ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 19, 1992                   TAG: 9201170200
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

INCINERATOR SURVEY DOESN'T EXPLORE ISSUE

The recent 1992 Issues for Montgomery County survey conducted by Supervisor James Moore shows 61 percent of the 313 people polled supported construction of a non-polluting, energy-producing, regional incinerator for disposing solid wastes. This compares to 18 percent favoring new landfill construction in the county and 11 percent favoring exporting waste to sites outside the county.

The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County has not taken a position on this issue, but our members have been observing the ongoing Montgomery County study of solid-waste disposal for three years. Our study leads us to believe that Supervisor Moore's questionnaire presented simplistic and misleading alternatives. We believe that local governments and the public must explore this complex issue thoroughly and with specific attention to the unique demographic, political and environmental realities of the New River Valley before making a judgment. The public needs to know answers to the following questions:

Is airborne incinerator emission control cost-effective?

Is incinerator ash toxic? If so, how is it disposed?

Does the New River Valley alone consistently generate a large enough stream of waste to fuel a power plant?

Is incineration for waste disposal consistent with source reduction and resource recovery?

Is regional cooperation on this issue possible?

Environmentally clean, cost-effective, regional, simultaneous incineration and power generation is a seductive idea. None of us relishes the idea of sorting trash for recycling for the rest of our lives. However, the options posed by Supervisor Moore obscure the complexity of the problem. The public needs to confront, study and debate all the facts about incineration before representations of "public opinion" are used in decision making.\ Judith Snoke\ President\ League of Women Voters 





 by Archana Subramaniam

 by CNB