On 5/3/05 2:10 PM, "David Brauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The MPCA link I posted does not include measurements of the garbage > burner's mercury and dioxin pollution, two other critical pollutants > fans (and citizens) would want to know about. > > Publicly available sources exist, though. > > Google came up with this 2000 MPCA data on the first page: > http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/reports/mercury- > emissionsreport-0304.pdf > > Interesting tidbits: > > Hennepin garbage burner mercury emissions > 1990: 496 pounds > 1995: 45 pounds > 2000: 20 pounds > > (It's mostly the result of advanced technology developed/purchased > after the burner violated mercury limits in the late '80s.) Actually, a good portion of the mercury reductions are due to the city taking on the responsibility for curbside collection of waste electronics (thank you, Susan Young!). I forget what year exactly that happened, but it kept mercury-containing items from entering the incinerator, which in turn, kept mercury from being emitted. > For comparison purposes, Xcel Energy's Riverside plant (which hadn't > been converted from coal to gas yet), emitted 98 pounds of mercury in > 2000, and Xcel's High Bridge Plant - near potential St. Paul stadium > sites - emitted 66 pounds. If St. Paul was to be the ballpark site, I > doubt the High Bridge Plant's existence would be an issue. Riverside still hasn't been converted from coal to gas. That's scheduled to happen in 2009. So we can expect that 100 pounds or so of mercury for at least another few years yet. > Also for comparison: unrecycled fluorescent lamps put about 100 pounds > of mercury into Minnesota's environment. > > However (as is my pattern in this discussion) I concede Justin's point > on dioxin, because I haven't been able to easily find data on the > burner's dioxin emissions. Dioxins emissions data for HERC can be found using MPCA's Facility Actual Emissions Data Search http://www.pca.state.mn.us/air/toxics/toxics-facilitydata.cfm For "Facility Name" - use Hennepin Energy Resource Co For "Pollutant" - use the pulldown menu to find TCDD,2378 (Note: if you'd like to see all the pollutants tracked from HERC, leave that "Pollutant" blank) Unfortunately, the data is only available through 1999 (I'm still trying to track down more recent data), but you'll find that HERC emitted 0.0000086278 pounds (or 0.00391 grams) of dioxins in 1999. This is down from approximately 0.012 grams in 1996/1997. For comparison, Xcel Riverside emits approximately 0.2 grams of dioxins annually, or fifty times what HERC emits, based on the data available. Also for comparison purposes, the reporting threshold for dioxins under the federal Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) is 0.1 grams per year. HERC is well below that threshold. Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
