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Part of that Now, this is a problem that is uniquely difficult
in the United States And a lot of it has to do with our history
around science and the birth of environmental science in the 1970's
with Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring and the revelation that chemicals in the environment
maybe poisoning us without our knowledge. That caused a political split in our conversation
between environmentalists on the political left
and the chemical and petroleum industries which moved to the political right.
And, we see that alignment existing even to this day.
So, when we talk about burning something, and putting it into the atmosphere, the term
is called "sky dumping" The concern is that we are indeed adding to
more of those invisible pollutants and polluting the environment and endangering
our health. This isn't
It used to be the case that that was in fact what was happening.
If you burn plastic in a backyard barrel, you increase PCBs and other pollutants that
are carcinogens. We have advanced technology now that is implemented
through the Clean Air Act all over the U.S. waste-to-energy facilities
that has reduced those emissions of toxic chemicals by - in the - high 90 percentile
range in some cases well over 99.9 percent.
We are doing a very good job - that far better than - for instance coal fired power
plants When you hear the talk about clean coal,
its about trying to catch up to what waste-to-energy plants have done a long time ago.
Also, there is a lot of health evidence from - my own -
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, as well as
the British Health Protection Agency that have found that
there is really no evidence to show that there is any increase in any kind of measurable
health effects between those who live close to a waste-to-energy plant and those who do
not. So, the concern is really a left-over and
a justifiable left-over, but a left-over from 1970s and early 1980s era of thinking.
We just need to educate people to get them to realize that this is no longer the case.