July 23, 2009
No Logic by Keith L. Runyon, President of Concerned United Taxpayers (CUT)
The four mayors who expressed their support for a local garbage dump clearly demonstrates that there is no logic in their logic.. Nor is there any understanding of where the garbage industry is going. Mayor Bruce Adams of Bradley is the only one with contemporary knowledge of what is really happening in the garbage industry.
First of all, there is 13.5 years of garbage air space available in NE Illinois landfills
Second, the alternatives are coming very rapidly. In the interim, there is so much space available that Pontiac’s dump intake has fallen from 12,000 tons per day to about 3500 tons per day.
Lake County, Ind. has narrowed its site selection to 4 potential sites for its garbage to ethanol plant. All the sites have railroad access which dramatically reduces the cost of transportation.. Tipping fees will be $17.50 per ton at the plant vs. $41 per ton at a local allied landfill. Waste Management and Allied have agreed to take their garbage to the plant.
The City of Chicago is in the process of making way for another garbage to biotech fuel plant.
St :Lucie County Fl. Is progressing on its construction of a garbage to electricity Plasma Arc facility.
Waste Management just announced a partnership with a Plasma Arc company to begin constructing alternative facilities. These alternative technologies are so environmentally friendly that they may be constructed in any industrial park.
But Kankakee wants to race backward into the 19th century with a water polluting, air polluting dump, which will contaminate our water and destroy our local economy. The IEPA admits the proposed landfill will leak and it will contaminate our water supply but they said “we have to take the operator into consideration-he has a lot on money invested in this project.”
The argument that the County needs its own dump for our garbage is totally illogical. Chicago has no dump, Kendall County, the fastest growing counties in the country has not dump, Kane County will have no new landfills. The fact is that only about 10% of the counties have a dump.
What the County needs is a regional transfer station. This will reduce the cost of garbage hauling. Even if we pay a little more for garbage hauling, this is a fraction of the price we will pay if the water contaminating dump is built. The Supreme Court has already ruled that this dump will threaten the health, safety and welfare of the residents. A community without water is a community without a future.
Mayors, if this dump is built, be prepared to explain to your constituents why you supported contamination of their water. It is obvious that we don’t need a dump but we do need some new mayors.