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24 Hour Vigil at IES Incinerators Keeps Pressure On! August 22, 2001
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Coalition Temporarily Suspends Civil Disobedience During Negotiations, but New Problems Erupt as Incinerator Malfunctions Over 100 people joined the 24 hour vigil in front of the IES incinerators August 21-22. A delegation of local residents and Greenaction, PUEBLO, Center for Environmental Health and Commonweal met with IES on August 21 for two hours to discuss if the company was willing to end all incineration at the facility and transfer to safer treatment technologies. While some progress was made, significant differences remain. At the vigil, participants erected tents in front of the facility, hung banners and held signs for the thousands of motorists passing by to see for 24 hours. Dozens of people spent the night in front of IES, breathing dioxin, mercury and other noxious fumes. Despite the foul odors, spirits were high! At 11 am on Wednesday, a horrible foul odor eminated from the plant, smelled by dozens of vigil participants and nearby workers. Several people called the Bay Area Air Quality Management District complaint line (1-800-odor) who failed to cite the company for the violation, claiming our complaints were "unconfirmed" - despite the fact that IES' general mangager Richard Stryker admitted their was a malfunction in a valve on the incinerator that caused the odor. In response to our complaints, IES had to agree to shut the incinerator for the day! The coalition had a large emergency meeting last night and unanimously agreed to keep the pressure on! |