Fresno Bee

August 26, 2003

For more information, contact:

Bradley Angel Greenaction

(415) 248-5010

Chowchilla waste plant plan fought

By Lisa Aleman-Padilla
The Fresno Bee

Opponents of a proposed Chowchilla treatment plant that would dispose of medical waste -- including body parts and needles -- say the plant is a danger to their community.

But the company seeking to build the plant says that's simply not true. North American Power Co. intends to build a plant safer than government regulations require, the company's president said.

The Nevada waste technology company applied in March for a permit to build a 15,000-square-foot treatment plant at Avenue 241/2 and Road 161/2, in an industrial park.

The site would dispose of body parts, needles, medical equipment containing mercury, chemotherapy waste and spent pharmaceuticals, and would employ about 15 to 20 people when operating at capacity.

North American withdrew its application last week, but plans to submit a revised application within two weeks. The company still has active applications with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and the state Department of Health.

Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction, a nonprofit health and environmental organization, said the company's permit application failed to disclose information about its " Thermal Recovery Unit," or pyrolysis, a form of incineration that chemically decomposes organic materials through heat in the absence of oxygen.

"We believe this facility would emit some of the most toxic pollutants known to science, including dioxin and mercury," Angel said. "We think this is an incinerator in disguise."

Dioxin, a byproduct of chlorine used in plastics, is especially harmful to agriculture and dairies, as it can be absorbed into the food chain, he said.

"There are no acceptable levels," Angel said.

Ed Stammel, North American's president, said such allegations are unfounded.

Pyrolysis is less emitting than incineration, and could be instrumental in reducing the state's medical waste stream, which is trucked into Texas and Kansas and incinerated, he said.

"We would not have chosen to come to California if we were not confident that we would be able to far exceed the governmental regulations currently in place," Stammel said.

Angel said the city of Chowchilla was prepared to approve North American's conditional-use permit at its Planning Commission meeting Wednesday, without a full environmental impact report. The city had also failed to notify the public of the proposal, as required by law, he said.

The application was withdrawn after the public comment portion of Wednesday's meeting.

Ione Scott, who lives east of the proposed site, said she got the news through an e-mail sent by Angel, which she forwarded to others. "I don't know anyone in Chowchilla who knew anything about this," she said.

Tom Skinner, planning consultant for the city, said the city made numerous attempts to notify citizens.

Skinner said the city is working with the air quality board and the state to expand its environmental impact report to include some of the issues raised at Wednesday's meeting.