EPA Accused of Promoting Burning of Toxic Waste Instead of Curbing It

Environmental groups, staking out a new front in the battle for clean air, accused the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday of promoting a massive increase in the burning of toxic waste instead of working to curb production of hazardous substances.

A report issued by the National Toxics Campaign Fund contends that the EPA is pressuring states into selecting sites for new toxic waste incinerators that could spew millions of pounds of pollutants into the air over the next 10 years.

The Boston-based organization, which was assisted by other grass-roots environmental groups across the country, said the federal agency instead should force states to enact laws reducing production of toxic waste.

Environmentalists oppose the incineration of toxic waste on grounds that it releases poisons and pollutants into the air, causing significant health hazards and damage to the ozone layer.

Standard for Burning

In its defense, the EPA said all approved incinerators must comply with standards requiring destruction of 99.99% of the toxic content of any waste material being burned to “substantially limit any emissions.”

Agency spokesman Robin Woods said the environmental group’s report seriously distorts the agency’s role in toxic waste disposal. “EPA first and foremost seeks to encourage waste reduction and pollution prevention at the source . . . to extend current disposal capacity as much as possible,” she said.

The report accuses the agency of “quietly planning a massive toxic waste incineration program that will poison the air, contaminate the environment and threaten the nation’s health.”

“All of this is occurring at a time when the Bush Administration is claiming to be the clean air Administration,” said Sanford Lewis, the report’s author, at a press conference.

As an alternative to building more incinerators, the report says states should require industries to reduce their use of toxic chemicals, either by substituting nontoxic materials for hazardous substances or by redesigning products to exclude toxic chemicals.

Under the Superfund Act of 1986, each state must submit by Oct. 17 a “capacity assurance plan” describing how it will dispose of all toxic waste produced within its borders over the next 20 years. States that submit plans judged to be inadequate will be denied federal funds to clean up waste sites.

As the states ready their plans, the EPA is advising them to approve more incinerator sites, “displaying a sharp bias” favoring waste burning over reduction, the report charges.

But EPA’s Woods said the agency first asks states to enact toxic reduction programs or look for existing out-of-state landfill sites. She said new incinerator sites are approved only “as a last resort.”

Although none of 21 states surveyed by the National Toxics Campaign Fund had completed a draft capacity assurance plan, the report said four--California, New Jersey, North Carolina and Massachusetts--had indicated that waste reduction would play a significant role.

If states do not vigorously try to reduce production, the amount of toxic waste burned in incinerators will jump from 15 million tons in 1988 to 95 million tons in the year 2000, the report projects. Over the next 10 years, the report estimates that more than 400 million pounds of toxic chemicals could be released into the air.

The report asks the EPA to impose a five-year moratorium on approval of new incinerators and calls on states to enact tough toxic materials reduction policies.

To underscore the report’s message, the organization sponsored demonstrations Thursday in more than 40 states to protest licensing of new incinerators and the health hazards that they pose.

Among sites demonstrators targeted are the pesticide division of Chevron Chemical Co. in Richmond, Calif., which is applying to operate a new incinerator, and a research incinerator in La Jolla.