Minutes - Council - 07/14/1988 - Public Hearing

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not an incinerator of this small size in Minnesota that would have all the requirements imposed on it as are proposed for this one in Atlas' research and development facility. Atlas wants to be able to prove to Ramsey, State agencies and potential customers that it's incinerators can operate in a safe and environmentally sound manner. It Atlas has problems, it will not only cause a penalty and fine but it will cause Atlas to lose it's standing in the market place. Atlas welcomes questions and hopes that Ramsey considers the proposal favorably. Mr. Jack Ippel - 16443 Jaspar Street N.W. - I called Anoka County and obtained figures on the amount of waste generated in a household and the poundage of residential, not commercial or industrial, material that is being landfilled. Those figures indicate that each person generates 2.5 pounds of waste per day; multiplying that by 12,000 Ramsey residents you come up with 30,000 pounds of waste per day; multiplying that times 365 days per year, you come up with 10,950,000 pounds of waste going into the landfill from Ramsey alone. Every man, woman and child generates one ton of waste per year. There was recently a futurist that spoke at the Anoka ILamsey Community College. He said that the economy in the Twin Cities has been kept strong by the development of new technologies. First the computer industry created new jobs; then the medical technology took over; now we are waiting for something new to take the forefront for job creation. From what I have seen, I feel the next technology to generate substantial employment is solid waste management and environmental science. The waste being generated will not go away and Atlas is on the leading edge of this h£§h-tech field. Ramsey, by Atlas locating here, stands to reap the benefits of this growth industry through jobs, support industries attracted to the area and identification through people being brought to the plant from around the country and world. Atlas is part of the solution through installation of on-site incinerators where garbage would never enter the waste stream. Incinerators are an option being used more and more frequently. (Mr. Ippel proceeded to read excerpts from a recent article in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune): "The Dakota County Board Tuesday chose a Connecticut firm to build a $126.6 million burn plant that will use garbage to make electricity. Despite residents' objections, the board voted 5-0 to approve Combustion Engineering Inc. of Windsor, Conn., as the builder and operator of the plant, by far the most expensive project ever for the fast-growing county. The plant must obtain state amd federal air quality and other permits before the start of construction, set for the fall of 1989. The proposed site is in the Pine Bend area of Rosemount. The plant will be able to handle 800 tons a day, about 80 percent of the County's waste. The rest will be recycled or composted. Hennepin County is building a 1,000-ton-a-day incinerator in Minneapolis. Board Chairman Steven Loeding said the plant is 'the most reliable and effective' way to deal with the solid waste problem and will be needed, along with recycling, until 'we can change the mind set of this country of being a throw-away society.' Loeding said the county can shut down the plant if Combustion Engineering doesn't meet environmental health standards, as it has guaranteed. County consultants told the board that state amd federal environmental permits will ensure that the plant is safe. Stephen Schwarz, of the Malcolm Pirnie consulting firm, cited a letter written in August 1986 by Christopher Daggett, Region Two administrator of the U.So Environmental Protection Agency. Daggett wrote a congressman that such City Council Public Hearing/July 14, 1988 Page 4 of 15