Tire-burning plant proposal in Erie, PA opposed by activists, scientists

Environmental impact statement not required by city council

DEREK DEGRAAD
Staff Writer

A proposal to build a new electric energy plant in neighboring Erie, PA has garnered criticism from concerned residents along with Fredonia professors and student activists. The power plant, to be built by Erie Renewable Energy LLC, would burn 80,000 rubber tires a day in order to generate and sell electric power.

The tires will go through a process called 'gasification' where they are heated until combustion and used as fuel to produce electricity.

The local activist group Keep Erie's Environment Protected (KEEP) is at the forefront of the growing movement in the Erie community to put pressure on the city council to block construction of the plant.

Sherri Mason, a professor of chemistry at Fredonia whose research on tropospheric chemistry has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals, was one of the guests invited to speak at a KEEP meeting on Sept. 24. Held in Erie, the meeting was also attended by a group of over a dozen Fredonia students including student activists and documentary filmmakers.

Mason spoke about the various dangers of the proposed tire incinerating process saying that the facility's filtering process called "scrubbing" would still permit an unacceptable amount of toxins to be released into the air and Lake Erie. Mason expressed concern over the plant's potential dissemination of dioxins (chemicals that scientists have linked with birth defects and cancer) and heavy metals including arsenic, lead and mercury that can lead to brain damage and mental retardation.

"While the news about this power plant seems to be stopping at the boundaries of the city of Erie, the pollution doesn't," Mason said. "This will be impacting our air quality, that's why I got involved in this, to be honest. It's not only going to infect our air quality but it's going to affect the lake as well."

According to a March 9 article from The Erie Times-News, Erie Renewable Energy LLC is working with Caletta Renewable Energy of Boston and has received a commitment letter from Bank of America to finance the $94 million project. Project manager Vic Gatto said that the project will create about 200 construction jobs and will have 60 permanent, full-time employees once established.

"We're essentially converting tires to mostly gaseous elements," Gatto said, according to the article. "You're not seeing black smoke because it's not being burned. It's being gasified. It is a very good technology. It's innovative, but it's not new. It will be a very good and very safe project."

Biology professor Timothy Strakosh is teaching an environmental science class this semester at Fredonia that will be assessing the environmental impact of the plant on Erie's environment and community.

"The term gasification is a part of the incineration process. Whenever you have combustion, pollution is the result," Strakosh said.

On Oct. 3, the Erie City Council voted 4-3 to pass a non-binding resolution to request that Erie Renewable Energy LLC provide an environmental impact statement (EIS). An EIS is an assessment taken by a private engineering firm, which surveys the land and evaluates what effects the plant would have on the environment. Jessica Huran-Kunco, a member of the Erie City Council, said that the company is not required by law to get the EIS.

"The land is already zoned for heavy manufacturing, so this company wouldn't be committing any zoning violations," Huran-Kunco said. "The company feels like they shouldn't have a problem going ahead with this."

KEEP's Web site, stopburningtires.com, lists public buildings the site sits next toincluding five schools, several playgrounds, youth football and baseball fields, several senior centers and a Boys and Girls Club. The proposed tire plant will be the largest in the country - three times larger than the one currently operating in Sterling, Connecticut.

According to a July 19 article from The Erie Times-News, Greg Rubino, a real estate broker working for the plant's developers, said that the jobs created by the plant will pay salaries in excess of $50,000 a year and that the company will hire and train from the community.

"As a developer I'm looking to keep the economy here strong," Rubino said, according to the article.

Joseph Schember, another member of the Erie city council, was one of three who voted against the resolution to suggest that the company have environmental experts survey the land.

"After several public hearings over a series of 12 months, if city council is concerned that the plant is not safe they could go ahead and seek legal council and halt it," Schember said.

An article in The La Crosse Tribune reported that in March 2005, a plan to build a similar plant in Preston, Minnesota was shelved after a combination of public outcry and city council action convinced the company, Heartland Energy, to take the plant somewhere "where the investment and jobs would be appreciated."

"We would like the City Council to pass a resolution stopping this plant from being created," said senior environmental science major Suzanne Graham. "We believe that if city council can stop porn shops and strip clubs from being built within a mile of the schools, they should also stop a tire burning plant that will toxify the air they breathe."

Erie Renewable Energy LLC plans to have the plant up and running by 2010.