Stanislaus has one of state’s two biomass incinerators. How residents are impacted.
A new report compiled by environmental advocates has them calling for the closure of California’s last two standing waste-to-energy facilities as findings show their harmful impact.
The Covanta Stanislaus incinerator and the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF) in Long Beach tout themselves as producers of clean power. But little energy is emitted, and it’s generated at the expense of the public’s health, environment and finances, according to the report “Vestiges of Environmental Racism: Closing California’s Last Two Municipal Waste Incinerators.”
As contracts for the incinerators are set to expire within a couple of years, members of Valley Improvement Projects (VIP), EarthJustice and East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice are calling on local and state governments to take action.
Incinerator plants claim to reduce greenhouse gases by diverting solid waste from landfills to their facilities. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the process burns waste that releases heat, turns water in a boiler into steam and pressures turbine generator blades to turn, producing electricity for the community.
Landfills are the largest source of methane gas, which is found to be 84 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a 20-year period than carbon dioxide, The Guardian reports.
Methane also accounts for 30% of the global heating rate to date. That’s why in 2008, in an effort to combat climate change, California implemented a law to reduce its solid waste by diverting 50% of it through source reduction, recycling and composting, allowing for a jurisdiction to claim a credit toward its goal if it diverts 10% of its waste to an incinerator.
Problem shifted, not solved
But Byron Chan, associate attorney at the San Francisco-based environmental law nonprofit EarthJustice, said the legislation didn’t solve the issue, it just shifted the problem from one community to another.
“Wealthy communities, for example … claim that they are diverting waste from landfills,” he said. But really, by shipping off the biomass, “they’re diverting the impact away from their communities and into the two communities surrounding the two last incinerators.”
Incinerators in Stanislaus County and Long Beach receive waste from multiple counties throughout the state, even from out-of-state, Chan said. CalRecycle data show that in 2019, Covanta Stanislaus received waste from Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Canada.
Incinerators strategically placed
It should be of no surprise that the state’s two incinerators are in communities that are predominantly low-income and of color, also known as environmental justice communities, according to the report.
The population within a 5-mile radius of the incinerators is 3,389 in Stanislaus County and 439,924 in the Long Beach region, according to 2018 data, the most recent numbers available, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And at least 80% of the population living within that radius is of color, according to the report.
Income is also low in communities near the facilities, with the per capita income being $23,534 and $28,312, respectively. Data from the report further shows that roughly 80% of waste incinerators in the nation are based in communities just like Stanislaus County’s and Long Beach’s.
Currently, there are 75 facilities across 25 states in the nation, according to the EPA. Covanta Stanislaus has about 47 employees, Dun & Bradstreet data shows.
Some people may choose to believe the placement of these incinerators is unintentional, said Chan. But the reality is that the location of these waste facilities is a result of historic racial and residential segregation, including zoning laws that allowed white and wealthy people to exclude people of color and industrial activity from their communities, the report states.
Also, incinerators and landfills often are based in environmental justice communities because some believe the residents won’t give much political pushback, Chan said. He said political disenfranchisement adds another layer to why these communities struggle to fight back.
“We’re dealing with a systemic issue here,” Chan said, emphasizing the importance of electing leaders who listen and act on the concerns of their constituents.
Little energy, big problems
The claim that these waste-to-energy plants are energy producers is a facade, advocates say. Incinerators produced about 0.4% of the total electricity generation in the nation in 2015, with Covanta and SERRF producing about 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, for their individual counties, according to the report.
And every year, Covanta Stanislaus and SERRF process about 320,000 and 500,000 tons of waste, respectively, converting it into 96,000 and 150,000 tons of toxic ash known to cause cancer, alter DNA and harm reproductive health, neurological development and other bodily processes and organ systems, the report states.
The process also emits dangerous pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, ammonia and lead that make it difficult to breathe, damage lungs and increase the frequency of asthma attacks, it states.
CalRecycle Director Rachel Machi Wagoner, whose organization is responsible for permitting and reviewing solid waste facilities in California, said she had hoped the state would have made more progress by now in terms of waste practices. She believes that even if a large amount of energy were produced by these incinerators, it shouldn’t be at the cost of potentially harming the community.
“When we originally permitted these facilities … we were really trading one environmental harm for another one,” Wagoner said.
Data also shows that Convanta and SERRF have exceeded their emissions limits numerous times, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports. Burning waste needs to no longer be an option, said Rosenda Mataka, VIP member and Grayson Neighborhood Council co-founder, in the report.
“We need to safeguard the air we breathe,” Mataka said.
When people talk about incinerators, those in support often say how it’s highly regulated, said VIP co-founder Bianca Lopez in a video meeting with the community Thursday. However, the emissions standards are not based on what’s safe for the public, but rather what is technologically feasible.
“It’s a way to brainwash what is happening with our waste,” she said. “No matter how clean, or how advanced, these companies think they are, eventually, the numerous pollutants that contaminate the air, water and soil harm public health.”
A Stanislaus County representative stated that local officials had no involvement in piecing together the report and don’t want to comment at this time. They mentioned however, that in initially reviewing the report they have concerns about the data’s accuracy.
“We recognize waste management programs operate under very complex and evolving regulations in California; challenging all cities and counties to frequently consider alternatives and options to best serve their local communities,” the county stated in an email to The Bee.
Related trucking also an issue
Further, these environmental justice communities are engulfed in related diesel pollution, composed of over 40 known cancer-causing substances, that threatens their health. To put it into perspective, the report states that it takes up to 30 trucks daily to transport ash from SERRF to the El Sobrante Landfill.
Environmental advocates argue the incinerators aren’t a sustainable waste management system, given that 30% of the waste delivered ends up as toxic ash later disposed of in landfills.
Wagoner adds that these facilities don’t align with where the state is going in terms of a zero-waste future. That’s because in order for the incinerators to be able to burn waste, they need to have a certain amount of it, she said. California’s goal isn’t to create more waste, she said.
Wagoner said emerging strategies such as waste-to-hydrogen could be better for the environment and the public’s health.
According to the individual facilities, Convanta and SERRF began their operations in the late 1980s, so now surpass their life expectancy of 30 years. Advocates warn that there’s an increased risk of equipment failure and local governments and residents will most likely bear exorbitant costs to maintain and upgrade.
Lack of funds and the inability to pay for upgrades are the main reasons why 31 solid waste incinerators in the nation have closed since 2000, according to the report.
Recommendations for zero waste
Incinerators hinder the transition to a zero-waste future as they compete with more sustainable waste management strategies for the same materials and government funds, environmental advocates say. Wagoner agrees that a zero-waste future doesn’t include these types of facilities.
While diversion credits benefit participating jurisdictions, communities like Stanislaus County and Long Beach don’t receive adequate funding to make the switch to zero-waste operations, the report states. That’s because CalRecycle doesn’t receive regular funding from the state’s general fund. California’s programs are mainly funded by a combination of fees, including tipping fees charged for individual tons of waste.
The goal of zero waste is to conserve resources by straying from incinerators and landfills through composting, recycling, reusing, redesigning and other systems to be developed. The strategy also aims to have producers take responsibility for the life cycle of their products.
Producers can be proactive about the latter by switching from the current linear waste management to a circular system, where products are designed to be reused, recycled or repaired instead of being disposed of. This means that producers need be held accountable for the life cycle of their product and its packaging, and they are in the position to do so, Chan said.
What’s being asked of the state?
Valley Improvement Projects, EarthJustice and East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice are calling on the state government to ban diversion credits, both foreign and domestic, and the construction or approval of new incinerators and thermal treatment facilities. They also ask local governments to shut down Covanta Stanislaus and SERRF as contracts come to an end in 2027 and 2024, respectively.
In the meantime, advocates say local governments should limit the use of incinerators and divert waste into composting, recycling, reduction and reuse. Moreover, advocates recommend both regions implement zero-waste plans no later than 2024, by listening to community feedback from the start of the process till its implementation.
Members of the participating organizations say they want to see support from the state’s general fund so that CalRecycle can expand zero-waste programs, including distributing grants and loans. With that funding, local governments should then implement programs that provide long-term support for zero-waste.
“Those communities affected deserve better and should be and can demand better,” Chan said.
This story was originally published December 13, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Stanislaus has one of state’s two biomass incinerators. How residents are impacted.."
