Oakland Tribune

September 6th, 2001

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Bradley Angel Greenaction

(415) 248-5010

Four activists held in protest at medical wasted incinerator

By Douglas Fischer
STAFF WRITER

Police arrested four activists Wednesday after three chained themselves to the front gate of an East Oakland medical waste incinerator.

The arrests, the first in the long-running battle between the High Street incinerator and protesters, came as activists vowed to step up their opposition to the state's only commercial medical waste furnace.

Fueling that escalation were recent revelations that California law does not require incineration for certain types of medical waste. State officials and the incinerator's operator, Integrated Environmental Systems, have long insisted they have a legal mandate to keep the burners running.

That's not true, Jack McGurk, chief of the Environmental Management Branch of the state Department of Health Services, told The Oakland Tribune Tuesday. The requirement was inadvertently dropped from the statute books when that section of law was amended two years ago, he said.

Nor will the department push to have the language restored, McGurk added, as other technologies such as steam sterilization and microwaving are improving to the point where they could supplant incineration.

But that technology is not here yet, and for now incineration remains the best way to dispose of pathogens, chemotherapy drugs and outdated pharmaceuticals -- the three types of waste formerly required by law to be burned, McGurk said. No other waste disposal company in the state today accepts placentas or amputated limbs, for example, he said.

And IES maintains it is following the spirit of the law, if not the letter. "The legislative intent is still there," said IES spokesman Jay Silverberg. "Whether you look at the technicality in the law or the legislative intent, the law was written that incineration is essentially the best way to get rid of that waste."

Still, protesters with Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice and other groups decried the betrayal, noting that IES officials stood on the steps of City Hall last month with state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, and Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente to tout that mandate as the reason to keep the burners going.

"Is it legal or not?" asked Greenaction's director, Bradley Angel, as he marched in front of the incinerator's gate. "They should've said what it is, instead of misleading us -- the same way they're saying incinerating is safe. There's no excuse anymore."

Three protesters -- Brett Shull, Heather McCormick and Dave Rinaldi -- chained themselves to the front gate and were arrested on charges of unlawful assembly. Police and firefighters needed bolt cutters and a hydraulic ax to cut the chains. A fourth protester, Alice Burkner, was also arrested after she refused to leave the area.

Throughout the protest, white steam poured from the incinerator's stack, indicating operations inside continued normally.

Angel was undaunted. "We made our point," he said as police wagons carted away the four protesters and the crowd disbursed. "We'll be back. There are many more people willing to put their bodies on the line."