
for energy production and landfilling were not complete, that
the National Park Service had serious concerns about incinerator
emissions, and that the authority is facing a lawsuit from anti-incinerator
citizens. Assurances from attorneys and consultants that all
those loose ends would be accounted for before Thursday’s
deadline did not persuade Ashe...Authority employees were being
notified they may soon be out of a job...Estimates of existing
[Authority] debts were not immediately available...Consultants
and attorneys worked day and night for the last four days and
finally resolved the concerns of AMBAC, the bond insurer,
at about 9 am today, according to attorney Ed Ingram. However,
Ashe’s spokesman, George Korda, said that when Ashe talked
to AMBAC representatives on the phone, he was told AMBAC
shared Ashe’s concerns...” Knoxville Journal,
4-17-90.
THE KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, INCINERATOR STORY:
The 3 1/2 year battle against the Knoxville incinerator is a story
riddled with dirty politics, citizen allegations of intimidation
and the tragic death of State Legislature Ted Ray Miller. Ted
Ray Miller was the State Legislator whose district was chosen
as the location for the Knoxville incinerator. Miller was liked
and respected by his constituents. The tragedy began when Knox
Metropolitan Solid Waste Authority’s lawyer, Richard Beeler,
cooperating with the FBI, met with Miller on seven occasions,
and on each occasion handed Miller an envelope with $5,000 cash,
for a total of $35,000. Attorney Beeler was ‘wired’
by the FBI, and on the seventh transaction of passing an envelope
to Miller, the FBI revealed themselves and these transactions
went public. Richard Beeler worked full time for the authority
and the FBI had given him the money for the transactions. There
was a Grand Jury investigation of Ted Ray Miller. The day before
the Grand Jury was to announce its conclusions, Miller killed
himself. The public allegations were that Miller had accepted
this money in exchange for the withdrawal of his proposed legislation.
According to Bill Sellew, the seven envelopes that Miller had
accepted were found in his house after his death, all unopened.
Anti-incinerator activists and friends could not easily swallow
the allegations that Ted Ray Miller was accepting payoffs in return
for an end to his opposition to the incinerator. Groups describe
the workings of the Knox Metropolitan Solid Waste Authority as:
secretive, inflexible, a total refusal to work with citizens,
and manipulative of the city and county political system. There
are serious allegations that an authority official had been overheard
remarking that the authority “would do everything we can
do to discredit Ted Ray Miller, so we can stop some of this criticism.”
The friends of Ted Ray Miller believe that he never expected
to spend the money, that he was planning his own sting operation,
but they have no proof. Other people contacted by Waste Not
have said they do not believe Ted Ray Miller’s death was
a suicide. The major incinerator proponents were Knox County
Executive Dwight Kessel and Brown Ayres. Ayres worked for Cumberland
Securities and secured the bond before the project - a classic
case of a bond in search of a project. Kessel appointed the members
of the authority, and authority members appointed Kessel as Chairman
of the authority. The authority is estimated to have spent $12
million on trying to get the incinerator built, with the majority
of the money spent on consultants. Groups estimate that 98% of
the authority’s budget was spent on the incinerator and 2%
on recycling. The major consultant to the authority was HDR.
Jim Reynolds, the director of the authority, was a former HDR
consultant. It is estimated that Jim Reynolds salary was $135,000
- he was paid $75 per hour as director of the authority. Before
Mr. Reynolds agreed to become director he had negotiated his salary
with the provision that he be allowed to do private consultancy
work while maintaining the job of Director. The authority agreed
to that. All the residents and groups Waste Not interviewed
cited the lack of fair reporting of the Knoxville press. The
Tennessee Valley Energy Coalition had been heavily involved
in trying to halt this project. For more information contact
either TVAC, PO Box 27245, Knoxville, TN, Tel: 615-637-6055,
or Bill Sellew at 615-693-2373.
VERMONT: SOURCE SEPARATION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS PRIOR TO
INCINERATION MAY HAVE A BENEFICIAL IMPACT ON AIR EMISSIONS
...As
part of its efforts to re-permit the 200 tpd Rutland solid-waste
Vicon incinerator, which operated for 9 months before it
went bankrupt in August 1988, the “Vermont Agency of Natural
Resources (ANR) would require the owner/operator to demonstrate
that they have achieved the hazardous most stringent emission
rate (HMSER) for some hazardous air contaminants. ANR has determined
that source separation of certain materials prior to incineration
may have a beneficial impact on air emissions and is to be considered
in the HMSER review process. ANR has preliminarily identified
several air contaminants and sources of these contaminants that
the owner/operator will be required to address their removal prior
to incineration:
A. LEAD B. CADMIUM C. MERCURY
- lead-acid batteries - nickel-cadmium - household
batteries
- T.V. picture tubes - batteries - thermometers
- electronic circuitry
- lead glass
D. HCL E. AFFECTS F. OTHER TRACE METALS
- polyvinyl chloride COMBUSTION - all ferrous
& non-ferrous
PROCESS metals
- yard & food waste
“The owner/operator will be expected to identity specific
programs which it can implement to divert these materials from
MWC facility (performance standards to be determined.) ANR also
would require that the owner/operator review waste generation
analysis for the region for any wastes which the owner/operator
expects to receive at the facility and which might pose an emissions
problem if incinerated or would adversely affect the combustion
process. The owner/operator should identify these materials and
develop diversion programs which ensure that these materials are
either recycled or properly disposed...” Air Permit Requirement
for Waste Stream Modification for the Rutland Municipal Waste
Combustion Facility, 11-21-89, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources,
103 South Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05676.
“...Overestimating
emissions can jeopardize projects for environmental reasons...It
is critical not to overestimate emissions of mercury because of
its potentially adverse environmental impacts...” Emission
Estimates for Modern Resource Recovery Facilities, by Robert
D. Getter of Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., Wakefield, MA, from
the Proceedings of 1988 National Waste Processing Conference,
Philadelphia, PA, May 1-4, 1990. pages 219-225.
WASTE NOT #99 A publication of Work on Waste USA, published
48 times a year. Annual rates are: Individual & Non-Profits
$35; Students & Seniors $25; Consultants & For-Profits
$100; Canadian Subscriptions $US40. Editors: Ellen & Paul
Connett, 82 Judson Street, Canton, NY 13617. Tel: 315-379-9200.
Fax: 315-379-0448.