Health, environmental, consumer and clean energy advocates won another victory against the garbage incineration industry when Covanta Energy Corporation withdrew a petition to the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) to make garbage incineration eligible for the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
New York’s Renewable Portfolio Standard was established in 2004 to promote clean, renewable energy such as wind and solar power to replace dirty fossil fuels. Consumers pay for the RPS through a small surcharge on their monthly utility bills.
More than 2,500 letters opposing Covanta’s petition were sent in to the PSC this summer from a wide range of nonprofit groups, businesses, elected officials, and individuals. Due to its adverse environmental impacts and strong public opposition, the PSC has rejected including garbage incineration in the RPS twice before, in 2004 and 2010.
According to a report released by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Burning Public Money for Dirty Energy; Misdirected Subsidies for “Waste-to-Energy” Incinerators, Covanta’s efforts in New York mirror a larger strategy the incinerator industry is pursuing across the nation seeking access to dedicated funds for clean energy. There are nearly a dozen federal policies that allow trash-burning to compete with clean energy technologies for funds.
The report found that “The State Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is a powerful driver for the expansion of the incinerator industry, in addition to opening the door for a range of state and federal subsidies.”
Covanta tried to recast garbage burning as “clean,” but, in fact, municipal solid waste incinerators are major polluters, generating both harmful air emissions and large quantities of toxic ash. According to comments the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) submitted to the PSC in response to Covanta’s petition:
New York’s garbage incinerators “continue to emit most air pollutants at emission rates that are greater than coal-fired power plants on a per megawatt-hour basis.”
In 2009, New York’s incinerators released 14 times as much toxic mercury as coal-fired power plants for every hour of energy produced, as well as higher rates for lead, cadmium, dioxin, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and acid gases.
While incinerator emissions for many pollutants have declined since the 1990s, there has been no significant change in dioxin emissions.