EPA Approves a Test Burn at Toxic Waste Incinerator

The Environmental Protection Agency gave its approval Friday for a test burn at a controversial hazardous waste incinerator in Ohio that Vice President-elect Al Gore has said the Clinton Administration would not allow to begin commercial operations until more questions are answered.

The EPA’s clearance came on the heels of approval by the state’s environmental protection agency.

Located downstream from Pittsburgh, Pa., on the Ohio River, the plant has been the site of numerous protests and hundreds of arrests of environmental activists who oppose it because of its proximity to underground water supplies, residential neighborhoods and an elementary school.

Last month, Gore joined a half-dozen other senators and House members in asking the General Accounting Office to study the permits and approvals granted so far in the planning and construction of the $140-million plant.

While environmental opponents of the incinerator have lost their legal battles to block the facility, they have continued to hope that the incoming Administration would intercede on their behalf and Gore’s comments have given them further encouragement.

Waste Technologies Industries, the owner of the plant, says it is losing $115,000 a day as the new facility remains idle.

Designed to incinerate about 60,000 tons of hazardous waste each year, the plant is now regarded as an early indicator of the Clinton Administration’s views of incineration as a method of waste management.

Local boosters of the project say it is needed not only to help manage the mounting hazardous waste problem but also to provide jobs in an economically depressed area.

An estimated 200 jobs will be provided when the plant is in full operation, and it is expected to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in new tax revenues.

The test burn approved late Friday is required under the federal Resources Conservation and Recovery Act to demonstrate that the incinerator can meet the environmental standards required by its permit. After evaluation of the trial, the EPA could add conditions to the permit or tighten emission limits.

A full federal permit for the facility was first granted in 1985. It was modified last year, and has since withstood numerous judicial and administrative challenges, most recently in U.S. district court in West Virginia last November.