Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield Rallies with Toxics Action Center to Revoke Incinerator Permit

Posted by Megan Jenny on

 

 

See local television coverage here at Channel 22 News.

This morning local group, Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield (STIS) and their supporters rallied on the front steps of Springfield City Hall, calling on the City Council to revoke the special permit granted to Palmer Energy in 2008 to build a new incinerator on Page Boulevard. The incinerator would burn construction and demolition waste, one of the most toxic parts of the waste stream, which can include lead paint and arsenic-treated wood, and the group has worked for a year to increase public awareness of the health risks associated with incineration.

City Councilor John Lysak voiced his opposition to the incinerator and his support of the group’s work: “I am completely against the incinerator and have been from the beginning. I hope my fellow councilors will do whatever they can to stop this toxic incinerator from being built." Lysak and others noted that the incinerator proposal would emit up to one ton of lead into Springfield’s already polluted air.

Springfield zoning regulations give the city council the power to revoke the Special Permit on several grounds, including the withholding of information and the giving of false testimony at a hearing. “The original permit request and process in 2008 was sugar-coated and rushed,” said John Miller, member of STIS, “The coating is now coming off and the reality of the dangers the incinerator presents is evident. We can’t have any more pollution in this area.”

“Springfield already has a trash incinerator and childhood asthma rates more than double the rest of the state. Not only should we stop this toxic incinerator in Springfield, but we also need to take urgent action to move beyond this burn and bury cycle and towards Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and zero waste,” said Megan Jenny, Western Massachusetts Community Organizer with Toxics Action Center. STIS is also calling on the Patrick Administration to expand the incinerator moratorium to include construction waste, in order to stop the Springfield incinerator and prevent other proposals throughout the state. 

Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield (STIS) has worked to collect more than 1000 petition postcards, which they delivered to City Hall this morning from Springfield residents who want the City Council to revoke the permit. “By going door to door and flyering in busy public places, we engaged other residents and young people in our cause to stand up and say no to toxic incineration,” said Jesse Lederman, fifteen and Chairman of The McKnight Youth Council.

Betty Agin of the Health Disparities Project, who lives just two and a half miles from the site on Page Boulevard, spoke to her personal experience with childhood asthma in her family as well as her work to combat the problem.