KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Environmental groups in West Michigan have expressed concerns regarding a package of clean energy bills introduced in the state Legislature.
One bill item in particular, a trash incinerator, may be put to use in Kent County.
Monday morning, representatives of the Grand Rapids Climate Coalition (GRCC), the Urban Core Collective (UCC), and the West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC) spoke out against the incinerators, saying they generate air pollution.
Advocates explain trash incinerators negatively impact the environment and halt sustainable solutions toward waste and energy.
“We see incineration as a greenwash energy standard,” says Janet Zahn with GRCC. “It makes a gold pencil … without addressing the real underlying need.”
“We need to be looking at more ways that we can encourage conservation and minimize inputs into this incinerator instead of calling it clean energy and just relabeling it,” adds WMEAC’s Elaine Isley.
Monday’s speakers encourage residents to connect with elected officials to tweak the language posed in the proposed legislation.
The Kent County Public Works Department says their operations follow the Environmental Protection Agency's standards using state-of-the-art technology. They released the following statement:
“For more than 30 years, Kent County’s Waste to Energy facility has been a key part of an integrated materials management system that allows our community to dispose responsibly and reliably of waste while producing local energy and reducing our reliance on landfills. Waste to Energy is a source for local energy and upholds the highest environmental standards, meeting and exceeding the strictest federal standards set forth by the U.S. EPA and other regulatory bodies by employing sophisticated clean air technologies to achieve superior environmental performance. We operate, on average, 90 percent below permit limits. Not including Waste to Energy in the clean energy bills will result in less revenue and therefore higher costs for local communities to dispose of waste.”
