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Oakland Tribune Friday, March 2, 2001  150 people braved rain and a police harassment to protest at the IES incinerators in East Oakland. Here is the Oakland Tribune story. In response to IES' statement to the paper that a deal has been cut with the Bay Area Air District, Greenaction and allies conducted a sit-in at the agency offices today. In response to our protests, the Air District issued a statement denying that a secret deal has been cut. Greenaction and the entire coalition are vowing to escalate the protests until IES shuts the incinerators and replaces them with safer non-incineration technology to protect the jobs at the plant while better protecting public health and the environment. See Also For more information, contact:
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Firm reports official OK for incinerator operation By Douglas
Fischer Operators of the state's only commercial medical waste incinerator said Thursday they have reached an agreement with air regulators to keep their controversial furnaces operating. The announcement came shortly before protesters locked the front gate of the East Oakland facility on High Street between Interstate 880 and Alameda, saying if air regulators won't shut it down, they will. Both moves are likely to inflate what has so far been a civil dispute between protesters, who blame the incinerators for blowing toxic steam over a blighted neighborhood, and Integrated Environmental Systems, which insists its twin state-of-the-art burners fall well within state and federal pollution limits. The deal with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District clears the way for IES to receive a federally mandated permit, said IES spokesman Alonza Robertson. "We understand with the issuance of this order of compliance, any obstacles to the issuance of our Title V permit will be removed," he said, reading from a statement. The company has not received the order yet, he added. Air district officials were not immediately available for comment Thursday night, but said as recently as Wednesday that "all different angles" are being considered in the IES matter. Word of such a deal infuriated activists with Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, who say IES' repeated violations of air quality rules is reason enough to shut the burners down. "If you're a kid in East Oakland and you get into trouble, three strikes and you're out," said Greenaction executive director Bradley Angel. "But if you're a toxic polluter emitting the deadliest substances known on earth and you have 300 violations, you get another break." The district has had the permit under review since at least November 1999. Regulators said late last year they expected to hand IES an unprecedented denial, citing a string of air quality violations and plant breakdowns. But since mid-December, the district has registered no violations and just one unconfirmed complaint, said district spokeswoman Lucia Libretti. Robertson said the clean streak extends further -- from September. Almost 100 people took part in the rally. "The battle's on," said protester John Mataka. "Somebody got to the air district. That's the bottom line."
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