By Lauren Young
Staff Writer
Could incidents of breast cancer in Jamesville be related to the Covanta trash-burning incinerator located there? According to the DeWitt Advisory Conservation Commission (DACC), there’s research to show it may be.
On May 2, the DACC held a meeting with Matt Polge and Kevin Kelly from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to discuss how the high rate of breast cancer incidents in Jamesville could be related to the Covanta incinerator, located at 5801 Rock Cut Road in Jamesville, and how more should be done to prevent such incidents by regulating air pollution.
The waste-to-energy plant, which began commercial operation in February 1995, controls the waste flow in Onondaga County and the greater Syracuse region. It processes up to 990 tons per day of municipal solid waste and generates up to 39.5 megawatts of renewable energy sold to National Grid.
This has been an ongoing concern raised by the DACC, as Dennis Payne, chair of the DACC, said that the board has been “foes of the existence of the facility since its location was chosen in the late 1980s.”
In a November 2009 public hearing about renewing the air permit for the incinerator, DeWitt Town Supervisor Ed Michalenko said air pollution emitted from the plant and the inadequate monitoring of such pollutants worries local residents.
Gordon Heisler, member of DACC and the tree committee, presented Polge and Kelly with two maps indicating how the trash incinerator may be related to substantial incidents of breast cancer in the Jamesville area, with research based on weather data collected from an onsite tower, the breast cancer registry from the state department of health, predicted emissions emitted from the incinerator stack and where the greatest impacts of it are in surrounding area codes.
Gordon said the incinerator is located in the reddest area on his map, which represents the “highest impact.”
“This red area here happens to be where I live, and a lot us live,” said Gordon. “We’re alarmed.”
“That stands to reason, though,” said Polge, as he explained how, at 200 feet in the air, pollutants raise to the highest point. “Metrology is very complex,” he said, adding that other area facilities, like Lockheed Martin or surrounding power plants, could also be possible influences.
“The cancer data is based on exposure,” said Polge. “In other words, these people here may have higher exposure than people up here because there’s more [pollutant] sources.”
“But the fact of the matter is that the red is in Jamesville, and that also happens to be the place where the incinerator is,” said Dennis Payne, chair of the DACC. “So, we would like you to keep that in mind. This could very well be a primary source and there could be others, but when you look at the map, that’s the red place.”
While no members from the public attended the meeting, a few Dewitt Town Board members, including Joe Chiarenza, Karen Docter and Jack Dooling attended, along with former county legislator Vicki Baker, who has been a strong advocate in the opposing the incinerator since its conception.
As part of its evaluation process of Covanta’s request for changes/modifications to its permit on the incinerator, the state DEC will be taking public comments as part of its formal report. The DACC plans to submit a set of statements to the DEC, as their official public comments.
