Clinton to Seek Testing Halt at Waste Plant

The Clinton Administration will seek to block final-stage testing at a new hazardous waste incinerator in Ohio until Congress investigates potential threats to the environment, an aide said Sunday.

Vice President-elect Al Gore is likely to make the announcement today on stopping operations at the $140-million incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio, said Marla Romash, spokeswoman for the Clinton-Gore transition team.

She said that Gore, joined by congressional colleagues from Ohio and West Virginia and Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), will ask for a General Accounting Office investigation into the plant’s licensing.

Until that investigation is completed, the new Administration will hold off issuing a permit for a final test burn, Romash said. The plant already has a temporary test burn permit.

Gore, expected to be the Clinton Administration’s point man on environmental issues, visited the Ohio River Valley during the campaign and promised he would look into residents’ concerns about the plant.

Opponents say the incinerator is just 300 feet from a neighborhood and 1,100 feet from an elementary school on the bank of the Ohio River. They say the level of toxic emissions has been understated.

Supporters argue that emissions will pose no threat to the environment and the plant will generate an estimated $4 million in state and local taxes and 100 permanent jobs.