Shut Down Incinerator<title><meta name="Description" content="Many of those living under the cloud of PSC stacks are quite surprised to read about the new incinerator since a Bay Area Air Quality Management Board's "Unconditional Order of Abatement" has been in force to reduce emissions and public nuisance since the mid 1980s."><meta name="Keywords" content="Incinerator"><meta name="author" content="L A Wood"></head> <body bgcolor="#CCCCCC"> <table width="761" border="0" align="center"> <tr> <td width="37%" height="77" bordercolor="#669999"> <p align="center"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="5"><img src="../image/berkeleycitizenbanner.jpg" width="300" height="85"></font></p> </td> <td width="63%" bgcolor="#CCCCCC"> <div align="center"><span class="text"><font size="5">Shut Down Incinerator</font></span></div></td> </tr> </table> <table width="761" border="0" align="center"> <tr> <td width="170"><strong><font color="#FFFFFF" size="5"><strong><font color="#FFFFFF" size="5"><strong><font color="#000000" size="2" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span class="boldtitle"><a href="../index.html"><img src="../image/button-HOME.gif" width="125" height="20" border="0" align="right"></a></span></font></strong></font></strong></font></strong></td> <td width="332"> </td> <td width="245"><div align="right"><strong><font color="#0000FF"></font></strong> <strong><font color="#FFFFFF" size="5"><strong><font color="#FFFFFF" size="5"><strong><font color="#000000" size="2" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span class="boldtitle"></span></font></strong></font></strong></font><font color="#FFFFFF"><strong><a href="../pacificsteel.html"><img src="../image/PACIFICSTEEL.gif" width="200" height="20" border="0" align="left"></a> </strong></font></strong></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" valign="top" bordercolor="#FFFFFF" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <blockquote> <p><span class="text"><font size="3">Shut Down Incinerator</font><br> L A Wood, Berkeley Voice, June 10, 1999<br> <br> Marc Albert's story on Pacific Steel Casting Company should be corrected to read that an incinerator was installed in 1998, and not 1989, at the West Berkeley site. </span>Many of those living under the cloud of PSC stacks are quite surprised to read about the new incinerator since a Bay Area Air Quality Management Board's "Unconditional Order of Abatement" has been in force to reduce emissions and public nuisance since the mid 1980s. Yet, last year, with the installation of the incinerator, PSC's sitewide emissions rose substantially.</p> <p class="text">In fact, particulates increased 70 percent, nitrous oxides 35 percent, and carbon monoxide over 80 percent, along with increases in formaldehyde, phenols, metals and organic compounds, when compared to the last annual air-emissions report in 1997. The answer to the argument over whether the new equipment is an incinerator or a bake oven is simple. Bake ovens generally operate at 400 degrees - 500 degrees F, where as incinerators, typically burn at much higher temperatures, like the one at PSC which burns at 1400 F.</p> <p class="text"><img src="../image/psc2.jpg" alt="psc " width="200" height="150" align="right">The emissions from their respective stacks is also quite different. Bake ovens produce large amounts of organics. This is reflected in the other bake ovens on site for mold and casing manufacturing. PSC's sitewide emissions for organics are over 37 tons annually. PSC's incinerator is supposed to produce less than 90 pounds of organics, but will also generate increased amounts of other chemicals while processing 10,000 tons of sand annually. It's doubtful that this new incinerator would have been allowed to operate if the community had been properly notified about the project.</p> <p class="text">This incinerator was virtually hidden from the public even though it was officially endorsed by Berkeley's mayor and the Economic Development Office. It even won a state business award. Now the incinerator project is being offered as a model for other Bay Area urban foundries.It's no wonder that so few are willing to look at this pilot project critically, or to question its sustainability in any urban environment.</p> <p class="text">The questions raised in public discussions during the early 1980s resulted in some changes at PSC as they began to address the nuisance odors from the site. However, the discussions about health impacts were simply deferred, and to date, no complete health assessment has ever been completed. This is the unanswered question of the abatement order, and is again raised by the public's discovery of the new incinerator. What is the potential for causing serious illness to those living and working around PSC from low-level and long-term exposure?</p> <p class="text"><font color="#FF0000">Despite two decades of community focus, we unfortunately don't know much more about the atmosphere chemistry and dispersion, the exposure pathways, the chemical compositions, or the chemical byproducts associated with PSC's emissions. Back in 1982, the medical and chemical issues were tabled for lack of scientific understanding. Today, we better understand the carcinogenic aspects of PSC's emissions and how low-level exposure affects health and human development. </font><font color="#FF0000">It's about more than unpleasant odors; it's about the chemicals we don't smell and their effects on human health! This is the missing piece in this failed regulatory process</font>.</p> <p class="text">Frankly, there has never been a real commitment to the understanding of the health impacts of air emissions by PSC, or by BAAQMD. Yet $1 million was invested to install an incinerator, some of which was public money. BAAQMD, which originally stood with the Berkeley and Albany communities in addressing this issue, now chooses to hide behind PSC and some local officials. Moreover, a decade has passed since the Department of Health Services first suggested that a study and health assessment of PSC's emissions be undertaken. Where is their completed health assessment, one which factors in the incinerator emissions? And where is DHS now the PSC is requesting relief from BAAQMD's abatement order?</p> <p class="text">A health risk assessment must be conducted which directly addresses long-term, low-level exposures, and its effects on residents surrounding the facility. Let's begin with an ambient air station placed in the childcare facility next to PSC and not for just one day, but long-term monitoring, so we can begin to really know the air quality impacts and human health risks from this foundry. This is the least that is owed to our community.</p> <p class="text"><font color="#FF0000">Finally, the waste incinerator at PSC is much like the old trash burners found in most residential backyards of the 1950s. We stopped burning our residential trash long ago. Now, we must ask why the city of Berkeley allows BAAQMD, or more specifically, PSC, to burn its trash in the backyards of West Berkeley and Albany. Shut down the incinerator now!</font></p> </blockquote> </td> </tr> </table> <div align="center"> <table width="150" border="1" bordercolor="#CCCCCC"> <tr> <td width="182"> <div align="center"><a href="../index.html"><img src="../image/home.gif" alt="home" width="100" height="16"></a></div></td> </tr> </table> <font size="2">©2007 berkeleycitizen.org</font> </div> </body> </html>