Who Benefits From Incinerator Plan?
An article in the Dec. 25 San Gabriel Valley Section reported that permit requirements needed by a proposed waste-to-energy plant in Irwindale would be lowered if Pacific Waste Management Corp. would reduce the initial capacity of its plant by one-fourth, to 2,250 tons of trash per day. The state Energy Commission also ruled that Pacific Waste would have to line up 75% of its trash supply before proceedings could resume.
It is interesting that the Energy Commission feels Pacific Waste has met its supply requirement by signing an agreement with Western Waste Industries of Carson, a major trash hauler in the South Bay area, to deliver 2,000 tons of trash per day, six days a week.
My only question is: Who is this incinerator going to benefit? The Energy Commission has agreed that 75% of the trash will be imported from outside the San Gabriel Valley. It appears there are two beneficiaries: Pacific Waste and the South Bay area, which would export its trash and not have to worry about environmental impacts.
As for us in the San Gabriel Valley, we can be sure of one additional discomfort to go along with our annual smog alerts: more freeway tie-ups when hundreds of trash trucks begin delivering 2,000 tons of trash a day, six days a week from the South Bay area.
GEORGE J. VILLALOBOS
Arcadia
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