6816: Incinerator Ash May Land in Florida (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: nozier <nozier@tradewind.net>

Saturday January 27 5:09 PM ET
Incinerator Ash May Land in Florida

 POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A proposal to dispose in Florida a load
 of Philadelphia incinerator ash that was shunned in ports around the
Caribbean has been put on hold.The Florida Department of Environmental
Protection is re-evaluating approval given Thursday to Waste Management
Inc.'s plan to take 3,000
 tons of ash off a barge at Stuart and dispose it in a landfill. ``I've
requested that Waste Management not move forward on this plan just yet,
to give us the opportunity to review it further,'' Melissa Meeker,
director of the DEP's southeast district, said.
 Meeker said tests on the ash by agencies including federal Department
of Environmental Protection and Department of Agriculture show the ash
is  neither hazardous nor infectious.But environmentalists worry the ash
may contain hazardous levels of mercury,
lead or other toxins, and residents and city officials said they don't
want the
ash in their backyard.
`Is it safe? We really don't know,'' said Pompano Beach Mayor William
Griffin. ``I think politically it's been kicking around for a number of
years from this country to that country. Let them take it back to
Philadelphia where they  got it.'' More than 14,000 tons of ash was
produced by an incinerator in Philadelphia In 1985 and loaded on the
cargo ship Khian Sea to be taken to a disposal site. For more than two
years, the ship sailed the Caribbean searching for a dump site. Crew
members reported being turned away from ports at gunpoint and being
threatened with attack by environmentalists.
On New Year's Eve 1987, the ship anchored off Gonaives, Haiti, and the
crew started unloading the ash. A few weeks later, permits were revoked
and the Khian Sea was ordered to leave.The ship left with about 10,000
tons and sailed through the Panama Canal. By the time it reached
Singapore its holds were empty; authorities believed
 the ash was dumped in the Indian Ocean.
  The 3,000 tons on the barge at Stuart is part of what had been left in
Haiti. Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach scheduled city commission
meetings Monday to discuss possible court injunctions against the ash
disposal. The Broward County Commission agreed to consider the matter
Tuesday. Waste Management hadn't planned to move the ash immediately,
company  spokesman Don Payne said Friday. ``In the interim, of course,
we'll work  with the Broward officials and answer whatever questions
they may have.''