Lung Assn. Wants Assurances : Waste-to-Energy Plant Gets a New Foe

Citing unanswered questions about the possibility of toxic chemicals being spewed into the air, the American Lung Assn. of San Diego and Imperial Counties announced its opposition Tuesday to the controversial waste-to-energy plant proposed for Kearny Mesa, near Miramar Naval Air Station.

Association President Patricia Roscoe said the group would fight construction of the plant, known as Sander, until it receives information assuring that the facility can burn waste without releasing chemicals that would pose health hazards.

In particular, Roscoe cited mercury, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides and cancer-causing dioxins as significant reasons for concern. “Emission of dioxins from the plant is our main concern because they can cause cancer,” she said in a prepared statement.

“We’re especially concerned that should the plant be built and become operational, dangerous chemicals including dioxins, which have been shown to cause cancer, will be released and inhaled in densely populated areas of the community.”

Residents of the Tierrasanta area have been especially vocal in opposing the plant, which would be upwind from their houses.

The joint city-county project, in the planning stages for more than eight years, would be built by Signal Environmental Systems next to the city’s Miramar landfill and burn 2,250 tons of trash a day, generating enough electricity for 60,000 homes.

Signal is now submitting data to the California Energy Commission, which will decide whether to issue a state permit for construction. That decision is not expected before late 1987.

At the root of the opposition are the pollutants, such as dioxin, for which there are no established federal or state safe-level standards. Signal officials insist that the pollutants would cause no significant health problems and cite experience from the five trash-to-energy plants they operate elsewhere in the United States.

The state Air Resources Board is still a year or so away from developing standards for the potentially toxic pollutants that the plant may emit. Its data, as well as information from the county Air Pollution Control District, will become part of the record on which the energy commission will base its final decision.

Signal spokesman Bernie Rhinerson said Tuesday that he was encouraged by the lung association’s willingness to consider new information.

“We are in the process of making more information available and hope (the association) will re-evaluate its position as the process proceeds,” he said.

“Signal is totally confident that when the analysis (of the commission) is completed, people will find that this plant will be no threat to the environment and can operate safely.”