If Clean Harbors Aragonite were a drunk driver, the Tooele County hazardous waste incinerator would have been taken off the road years ago.

Instead, the plant is an alleged serial violator of its state waste handling permit, racking up monetary penalties nearly every year for a decade — a total of more than $1 million.
And more are on the way.

Fines for violating environmental regulations are intended to deter future bad behavior, but activists are wondering whether the incinerator’s owners are getting the message.

Last month the Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste reached a proposed agreement with Clean Harbors Aragonite LLC to resolve 21 violations documented in 2012. Under a deal that is subject to public comment through Oct. 17, the company will pay $71,155.

While those penalties were being negotiated, the division last April slapped Clean Harbors with a 32-count notice of violation — the company’s tenth since acquiring the plant in 2002 — based on inspections completed in 2013.

Officials with the plant’s corporate parent in Massachusetts downplayed the alleged violations as “administrative in nature.”

“There’s no significant risk to human health or the environment,” said Phillip Retallich, Clean Harbors’ senior vice president for compliance and regulatory affairs. “Our incinerator is state-of-the-art. It always achieves the rigorous compliance requirements for the Clean Air Act’s high-temperature emissions.”

Most of the allegations target reporting errors, failure to properly track and categorize waste, and other record-keeping violations.

“Having an inaccurate waste characterization could lead to mismanagement of the waste, such as placing flammables in places not designed for those hazards or placing incompatibles near each other, or it could result in excessive emissions,” Utah environmental regulators wrote in a report.
Retallich emphasized the firm has never admitted any allegations, but still pays the fines.

While regulators agree the public should not rush to conclude Clean Harbors is a public health menace, environmentalists are less charitable.

“It’s a dizzying array of violations,” said Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. “It depicts a facility that isn’t nearly as safe as it should be. It paints a picture of significant hazards for the employees. It’s indicative of an attitude that is way too lax toward the material they are handling.”

Moench noted the records show the Aragonite incinerator processes dangerous materials like asbestos-bearing vermiculite and last year suffered 10 “bypasses,” where potentially carcinogenic smoke is released directly into the atmosphere.

“Those events can be extraordinary in terms of release of toxic emissions,” Moench said.

To be fair, the Aragonite plant’s alleged missteps have never included illegal discharges of pollution or covering up offenses, according to a 19-page compliance history compiled by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.

A massive firm providing a variety of industrial services at locations across the nation, Clean Harbors is licensed in Utah to burn numerous hazardous materials, including infectious medical waste, pharmaceuticals and corrosive chemicals.

“Each requires different burn parameters, feed rates and so forth. They stage and batch it just right,” said Scott Anderson, director of DEQ’s hazardous waste division. “It’s a highly technical facility with one of the most prescriptive permits in the nation.”

His Royal Highness, the Duke of Kent yesterday (8 October) officially opened SITA consortium’s energy-from-waste (EfW) facility at Billingham, Teesside.

Built as part of the SITA UK, Lend Lease Infrastructure (EMEA) Ltd, and I-Environment Investments Ltd (ITOCHU Corporation), the facility forms part of the consortium’s 25-year waste management contract with the South Tyne & Wear Waste Management Partnership (STWWMP), which comprises Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland councils. Construction of the facility at took three years and was completed in April of this year.

Aerial view of the Billingham site. The new facility (comprising lines four and five) is situated on the left.

Situated adjacent to SITA’s existing three-line EfW facility in Billingham, the two-line plant (pictured, bottom left) can process up to 256,000-tonnes of residual waste per annum, of which, 190,000 tonnes will come from the STWWMP. After being filtered of recyclables, the residual waste will be burnt at high temperatures to produce sufficient electricity to power around 30,000 homes.
It is hoped the facility, which is operated by 42 full-time staff, will allow the three councils to reduce their reliance on landfill and boost their recycling rates. (A further 24 jobs have been created in the operation of three new waste transfer stations developed at Wrekenton in Gateshead, Middlefields in South Tyneside, and Hendon in Sunderland. These allow the waste to be sorted for recycling before loading the residual waste into larger vehicles for transport to Teesside.)

‘Delivering a sustainable source of energy’

Edward Campbell-Preston, SITA UK Graduate Engineer, shows HRH The Duke of Kent the furnace

Speaking of the visit, David Palmer-Jones, Chief Executive Officer for SITA UK, said: “The South Tyne & Wear Waste Management Partnership’s investment in this new infrastructure shows how local authorities can meet their commitments to divert waste material from landfill and, at the same time, deliver a sustainable source of energy. SITA UK is delighted to play a part in helping the North East put its waste to good use.

“On behalf of SITA UK and the South Tyne & Wear Waste Management Partnership, I am delighted and honoured to welcome His Royal Highness to formally open our new energy-from-waste facility.”

Councillor Peter Mole MBE, Chair of the STWWMP’s Joint Executive Committee, added: “These new developments are the realisation of our very ambitious plans to significantly reduce our reliance on landfill and provide our residents with a greener waste management service. Thanks to these new facilities, we are proud to be able to say that we now divert over 95 per cent of our waste away from landfill and, instead, put it to good use – either by recycling it into new products and compost or treating it to produce electricity. In fact, even the ash that comes from burning the waste is recycled into building materials.”

The opening of the new facility was welcomed by Resource Minister Dan Rogerson, who said: “We are diverting more waste from landfill year on year and I am pleased that South Tyne & Wear Management Partnership’s energy from waste facility is officially up and running.

“As we continue to move towards a more circular economy it is good to see Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland local authorities working together to deliver this commendable example of effective, efficient waste management.”

The £727-million contract was one of the first waste private finance initiative (PFI) projects funded by banks to reach financial close under the competitive dialogue process. The funders include the Green Investment Bank, Credit Agricole, BBVA and Natixis.

SITA has recently submitted planning permission to build a sixth processing line at the same site, and is in the process of building a separate EfW facility in nearby Wilton, as part of SITA Sembcorp’s 30-year Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract with the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA).

Residents of the southern Bulgarian city of Smolyan have staged a brief road block to oppose plans to build a biomass-fired thermal power plant.

Residents of the Ustovo district of Smolyan blocked traffic along the Smolyan – Madan road for some 10 minutes on Monday, according to reports of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency and Capital Daily.

The protesters demand a clarification by the municipality and the respective competent authorities on the environmental impact of the project and the legality of the permits issued so far.

Nikolay Melemov, Mayor of Smolyan, announced Monday that the permit for the designing of the site had been issued by the Smolyan Municipality in 2011 and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the plant had been approved after that.

He vowed to review the paperwork surrounding the project and to appeal the EIA in the case of detecting irregularities.

The world’s largest incinerator will ensure that Beijing’s household garbage is not only disposed of in an eco-friendly manner, but also produces electricity for the energy-hungry city.

The world’s largest waste incinerator will start running at full speed next month after one year’s trial run. The incinerator in Beijing’s western suburb can process 3,000 tons of household garbage a day, that is, one-sixth of the daily domestic waste generated in the city.

The Lujiashan incinerator has been built by Shougang Group, one of China’s largest steel producers, in a deserted limestone quarry. Before Lujiashan started its trial run, more than 80 percent of Beijing’s household garbage was consigned to more than 30 landfills spread around the city, with about 10 percent being processed to make fertilizers.

The Lujiashan incinerator will receive sorted household garbage from Dongcheng, Xicheng, Fengtai, Shijingshan and Mentougou districts of Beijing, which will first be dumped into a 30-meter-deep treatment “pond” where it will be left to ferment for a week. The pond, making good use of the limestone quarry, can hold up to 40,000 tons of waste at a time.

The custom-built air-blast system will keep the atmospheric pressure in the pond lower than that outside and thus keep the smell of rotting garbage locked within the pond and spare the neighborhood of the stink. Also, the “fermentation” will increase the waste’s heat generation capacity by a large margin.

After the garbage “ferments”, mechanized buckets will dump it into four incinerators, which are actually waste heat boilers. The incineration will reduce the volume of the garbage by about 90 percent within a short time and the heat generated by the incineration can be transformed into electricity through two 30-megawatt air-cooling turbo-powered generators.

Liu Yangsheng, a professor of environmental sciences at Peking University, says that if the waste’s heat value is more than 4,300 kilo Joules per kilogram, the waste can be incinerated to generate electricity.

Since the average heat generating capacity of Beijing’s household garbage is about 6,800 kilo Joules per kg, it can become a good source of energy for the power-thirsty city. In fact, Lujiashan can generate 420 million kilowatt hour of power in a year, which is equal to that generated by 140,000 tons of standard coal. Moreover, the more than 800 C temperature can eliminate dioxin, a carcinogenic pollutant and a byproduct of outmoded waste incineration technology, from the emissions.

Advanced environmental facilities “cleanse” the emissions from the incinerator in the high-voltage chimney which collects dust and pollutants, and ensures that the emitted fly ash meets national standards. Plus, the solid residue can be used as raw material in the cement industry.

The Lujiashan incinerator was built at record speed. It was completed in two years, in 2012, for a cost of 2.1 billion yuan ($350 million) and was co-funded by Shougang and the Beijing municipal government. Before starting construction, Shougang obtained more than 80 approvals in three months, a process for which similar projects normally require several years. Another advantage of the project is that the land on which the incinerator has come up belongs to Shougang, which saved the company the trouble of seeking the consent of residents in and around the area, which is the standard practice.

No wonder, Shougang is using the project as a showcase for the recycling industry, and the industry administration department has praised it for easing the environmental pressure, even if temporarily, on the Beijing government.

The Beijing local government had promised to build four waste incinerators around Beijing city by 2008, increasing the number to nine before 2015. But local residents’ fierce opposition to such projects because of fear of pollution thwarted the plan. As a result, only one small incinerator could be built in the east of Beijing by 2009.

In the meantime, the waste generated by Beijing residents rose from less than 5 million tons in 2003 to about 7 million tons in 2013, with the volume expected to rise to more than 8 million tons next year. Complicating the situation is the fact that only 13 percent of Beijing’s land area can be used as landfill sites, according to the city’s land use plan, making the use of large areas as landfills impossible. Besides, the side effects of landfills, such as soil and water pollution, are harmful to the environment.

Once the Lujiashan goes into full operation, the Beijing authorities expect 40 percent of the city’s household garbage to end up in incinerators next year. Without Lujiashan, which is part of the local government’s plan, this goal could not have been met.

Although Beijing increased the household garbage disposal fee from 25 yuan per ton to 300 yuan per ton next year, it still cannot cover the cost of waste processing, not least because despite the authorities urging people for the past several years to sort household garbage at source, most of the basic sorting work is done at landfill sites.

Therefore, the Beijing government has to take effective measures to raise public awareness about garbage disposal and environmental protection. And people, on their part, have to understand that sorting garbage at source is the starting point of environmental protection.

Some 140 barrels of Ebola-related waste taken from the North Dallas apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan stayed with his fiancée and three children has been moved to a different, undisclosed location, according to leaders in North Texas.

Video from Chopper 5 showed Dallas County sheriff’s deputies providing security at the site until the barrels can be taken away for incineration at a separate, unnamed location.

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Dallas Ebola Patient Treated With Experimental Drug

The U.S. Department of Transportation granted a special permit last Friday which allows one company, Stericycle of Illinois, the exclusive right to transport any and all Ebola-related waste in Texas through the end of November.

Stericycle is the largest transport and treatment company in the country, according to the company’s website.

Dallas Ebola Patient Treated With Experimental Drug

[DFW] Dallas Ebola Patient Treated With Experimental Drug
The Liberian man being treated for Ebola virus at a Dallas hospital is being given an experimental drug, according to Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas.

In late September, the governor of Utah called for a criminal investigation into alleged emissions violations at a medical waste incinerator Stericycle owns and operates north of Salt Lake City.

The criminal investigation is one of three the state of Utah is conducting on the Stericycle incinerator. An investigation by the Department of Environmental Quality is looking into possible regulatory violations relating to Stericycle’s permits, and the Utah Labor Commission is looking into potential violations of occupational safety and health standards that would endanger workers at the site, according to a statement on the official website for Utah Gov. Frank Herbert.

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Health Officials Battle Growing Ebola Concern

“The governor has directed the investigations to be completed as soon as possible. If any of the allegations are ultimately substantiated, he intends to use his full authority take swift and aggressive corrective action,” said a statement from Herbert.

As of this writing, a Stericycle spokesperson has not returned a request for comment regarding the investigations. The company had told other news organizations late last month that the allegations were “inaccurate and unfounded.”

Ebola Apartment Now Safe for Tenants: Hazmat Crew

[DFW] Ebola Apartment Now Safe for Tenants: Hazmat Crew
A decontamination crew has completed its work at a Dallas apartment where an Ebola patient stayed before being hospitalized and says the home is now safe for tenants.

A Department of Transportation spokesperson told NBC 5 the agency is aware of the Utah allegations, but added that the DOT did not select Stericycle for the handling of Ebola waste.

Instead, according to the agency, the DOT only reviewed and approved Stericycle’s permit application.

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Ebola Hazmat Crew Finishes Work at Dallas Apartment

The DOT referred any questions to the selection of Stericycle for the contract to Texas Health Resources, which runs Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where Duncan is receiving treatment.

Texas Health Resources has yet to respond to a request for comment.

Stericycle has had recent, prior experience handling Ebola-contaminated medical waste. The company holds a medical waste removal and disposal contract with Emory University’s Hospital in Atlanta, the same hospital where Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, the two American missionaries who were among the first to contract Ebola, were taken for treatment in August.

The Reuters news agency reported in September that Stericycle initially refused to honor its waste hauling contract, specifically in regard to Ebola waste. It wasn’t until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stepped in after nearly a week that Stericycle ultimately complied, according to that report.