All posts in the topic Midtown burner (Short link)

From: Steven Clift Date: Apr 30 02:09 UTC Short link

I notice this announcement on another of our forums about a radio show on
Wednesday about the project.

Steven Clift

TRUTH TO TELL KFAI Radio, 90.3 Minneapolis/106.7 St. Paul/Streamed@ KFAI.org
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 11:00AM: MIDTOWN MELTDOWN?: Green or Black? KFAI Radio,
90.3 Minneapolis /106.7 St. Paul / Streamed@ KFAI.org ­ A CivicMedia/Minnesota
production

 Just when news reports seem to pronounce the embattled Midtown/Phillips
Eco-energy project dead (the project includes Minneapolis Councilmember Lisa
Goodman as an investor), another 50-60 days¹ leeway remains for the principals,
Kandiyohi Development Partners, to come up with the necessary financing,
biomass supply sources ,and buy-agreements with customers like Xcel Energy to
make city-imposed deadlines for feasibility. This in the face of serious
environmental justice disputes over the environmental impact of burning
anything more in close-quartered low-income, minority residential neighborhoods
like Phillips and other central neighborhoods where initial support for the
project has melted away. Is this an innovative biomass energy generator in the
making? Or yet another polluting industry in the already industrialized and
polluted central city? TTT¹s Andy Driscoll and Lynnell Mickelsen will query
principals on all sides of the issues and the reporters who have covered them
as the clock winds down to final decisions.

GUESTS: €

STATE SEN. PATRICIA TORRES RAY, Senate District 62, adjoining the Midtown
Project. €

BARBARA JOHNSON, Minneapolis City Council President €

KIM HAVEY, Partner, Midtown Eco-Energy Project/Kandiyohi Development Partners €

JULLONNE GLAD, Neighborhood activist opposing the project. €

DAVID MORRIS, Executive VP, Institute for Local Self-Reliance €

STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune Reporter/Analyst €

OTHERS invited: REP. KAREN CLARK, House District 61A, where the project lives;
GREGORY PRATT, MN Pollution Control Agency. ______________________
    

From: Nathan Lind Date: Apr 30 17:24 UTC Short link

Thank you Ann for passing on information about the KFAI radio
broadcast this morning discussing the Midtown burner.  I just
listened to the broadcast, and called in with a comment on the moral
issue of adding a million pounds of pollution to an already
overburdened area.  Thankfully, Jullonne Glad, a neighborhood
activist from the Minneapolis Residents for Clean Air was on the
panel and effectively advocated for us neighbors.  After this latest
heated debate, she pointed out, correctly, in the closing moments of
the hour-long program, that she is the only person who was part of
this radio discussion purely as a volunteer.  Let's raise our voices
in support of Jullonne and company, in opposition to the Midtown
burner.  I encourage anyone who is opposed to the Midtown burner, or
just interested in getting better information from the developer,
Kandiyohi Development Partners, to check out the website:
http://mplsresidentsforcleanair.blogspot.com/
If you want a purple sign reading, "Midtown Burner? NO!  Our Air!
Our Health! "  contact:
<email obscured>
Signs cost $5 to make, consider donating at least that much if not
more, to help support Jullonne and the other leaders of Minneapolis
Residents For Clean Air.
Thanks!
Nathan
    

From: Wendy McNiff Date: Apr 30 19:32 UTC Short link

I listened to the show and heard Nathan!  It was a bit exciting!  :)

I was happy to hear that this was supposed to be one of the cleaner burners out
there.  Apparently it meets or exceeds several different clean air standards,
including Kyoto.  I am still very concerned though that it is adding such a
huge amount of pollution/carbon to our air.

The discussion seemed to go round and round.  It sounds to me like it would be
the safest alternative as far as burners go, but no one in the neighborhood
wants it there.  The Phillips area apparently has a higher incident of asthma
and elevated lead levels as it is along with heavily polluted ground.  And this
is where they are adding more pollution?

As you can see, I'm still undecided...

But, the KFAI website has the shows archived in podcasts so if you missed it
you can go back and listen to it.  And next week, everyone is invited back to
continue the discussion.  Jullone sounded like she may not be able to make it
back so the neighborhood may go unrepresented which would be very sad.

Here is the website for KFAI:
http://www.kfai.org/node/682
    

Wendy

From: Dan Cooke Date: Apr 30 20:53 UTC Short link

The developers like to say how clean and green their incinerator would be but
you have to pay close attention to what they say.

First, the Kyoto protocol targets only CO2 emissions, not the one million
pounds per year of dioxin, arsenic, lead, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide that
this project's pollution permit would allow. A nuclear plant built at 28th and
Hiawatha would probably comply with Kyoto standards too -- that doesn't mean we
should build one there. You have to consider the other impacts of the burner
when deciding whether it would be a good idea.

Second, I believe this plant will amount to a net increase in worldwide
greenhouse gas emissions for a number of reasons:

(a) the there will be a dramatic increase in the fossil fuels burned by
vehicles using the facility after it is built (which will be large semi trucks
that have to travel long distances to haul in the waste/biomass and haul out
the ash,

(b) any burner itself emits CO2s; when the developers say it complies with
Kyoto what they are really saying is that it will emit fewer CO2s than a coal
plant. But the construction of this burner will NOT take any existing coal
plants offline -- it will only add more energy to the grid thereby increasing
overall consumption of energy (which is what we should be trying to avoid if
you are concerned about human greenhouse gas emissions),

(c) all incinerators discourage conservation and recycling efforts for their
lifespan because the waste that they rely on for fuel can no longer be
conserved or recycled. If you burn a piece of paper (or some other biomass)
instead of recycling it you take that paper out of the recycling or
conservation chain. This creates unnecessary waste and detracts from
conservation efforts, which should be the #1 goal if you are concerned about
the impact of humans on the global environment. See
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13890 for a more thorough explanation
about this.

When you consider the known health impacts of the release of one million pounds
of regulated toxins into an already polluted area this project makes very
little sense. Other developers and City initiatives have gone a long way
towards trying to revitalize that area with expenditures on things like housing
construction and the Midtown Greenway and the new Midtown Greenway bridge.
Putting a new 140-foot smokestack into service for the next 40 years will
discourage further development and further harm the area's economy and health.

If you take a close look at the pollution permit application for this project
you will realize that it is potentially devastating. Why, for instance, does it
allow for the emission of significant amounts of dioxin, a super-chemical that
does not exist in nature and is only formed by the burning of plastics? Why
does it allow for future pollution variance applications? And why does the MPCA
not consider the cumulative impact of this as a pollution source when deciding
whether or not to grant the permit?  The State of Delaware, in recognition of
the problems with incineration has a law that prohibits the construction of ANY
incinerators (biomass or otherwise) within 3 miles of any residence, school,
church or hospital. The Twin Cities already has one of the highest rates of
per-capita incineration (as measured by megawatts) in the U.S. Building another
incinerator here is just a very bad idea.

- Dan
http://burnerinfo.blogspot.com