Tell the legislature municipal waste incineration is not "renewable energy"

 The following was an alert sent out via email by the Wasatch Clean Air Coalition.  The CEP asks its members and followers to join with them in opposition to HB 228 designating municipal waste incineration a form of "renewable energy".

 

 

Please call or write your Utah Rep and ask them to vote NO on HB 228. This bill may be voted this Monday, Feb 8.

HB 228  Renewable Energy Source Amendments -- Barrus, R.
http://le.utah.gov/~2010/htmdoc/hbillhtm/hb0228.htm

This bill would add municipal waste incineration to Utah's list of
renewable energy.  That would allow garbage incinerators tax credits and it would count to Utah's renewable energy goal.  See below for more info about municipal waste incineration, some highlights:

A study by Ontario's Ministry of the Environment concluded that
state-of-the-art garbage incinerators release 15 chemicals that cause cancer, lung disease and nerve damage. These include dioxins and furans, lead, cadmium, and mercury.

• A British study in 1996 of 14 million people living within 7.5
  kilometers of 72 municipal incinerators concluded that these people have an increased likelihood of getting several different cancers.
  
• Three municipal incinerators in France were closed in 1998 because milk from cows on nearby dairy farms was contaminated with high levels of dioxins.
  
• In 1997, scientists in Japan found that the rate of infant deaths in areas neighboring incinerators were 40% to 70% higher than average.

Please call or write your Rep this weekend.  If you know any constituents of Rep Barrus, please ask them "What is he thinking, incentives for incinerators?"

Find your Rep at http://www.le.state.ut.us/house/DistrictInfo/newMaps/State.htm

Peace,
Kathy Van Dame, Policy Coordinator
Wasatch Clean Air Coalition
(801)261-5989  dvd.kvd@juno.com