The under-lying issue you glossed over in your April 21 editorial “A freight train named hysteria” is your obvious buy-in that incinerating hazardous substances in cement kilns is “recycling.” Please!
This is one of the biggest shams being perpetrated on the public by industry to date. By giving cement kilns exemptions from regulations for burning hazardous waste, the Environmental Protection Agency is not protective of the public health nor the environment. This creative application of what is normally seen as a positive activity relieves these polluters from the liability for exposure to such substances as dioxins, nitrogen and sulfur dioxides and other known contaminants that impact residents. These facilities are also exempt from the normal regulatory process of public comment under their permitting scheme, and for good reason. People would not sit still for these toxic-belching facilities if given the opportunity to be involved.
I applaud the politicians who stood up for their constituents. The real issue here is not if this material could be safely shipped across the country, but rather how it will be disposed of and where. So instead of identifying underhanded methods of dumping the military’s waste on communities of color and poor communities, why not invest in disposal technologies that would be acceptable where the waste resides? There are no cement kilns in Southern California burning this stuff. Do you wonder why?
