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Oakland Tribune Friday, March 3, 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 3/2 Firm reports official OK for incinerator operation For more information, contact:
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Burning Question in Waste Furor Agency contradicts firm on incinerators By Douglas
Fischer Air regulators are drafting an order that could keep a pair of Oakland medical waste incinerators running with certain caveats, but any decision on a crucial permit remains far from certain, Bay Area Air Quality Management District officials said Friday. The news contrasts with a statement made Thursday by Integrated Environmental Systems, the incinerators' operator, which said an accord was at hand that would remove "any obstacles" to the permit's issuance. "It's premature to even go to that kind of conclusion," said district spokeswoman Lucia Libretti. Word that an order was in the works riled activists, who vowed to step up protests against IES and the district. "We do not have any kind of deal with IES," Libretti said. "We are in the process of putting together materials to go before our hearing board for an order of abatement. That is still in process ... and (the board) could change whatever we ask for in our order." Such an order -- if granted -- could allow the state's only commercial medical waste incinerator, located in an industrial neighborhood off High Street near Interstate 880, to operate subject to specific conditions. Violation carries penalties of up to $25,000 per day. Activists, who symbolically locked the front gate of the IES facility Thursday night with padlock and cable, view an abatement order as a further concession by the air district. They hope to force a permit denial so the company must switch to other disposal methods such as microwaving. Those protesters promised Friday to escalate efforts to close the burners. "The credibility of both the air district and IES is nonexistent," said Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, which led Thursday's rally. "We're setting a date early next week for nonviolent civil disobedience training. ... If necessary we're more than prepared to do what it takes to shut the incinerators." IES, meanwhile, stuck to its guns. "We've agreed to a program of compliance that we understand will take the form of an order of abatement," repeated spokesman Alonza Robertson. With the issuance of that order, he added, "any obstacles to the issuance of our Title V permit will be removed." Libretti said that while the district has talked with IES, regulators have not signed off on any schedules or agreements. IES needs a Title V permit to keep the furnaces fired. An abatement order requires approval from a quasi-judicial hearing board, which conducts public hearings similar to court proceedings. The prospect of escalating protests has Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente concerned that a legitimate business in his district is being unfairly targeted. IES, he noted, has complied with all environmental regulations. "We have to look at the overall impact of this place going out of business," he said. "It's not good. We have many hospitals in the city. They need to have a place (for their medical waste)." "If these incinerators are put out of business, those hospitals have to go to old technology to burn the waste. I don't think that's the solution (protesters) are looking for."
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