Your persistently misguided support of the proposed Robbins incinerator and complete inability to demonstrate a shred of common sense regarding incineration have us absolutely baffled.
Reading Energy violated the law and the rights of the property owners within 250 feet of the proposed site. This is not a legal technicality. Reading was required to notify 101 people of their intent to build a garbage burner. They failed to notify or improperly notified 90 of these people, effectively stripping them of their rights to object. Judge Braden was quite clear when he called Reading`s shortcoming ”very, very serious.”
The Robbins incinerator is not needed. The garbage crisis in Illinois, and the country for that matter, is easing, if indeed it ever existed. Check your business pages to see where the big waste companies` stocks are trading. Many are trading at year-lows or all-time lows with the market at historical highs. Why? Business is bad. Landfill capacity is expanding, waste generation is declining (recycling, composting, reduced packaging) and tipping fees are stabilizing or declining!
The officers of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association are apparently the only, and the last, people that still covet trash burning. True, 17 towns voted yes to a plan that recommends burning, but that is far from signing a contract. And that vote was more than a year ago. A lot has changed.
We have sacked Reading Energy in their own end zone. They have no siting, no permit, no contracts, no money to build. What a great time to implement a solid-waste plan that relies on volume-based disposal rates, recycling and composting.
