Is waste incinerator poisoning Sauget with heavy metal emissions? CDC will investigate.
The Center for Disease Control will investigate whether a waste incinerator is poisoning people in Sauget.
A federal agency within the CDC is expected to announce Wednesday it will conduct a preliminary investigation into “potential health hazards” from pollution near the Veolia North America-Trade Waste Incineration facility.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is expected to determine if the Sauget incinerator is causing heavy metal poisoning.
“The people of Sauget deserve a full investigation into the potential health concerns stemming from the weakening of pollution controls at a local waste facility and I’m encouraged by the announcement of a federal review of this very serious problem,” said U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, who wrote a letter to the CDC requesting the investigation.
Veolia welcomes the investigation, Carrie K. Griffiths, vice president of communications for Veolia North America, said in a statement Wednesday. She said facility’s compliance is “beyond reproach.”
“We welcome the CDC’s assessment and look forward to assisting in their fact-finding because the reality of this situation is clear: The record of environmental compliance at the Sauget facility is beyond reproach,” she said. “Veolia assumed operations at the plant in 1999 and for more than 10 years, the facility has never received a final notice of violation. This summer the EPA endorsed the facility’s record by granting a final Clean Air Act permit.”
In an earlier statement, Veolia said there have been zero air emission violations at the facility.
Griffiths said Veolia will assist in the CDC’s investigation and work with the regulatory agencies.
“We have and will continue to work with the appropriate health and environmental regulatory agencies to ensure that those who live and work near this facility understand the reality of the work we do in Sauget,” she said.
A permit, issued by the EPA that went into effect July 1, required Veolia to install and operate mercury emission controls on two incinerators that didn’t previously have them.
In June, however, local environmentalists said The Environmental Protection Agency had allowed Veolia to relax heavy-metal emissions monitoring.
“Contrary to the concerns expressed about relaxed pollution controls, we have in fact increased pollution controls at the site, including the carbon injection system,” Griffith said in response to the CDC’s investigation. “Levels have not increased and we are well below allowed thresholds.”
The facility takes waste such as propellants and explosives, reactive metals and poisonous materials for disposal, according to the company’s website.
The environmental group, at the time said, under the new permit, Veolia would be able to emit a harmful level of heavy metals into the air. In October, Duckworth raised the issue with EPA inspector general nominee Sean O’Donnel.
“I’ll continue working to get to the bottom of it and I’m pleased the federal government will engage with Illinois EPA and the Illinois Department of Health to gather and review data.”
In June, Griffiths said in a statement that the technology to do what environmental groups are demanding has not proven to be reliable in measuring heavy metal emissions.
“Certain environmental activist groups want Veolia to install continuous multi-metals emissions monitors,” Griffiths said in an emailed statement to the BND. “This technology isn’t proven yet and is not currently used at any hazardous waste incinerators across the globe. Once it becomes available and can be a reliable technology to monitor metals, we will support its use at all commercial hazardous waste incinerators across the United States.”
Griffiths added that Veolia had worked with the EPA to ensure the facility is in compliance with regulations set in place under the Clean Air Act.
“We have also improved the Sauget facility with new capabilities to ensure it will continue to consistently operate in compliance with our permit limits in the future. We are committed to safety and have not had any air pollution violations in the past,” Griffiths said.
At a news conference outside the incineration in June, East St. Louis resident Mamie Cosey said she doesn’t allow her great-grandchildren to play outside because of the air quality.
“Whenever they’re burning, it affects the elements because you can come outside at night and the skies are red,” Cosey said.
The Rev. Jenniffer Warren Hauser of the First Presbyterian Church in Granite City said if the heavy metal output isn’t monitored, the plant could be fatal.
“What we don’t measure, will still kill us,” Hauser said in June. “You can’t choose what air you breathe, but we have the right to know what is in it. This revised permit removing this monitoring requirement is a travesty (and) a pandering to multinational corporations, by an administration that doesn’t care (whether those living in) the metro-east live or die.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 5:00 AM.