Kaiser test results in--
Dioxins increase in tire burn

(Cupertino,CA) Community residents fighting Kaiser Cement Corporation's proposal to burn tires in its Cupertino kiln, scored a major victory on May 23rd when they turned out 250 concerned area residents to a meeting with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District at De Anza College.

At the May 23 meeting, the Air District staff promised the community that an Environmental Impact Report and public hearing would be required before Kaiser was permitted to burn tires on a permanent basis.

This past winter, the Air District gave Kaiser Cement a permit to conduct an experiment of burning tires as a source of fuel. Outraged that this permit was issued without community consent or public notification, many residents voiced their concerns.

Kaiser is proposing to replace 10 percent of the coal it burns in its cement kiln with tires. Kaiser estimates this would cut their fuel costs by more than $500,000 a year.

Many residents at the hearing spoke about the impact of existing pollution from Kaiser on their health. They took Kaiser and the Air District to task for downplaying the impacts resulting from an increase in toxic emissions due to tire incineration. Though Kaiser initially claimed that the use of tire derived fuel (TDF) would reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) which contributes to smog, the test results showed increased emissions of NOx (6.6%), as well as mercury (195%), particulate matter (17%), lead and benzene.

Also, during the experiment, emissions of dioxins increased over l994 levels. Dioxins are recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as the most potent man-made carcinogen. In their 1994 Reassessment on Dioxin, the EPA concluded there was no safe level of exposure to dioxin, and that exposure to dioxin at extremely low levels can cause a wide range of serious health effects including: reproductive impairment, developmental injuries, and increased risk of diabetes and endometriosis.

A recent Kaiser Cement newsletter said that tire burning "poses no health problems." Citing the 1 in 315 cancer risk in the Bay Area, the Air District claims the health impacts of the tire-burning will be "insignificant". The Air District also acknowledges that burning tires at Kaiser increases the incidence of cancer.

"Comparing the test burn results to high existing pollution levels and saying that the additional pollution created by tire burning is insignificant, is a ridiculous argument," said John Mracek, a Cupertino resident who has joined the efforts to stop the tire burning. "We need to be reducing pollution, especially from the worst polluters, not arguing over how much more is acceptable."

Kaiser Cement, now owned by the British industrial giant Hanson Trust, has been aggressively lobbying to gain support for its tire incineration proposal by speaking to community groups and giving plant tours. In response to the community meeting hosted by the Air District, Kaiser rented the adjacent room and promoted tire burning by giving out appetizers and free tire chip samples.

Mary O'Brien, professor of botany and staff scientist for the Environmental Research Foundation, attended the hearing and commented on Kaiser's test results and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) findings of the last three years of reassessing the risk of dioxins. She said that, if there were any safe level of dioxins, the United States is between ten to 100 times over that. "So if one inch were an okay amount of dioxin in the environment, we are somewhere between ten inches and eight feet tall in dioxin. We're in a crisis situation and the last thing we need to do is add to it," said O'Brien.

"The law does not allow the argument that since someone is a terminal patient it is permissible to injure them," said Richard Toshiyuki Drury, attorney for Communities for a Better Environment, who successfully fought the incineration of tires in a similar cement kiln in Kern County. " It makes no sense to argue that since we are already dealing with serious air pollution, it is okay to add some more. When you've got a bad problem the last thing you want to do is add more problems on top of it. This is what Kaiser is trying to do."

"Debating risk assessment is the wrong debate," said Leslie Byster, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Program Director. "It is used to say that it is acceptable to pollute at the expense of our health and our environment. Technologies exist to reduce pollution and the burden of tires. We must find the least toxic alternatives for Kaiser's fuel and for tire disposal."

Harlan Sethe, a retired Cupertino science teacher who coordinates trips for Cupertino youth to Yosemite, shared documentation which showed that in recent years respiratory illnesses, allergies, and other health problems have increased among his students.

Local activists were encouraged in their fight against Kaiser's tire burning by a visit from Lois Gibbs which was cosponsored by the De Anza College Environmental Studies Program and Earthwise. Gibbs was a Love Canal organizer and founder of Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste. She spoke on May 15 at De Anza College on organizing strategies to stop dioxin exposure discussed in her book Dying from Dioxins.

"We can't shut down the sources of dioxin without finding the courage to change the way government works," said Lois Gibbs. "We must create a national debate, community by community, on the nature of our government and our society."

"We have to explore how people became powerless as the corporations became more powerful," said Gibbs, who shared the strategies she used in the Love Canal community of New York which was built next to 21,800 tons of buried toxic chemicals. "Giving permits to pollute is like giving hunting licenses to kill," said Gibbs, widely hailed as "the mother of the anti-toxics movement."

An active community group has come together to fight the tire burning. People who are interested and available to do research, participate in strategy meetings or help with outreach and coalition building should contact SVTC at 287-6707.

"What we do in the next few months to follow up on the May 23 meeting is crucial," said Leslie Fowler, a member of the community group. "We have a lot of research and organizing to do so we will be ready when Kaiser goes after the permit to burn two million tires a year."

(reprinted from SVTC ACTION News, Summer 1996

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition has graciously donated the space for this page to West Valley Citizens Air Watch for their use. If you have any questions regarding the information stated here, please contact Sandra Funke at WVCAW.