A publication of Work On Waste USA, Inc., 82 Judson, Canton, NY 13617 315-379-9200 NOVEMBER 1994


U.S. EPA to hold Public Meetings
on the Dioxin Reassessment.

According to a Nov. 18th EPA Press Advisory: “These meetings are being held to provide opportunity for interested parties to present to EPA both oral and written comments on EPA’s Draft Dioxin Reassessment.”

According to Lois Gibbs of the Citizens’ Clearing House for Hazardous Waste: “You can be sure that the corporations who will be impacted most by this report will sink millions of dollars into influencing the government’s policy decision. We don’t have millions of dollars to counteract their actions, but we do have something worth much more...We have the passion for justice and preservation. We have the power to stop dioxin exposure if we choose to speak out.”

State: Date: Location: Time:

Columbus, OH* Dec. 7 City Council Chambers 7 pm to 10 pm
90 West Broad Street

Herndon, VA Dec. 8 and 9 Ramada Renaissance Hotel 9 am to 5 pm
near Dulles Airport

New York City Dec. 12 Haft Theater 9 am to 5 pm, and
227 West 27th Street 7 pm to 9 pm

Newark, NJ Dec. 13 N.J. Institute of Technology 9 am to 5 pm, and
ballroom 7 pm to 9 pm

Arlington, TX Dec. 13 University of Texas 9 am to 5 pm
Rosebud Theater, 301 W. 2nd St.

Arlington, TX Dec. 13 University of Texas 7 pm to 9 pm
SWEET Center, 406 Summit Dr.

Chicago, IL Dec. 14 EPA Regional office 9 am to 5 pm, and
77 West Jackson, 12th floor 7 pm to 9 pm

San Francisco, CA Dec. 16 EPA Regional office 9 am to 5 pm
75 Hawthorne St., Conference Center

San Francisco, CA Dec. 17 ANA Hotel, 50 Third Street. 9 am to 1 pm

Oral Comments - Limited to 5 Minutes. You need to PRE-REGISTER before DEC. 3RD
by calling 202-260-5959. Instructions will be provided on a recorded message. Requests made after Dec. 3 will be honored at each meeting on a first-come, first-served basis.

Written Comments need to be submitted by JANUARY 13, 1995, to:

Technical Information Staff (8601), Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, EPA, Wash. DC 20460

“Note that there are two documents to the draft dioxin reassessment, each of them containing three volumes. It is important that any submission be labelled, ‘Comments on Dioxin Health Assessment Document’ or ‘Comments on Dioxin Exposure Assessment Document.’ If commenting on both documents, separate comments should be submitted. Submissions for oral testimony or written submissions should be made in triplicate.” For more information contact David Klauder at the EPA, Tel: 202-260-0536 or Fax: 202-260-0507.

* Columbus was not listed in EPA’s press advisory. Sherry Loscko of Grove City, Ohio, sent us the letter she received, dated Nov. 14, 1994, from John Perrecone, Community Relations Coordinator, US EPA Region V. The letter was addressed “Dear Resident” and stated that a public briefing would be held in Columbus “upon the request from Senators Glenn and Metzenbaum...There will be a panel of EPA experts consisting of Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Director of the Environmental Toxicology Division at EPA’s Health Effects Research Laboratory in the Office of Research and Development, Mr. Matt Loerber from EPA Headquarter’s dioxin exposure group and Mr. George Czerniak from the Air and Radiation Division located in EPA’s Regional office in Chicago. The meeting should provide you with a comprehensive overview of the issues being considered as part of the dioxin reassessment process. In order to facilitate a dialogue, I will ask the audience to identify any questions on the report before the panel makes any presentations. This allows them to provide relevant information to meet your needs in their presentations. Also, since EPA is taking public comments on the documents until January 13, 1995, we will receive public comments at this meeting as well...”

** THE EPA HAS NO IDEA HOW MUCH DIOXIN HAS BEEN RELEASED INTO THE ENVIRONMENT FROM TRASH INCINERATORS.

We have been informed by EPA’s Fred Porter (Chief, Regulations Development Section, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Research Triangle Park, N.C.) that EPA has NO centralized data base for dioxin emission test results from trash incinerators. We learned this as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request to receive the locations and dioxin emission test results from all U.S. trash incinerators that have been tested since 1977. Porter informed us it would take the EPA “at least 6 months” to respond to our request and that we would probably have to pay “thousands of dollars” for it. Incredibly the EPA has invested 3 1/2 years in reassessing dioxin and, if we are to believe Fred Porter, there is no central inventory for dioxin emission test results. We only know that the EPA has consistently underestimated dioxin emissions from MSW incinerators and have consistently lied to communities by saying this was a “safe technology.”

** THE EPA HAS NO IDEA HOW MUCH DIOXIN IS CURRENTLY BEING EMITTED INTO THE ENVIRONMENT FROM TRASH INCINERATORS.

1992 tests at the Columbus, Ohio, trash incinerator showed that this one incinerator was emitting five times more dioxin than had been estimated by the EPA in September 1993 for all U.S. trash incinerators combined!

** EPA HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT THERE IS NO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST.

No one in the EPA seems to care that for years they have actively promoted a technology which they now admit is the number two source of dioxin entering the U.S. environment.

** EPA WANTS TO CONTINUE PROMOTING TRASH INCINERATORS.

We urge our readers to submit comments to the EPA, and if at all possible, to attend the EPA public meetings in December.

CAMPAIGN TO STOP DIOXIN


Citizens’ Clearing House for Hazardous Waste
PO Box 6806, Falls Church, VA 22040. Tel: 703-237-2249
Send CCHW a donation and receive Campaign Updates and Action Alerts.

** The shut down of all garbage and medical waste burners. If you can, attend EPA’s public meetings on the dioxin reassessment in December. Contact CCHW to join in the special activities they are coordinating at all of EPA’s dioxin meetings.

** Work with the Campaign to identify industrial plants like Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan that discharges dioxin into the environment and then find ways to convince these companies to change their dioxin producing practices.

** Send a letter or a postcard to Carol Browner, Administrator, EPA, 401 M. Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460, to convince her to stop advocating the elimination of the Delaney Clause, our protective food regulation. We can’t tolerate any additional cancer causing chemicals in our processed food supply, including dioxin..

CITIZENS’ CONFERENCES ON DIOXIN, INC.,

a new non-profit corporation, has been formed to continue to facilitate the organization of future conferences. This has formalized the leadership and provided the by-laws for this important and highly successful method of getting scientific information on dioxin and related compounds to the public. Equally valuable, these conferences enable scientists, activists and the victims of dioxin to interact with each other. We hope to hold annual conferences at different locations in the U.S. The officers are: Paul Connett, Chairman; Tom Webster, Vice Chair; Ellen Connett, Secretary; and Billie Elmore, Treasurer. Additions to the Board of Directors will be made. We are indebted to Billie Elmore, Board Chairperson of NC WARN, Inc. and Courtney Smith Sanford of Charlotte, N.C., for doing the necessary paperwork to get the corporation officially chartered as a non-profit in North Carolina. NC WARN (Waste Awareness and Reduction Network) has agreed to serve as the fiscal agent for the Conferences until the new corporation applies for its own 501 (c) 3 status with IRS.


WASTE NOT # 308. A publication of Work on Waste USA, published 48 times a year. Annual rates are: Groups & Non-Profits $50; Students & Seniors $35; Individual $40; Consultants & For-Profits $125; Canadian $US50; Overseas $65.

Editors: Ellen & Paul Connett, 82 Judson Street, Canton, New York 13617. Tel: 315-379-9200. Fax: 315-379-0448.