Opponents Take Waste To Energy Battle To City Hall

Opponents to Rep. Jon Brien's bill H 5315, authorizing the City of Woonsocket to pursue a waste to energy plant, are prepped to voice their opinions at tonight's City Council meeting, with members from environmental groups from across the state expected to attend.

The bill, held for further study after a legislative hearing on March 24, would lift the state's current ban on waste to energy facilities, ending Rhode Island's 20 year prohibition by making an exception for Woonsocket exclusively.    

"If this community wants the ability to explore waste to energy, they should be able to," Brien told Patch.

Concerned Citizens of Woonsocket, a coalition of local residents that worked to fight the proposal for a coal burning plant in the city back in 1987, have spearheaded an effort to defeat H 5315, passing out fliers across the city to encourage public participation. Members of the Audubon Society, the Sierre Club, Environmental Council of Rhode Island and, possibly, Conservation Law Foundation will join local forces to address the Woonsocket City Council at the Monday night meeting.

"Once they get permits and sign the contract, we're stuck with this and you can't get rid of it," said Leo Marcoux, one member of organization, which Marcoux said has more than 70 members.

The flier reads:

• "Real Estate values fall dramatically, as much as 50%.
• “Modern” incinerators release significant amounts of acid gases, mercury, harmful organic compounds, and toxic dust which even the EPA cannot measure.
• Other pollutants are ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide.
• Attend the Woonsocket City Council meeting on April 18, 2011 at 7:00 P.M. (169 Main St. Woonsocket, RI—2nd floor) to voice your opinion or hear more.

"False," Brien said of the handout. 

"These people will say anything and I don't understand why," Brien added.

The Woonsocket representative points to the waste to energy facility in nearby Millbury, MA as evidence. Brien says he contacted the small town just 22 miles north of the city, to ask about these issues.  Officials, he said, reported that their waste to energy plant has not affected property values or quality of life while injecting needed money into the economy.  Officials in Millbury could not be reached for comment.

Covanta Energy has created modern waste to energy facilities in 16 states and is currently operating 40 plants across the country.

Marcoux, meanwhile, has lived in Oak Grove for more than 55 years and uses the Synagro plant as an example of how this type of proposal can affect quality of life. "Nothing burns 100% clean," he said.

Marcoux looks at waste to energy projects gone awry, such as the trash burning power plant in Ohio which was reportedly plagued with problems during operation and eventually abandoned. Environmentalists additionally emphasize the need to focus on "truly" renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, and see increased recycling as the best method to address the state's landfill problem.

In a March 30 editorial in The Valley Breeze, resident Meddy Payette calls the city's pursuit of the facility embarrassing, referencing a Providence Journal PolitiFact piece which called Brien's logic for the plant false.

PolitiFact took issue with a statement in Brien's press release on H 5315 which stated "residents are paying through the nose for electricity that’s fueled by foreign oil, at prices that are skyrocketing." Power plants in Rhode Island, PolitiFact corrected, burn natural gas, not oil. The article also disputed Brien's statement "Rather than burying trash in the ground and that being the end of it, why not use it to create electricity," arguing that the state's Resource Recovery Corporation already generates electricity from trash.

"Only 20% of methane gas is captured and 80% goes into the environment," Brien said of the piece. Additionally, Brien argued that even if oil is not currently used regionally, it is nationally. A PACE University study found that 8% of the state's energy is created by burning foreign oil. "You can't make the argument that utility prices are not directly affected by oil. It's all tied together," Brien said.

Evidence of the safety of waste to energy plants, Brien asserts, are all over Europe. "In Europe, they find the idea of burying trash abhorrent and I have to say, they've got it right on this one."

A New York Times article published this year states that in Europe, "there are about 400 plants, with Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands leading the pack in expanding them and building new ones."

Brien believes the bill's opponents are reacting emotionally and falling prey to unsubstantiated fears that the plant could adversely affect their health. "Let's look at the empirical evidence. Is cancer skyrocketing in France or Germany?"   

More from statewide agencies that oppose the bill can be seen

Council members will have the opportunity to evaluate the strength and validity of both sides, when opponents come forward to make their case this evening. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in Harris Hall.