[Mpls] Re: stadium

[Justin Eibensteiner]

Actually, the information presented to the public about the HERC incinerator 
has been a point of contention with neighbors in Northeast and other parts 
of the City.  Even if it doesn't get much media coverage.  I'm not sure how 
easy access the public even has to modeling studies which I understand to 
have been done before construction/operation, and I have not had a chance to 
review them (but would be interested in doing so).

The basic point of contention is that the studies are theoretical and not 
empirical.  A sure fire way to resolve who is getting more or less pollution 
from the incinerator would have been to perform background tests looking at 
dioxin levels or some other incinerator pollutant (mercury may not be the 
best because there are other sources like Riverside in the area), and see if 
levels are increasing or decreasing in any particular area around the 
incinerator and/or miles out.  Since none of this work has been done, the 
public has no way of gauging their exposure based on on any real data.  If 
you check with Minneapolis Environmental Management you'll find that the 
incerator pollution controls fail from time to time (to the point of getting 
fined significantly), meaning anyone in the vicinity may be getting more bad 
air then they bargained for on the wrong day.

Without data, who's to say who's getting the bulk of the incinerator's 
pollution? Another bonus for the incinerator is due to the fact they are 
considered a waste treatment facility they do not have to disclose their 
emissions to the Toxic Release Inventory--creating even less public 
transparency.

Circumventing public input (other than tax revenue) seems to be the theme of 
the stadium, so maybe it's appropriate that it be located right next to a 
gargbage burner that aspires to do the same.

Justin Eibenholzl
Armatage Resident
SE Como Environmental Coordinator

>From: David Brauer <david at tcq.net>
>To: mpls at mnforum.org
>Subject: Re: [Mpls] Re:  stadium
>Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 12:54:05 -0500
>
>On May 2, 2005, at 12:36 PM, Andy Driscoll wrote:
>
>>And why would anyone want to play or watch baseball in a cloud of burning
>>garbage?
>
>Even though they have less power, I think critics of the deal need to be as 
>responsible as they want proponents to be.
>
>There is no cloud of burning garbage at the site. The smell all comes from 
>ground-level deliveries (there's more about this in the Skyway story link I 
>sent earlier today).
>
>The burner's stack shoots the pollutants high into the sky where they drift 
>away from the facility. Study after study - unchallenged by 
>environmentalists, as far as I know - show that the highest particulate 
>"fallout" with prevailing wind patterns occurs at a point in North 
>Minneapolis and in the Phillips neighborhood.
>
>That "environmental justice" situation predates the ballpark and the 
>stadium has no effect on how it will continue in the future.
>
>David Brauer
>Kingfield
>
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