 |
| ||
|
Deseret Morning News 8/16/06 For more information, contact:
|
Safety of schools debated Fears
remain about the incinerator in North Salt Lake NORTH SALT LAKE — The state of Utah isn't worried, but environmental groups Greenaction and the Sierra Club are. And on Wednesday night, North Salt Lake residents and parents of children planning to attend schools within a half mile of a medical-waste incinerator found out why. And that was the whole point, said Crystal Folgmann, who has three school-age children and became concerned after reading a newspaper story about the incinerator, operated by Illinois-based Stericycle. But after Wednesday's meeting, which included a panel discussion by Stericycle representatives, a North Salt Lake city councilman, state environmental quality managers and two environmental groups, questions still remain. Folgmann said she felt numb after being inundated with
so much information and plans to review a video recording of the
meeting. Because the
information hasn't hit home yet, she and her husband, Lee, haven't
decided whether to keep their three children enrolled in the Legacy
Preparatory Academy, a charter school slated to open this fall. Leaders from two yet-to-open local charter schools were invited to participate in the meeting but didn't attend. From the state's perspective, though, things are fine. " All data indicates that Stericycle is operating within federal and state health standards that include safety factors beyond levels used to protect humans," read a statement from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. "We do not believe there are any adverse health impacts." The medical-waste incinerator is one of 72 still operating in the United States. Stericycle is the largest medical-waste disposal company in the nation. The North Salt Lake plant receives medical waste from surrounding states and is one of six regional plants operated by the company. Selin Hoboy, a Stericycle vice president for environment and health, said her company is doing everything it can to make its operation as clean as possible. And the company is scheduled to spend $500,000 to make improvements, she said. Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction, says that's not enough. Stericycle should switch technology from incineration to sterilization, he said. Incineration of medical waste isn't required by state statute but is permitted. Miles Hansen, the North Salt Lake incinerator's director of environment and health, said he lives in the nearby Foxboro subdivision, built by Woodside Homes. " I love working here. I would not put my kids in harm's way. I would not live here if I thought it was hazardous," he said. But Angel said there are too many things Stericycle and the state of Utah haven't told residents: things like some of the ash produced through the incineration process is characterized as hazardous waste. Hoboy said her company isn't trying to hide anything and actually does extra reporting to state officials. She said the hazardous ash that is produced is taken to a facility licensed to dispose of it. Some residents during the meeting questioned why homes and schools were allowed to be built so close to the incinerator, which emits low doses of dioxin, a known toxic substance. North Salt Lake Councilman Conrad Jacobson said Stericycle has a very good record. When Woodside Homes came to the city with the plan to build a mixed-use community, city leaders researched the facility and couldn't find a reason to not allow new housing to be built. "
We levied a requirement on sellers that they include within any sales
packet that the buyer is aware that Stericycle is there," Jacobson
said. Any residents who don't remember signing the form can get a copy by calling Woodside Homes. Nelsen said, however, the disclosure of Stericycle's proximity to new homes only applied to people who bought new homes. Anyone who bought an existing home would have had to receive the information from the seller, Nelsen said. Though Folgmann is still trying to decide where to send her children to school, she said she's concerned about the black soot that adorns the top of the incinerator. After she read the news article, her 12-year-old son, Drew, used Google Earth to look at incinerator sites around Utah. A black circle sits atop Stericycle's facility but not on top of the Davis County burn plant or on top of the Deseret Chemical Depot, which incinerates chemical and neurological weapons. For Cambria Beuchert, who owns two homes in Foxboro, the concern now, after doing her own research and homework, is whether what appears to her to be an imaginary danger will drive down home values in her neighborhood. " I feel good to know there are other people who feel the way I do," Beuchert said. |