Op-Ed
06.13.09 - 10:52 pm
By Janet Marsh
Executive Director
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

Fifteen years ago, when 22 counties said “no” to the state’s proposal for the nation’s second-largest hazardous waste incinerator, people from across North Carolina understood the dangers of incineration. Incinerators are landfills in our lungs. Incineration creates air poisons which are not in the original waste material: dioxins and furans. Dioxin is the stuff of Agent Orange and is deadly at levels far below current detection methods.

The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has now published three investigations into pollution impacts from poultry waste incineration. A fair minded person might not make a decision based on one report, but the evidence is piling up and the negatives are too large to be ignored.

Recently, we published a groundbreaking pollution report which has drawn fire from Fibrowatt’s spokesman. The report is based on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency computer model. This study evaluated site-specific impacts in Surry County. The report predicts disturbingly high levels of air toxics. In short, we took the Fibrominn permit and pollution emissions from Benson, Minn. and transposed them to the proposed Elkin site. Without a draft permit application from Fibrowatt for North Carolina counties, we chose the only way available to illustrate that the proposed incinerator would emit dangerous levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid. Long ago, Fibrowatt should have provided Surry County and Elkin officials with a detailed air pollution permit application.

Because the Minnesota plant is the only poultry manure incinerator in the nation and because the state of Minnesota and Fibrowatt have refused to release information about the plant’s violations, our organization has asked for full disclosure of toxic emissions and enforcement actions. The truth is that the Fibrominn (the Minnesota plant) permit was inadequate from the start. For example, the state of Minnesota required no particulate emission limits. This fill-in-the-blank permit approach is not good enough for North Carolina. Particulates carry air poisons deep into the lungs causing cancer, respiratory distress and heart disease.

Our organization is gravely concerned that the political power of Fibrowatt may influence state decision makers and local elected officials to allow a dangerous incinerator. Our role in the public debate is to push for stringent regulations on air toxins and the best pollution controls available. I am amazed that any local government official would not agree.

Since 1984 our Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has been dedicated to public health protection, environmental democracy and earth stewardship. We want green jobs and healthy communities. During the past 25 years, we have worked with state and local officials, civic and church groups, and professional organizations to promote zero waste, safe energy and family farms.

To date, North Carolina officials have not demonstrated a widespread problem of over-application of poultry manure on land. Certainly, this valuable and inexpensive fertilizer should be moved from places where there is abundance to places where there is need. To that end, we are establishing a Poultry Manure Exchange. We ask Surry County farmers and farmers in surrounding counties not to sign restrictive contracts with Fibrowatt but to contact us for a better deal.

Please join our Stop Fibrowatt Campaign by contacting Sam or Betty Tesh at (336) 366-7905 or e-mail me at BREDL@skybest.com. Our detailed poultry manure incineration reports are available on our website at www.BREDL.org.

Editor’s Note: This op-ed piece does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Mount Airy News. It is the solely the opinion of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. If you disagree, or agree, with it’s content, feel free to write a letter to the editor. Please make sure all letters are signed with your full name, lists your city or town of residence, and include a telephone number for verification purposes.

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