Alert #52 A "One Time Opportunity" to Ban New Incinerators in Delaware Calls, letters, and emails needed The public outrage created by Philpower's attempts to put a incinerator at sites all over New Castle County has been heard by Delaware's politicians, and bills have been introduced. But, unless they hear loudly and clearly from the people, the General Assembly may water down these bills so much that the battle against incineration will have to be fought again in a year or two. These are the minimum requirements Green Delaware and many others consider necessary in an incinerator bill. We DO NOT SUPPORT WEAKER BILLS. A ban on all new incinerators or a ban within 3 miles of a residence, school, park, etc; No exemptions for "agricultural wastes" medical wastes, or other categories of wastes, or for any part of Delaware. (An exemption may be needed for the nearly completed "power plant" at Motiva refinery.) Everybody in Delaware deserves clean air to breathe. Neither Senate Bill 280, House Bill 467, (or County Ordinance 00-006), presently meets these requirements, but SB280 (Senator McBride) comes closest. However, Sen. McBride has said he intends to change his bill, and some callers to Green Delaware have accused McBride of enjoying incinerator controversies too much to want the issue laid to rest. Also, Delaware's next governor, like Gov. Carper, will probably be an incinerator supporter. This means that Delaware environmental officials will try to ignore any incinerator ban that's not totally clear. PLEASE ASK YOUR LEGISLATORS AND GOVERNOR CARPER TO SUPPORT SB280 WITH, AND ONLY WITH, THE FOLLOWING CHANGES: Change the ban distance from 1600/2800 feet to 3 miles Change the incinerator definition only with regard to Motiva, and as agreed to by Green Delaware NO EXCEPTIONS for ag (such as chicken poop) or other waste streams. PLEASE CONTACT THESE KEY OFFICIALS: (all numbers are area code 302. -739 numbers can be reached toll free by calling 577-3000): Sen. Dave McBride, 322.6100 (home), 738.4167 (office) <dmcbride@legis.state.de.us> Sen. Dorrie Connor, 328.8944 (home), 739.4164 (office) Governor Carper 764-7478 (home), 577-3215, (office) <pcherry@state.de.us> House Speaker Terry Spence 302.328.8961, (home) 302.739.4127 <tspence@legis.state.de.us> Rep. William Oberle, 738-6241 (home), 739-4173 (office) <woberle@legis.state.de.us> Rep. Vince Lofink, 834-4444 (home), 739-4142 (office), <vlofink@legis.state.de.us> Sen. Harris McDowell, 656-2921 (home), 739-4147 (office), <hmcdowell@legis.state.de.us> Tom Gordon, New Castle County Executive, 239-9015 (home), 395-5102 (office) <tgordon@co.new-castle.de.us> (Urge strong COUNTY action to control incinerators) Lt. Governor Ruth Ann Minner, 577-8787 (office) <rminner@state.de.us> Nick DiPasquale, Secy. of Natural Resources, 731-1345 (home) 739-4403 (office) <ndipasqualr@state.de.us> ("I don't have any interest in working with you [Alan Muller]" Ask him to start working for the environment rather than the polluters.) A more complete list of legislators' emails is available from Green Delaware.
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