Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 18, 1993 TAG: 9305180129
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The policy, developed under Carol Browner, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, calls for freezing the capacity of the nation's hazardous-waste incinerators, forbidding them to burn more than the current level of roughly 3 million tons of chemical byproducts a year, EPA officials said Monday.
There are 184 hazardous-waste incinerators in the United States. Under the order, no new ones could be built unless old ones were closed. This would probably result in a temporary halt in the development and construction of new incinerators, the officials said, giving the agency more time to develop tougher health, safety and environmental requirements for existing plants.
The policy, which Browner is scheduled to describe at a news conference today, would also require officials in the agency's regional offices to study much more carefully the effects of incinerator-caused air pollution on local food supplies.
The issue arose last year in East Liverpool, Ohio, where the environmental group Greenpeace and some residents have been battling the owners of the nation's newest hazardous-waste incinerator and the government to close it down.
EPA officials said the order was also meant to enforce a provision in the federal hazardous-waste law that requires manufacturers to reduce the wastes incinerated.
This approach would eliminate the need for more incinerators and could prompt the closing of older ones, EPA officials said.
Officials said the plan was aimed less at the country's 20 commercial incinerators than at the 164 plants that burn hazardous wastes as fuel in cement kilns, boilers and industrial furnaces.
In December, Vice President-elect Al Gore announced that the new administration would prevent the East Liverpool plant from opening until Congress investigated its safety and how it got federal approval. But despite that pledge, the administration in March permitted the plant, operated by Waste Technologies Industries, to begin commercial operation.
In reaction, Ohio River Valley residents and Greenpeace mounted a nationwide bus tour over the past month accusing the president of reneging on the pledge.
The bus tour arrived Monday in Washington, where members of the citizens' group chained themselves to concrete blocks inside a truck in front of the White House, shutting down the westbound lanes of Pennsylvania Avenue for hours.
The Washington police said 50 people were arrested, including Terri Swearingen, 36, a nurse who is among the leaders of the protest.
"Clinton talks about change," Swearingen said, as emergency workers used jackhammers to break apart the concrete blocks to free her for arresting officers. "We have followed him around the country and heard how he talks about giving us an environmental presidency. And he talks about being on the side of the people. And so far, where is the change? There is no difference between Bush and Clinton."
Battles over hazardous-waste incineration are nothing new for an industry that experienced explosive growth in the 1980s as a result of the nation's two hazardous-waste laws: the 1980 Superfund law for cleaning up chemical dumps, and the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which is intended to manage more carefully the production and disposal of chemical wastes.
The effect of both laws was to turn millions of tons of chemical wastes into a valuable commodity to be buried in new dumps or burned in incinerators.
by CNB