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State Hears Case Against Garbage IncineratorL o w e r M a n h a tta n S ta te A s s e m b ly m e m b e r S h e ld o n S ilv e r c ritic iz e d th e im p a c t o f th ep ro p o s e d N avy Y ard in c in e ra to r a c ro s s th e river fro m his d is tric t s a y in g th e w in d w o u ldcarry fu m e s to h is d is tric t (P h o e n ix /K o c h P h o to )BY LIZ KOCHCalling again for more investigation into the potential health hazards caused by the proposed Brooklyn Navy Yard Resource Recovery Plant, the 22 speakers at a State Department of Environmental Conservation public hearing, by and large requested that the department turn down the six permit applications submitted by Signal Environmental Systems Inc., the company contracted to construct and operate the steam producing garbage incinerator.The July 15 public hearing held to receive testimony on the permit applications, was presided over by administrative law judge Jeffrey Cohen and concerned six applications: a permit to construct and a certificate to operate a 500 foot smoke stack at the facility; a permit to construct and operate a solid waste management facility (including furnaces and the handling of solid waste and the fly ash refuse); a permit for a State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) for storm water run-off at the site, and three permits pertaining to the dredging of the Wallabout Channel where barges carrying the waste to the site would travel.While some at the hearing, held in the main auditorium at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island College, called for the outright rejection of using an incinerator to solve the solid waste problem, others asked that another site in a less densely populated area be chosen for the experimental run of the stateof-the-art facilities. Still others, fearing the escalating solid waste problem in New York City where more than 20,000 tons of garbage is produced daily and sent to landfills, called for the approval of the permits to expedite the resolution of that problem.BURNS 3000 TONSThe proposed plant, the first of several incinerators planned for the five boroughs, is designed to bum up to 3,000 tons of garbage per day. The waste would be delivered by barges that would travel on the East River to the site in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The resulting ash would be disposed in a landfill area yet to be determined. Steam produced by the burning of the waste is planned to be sold to Con Edison.According to figures released by the Department of Sanitation, the Fresh Kills landfill site on Staten Island, currently the depository for most of the City%u2019s solid waste has a life span of only 12 to 13 years. The federally-owned Fountain Avenue landfill site in Brooklyn was closed in 1985. Plans for four additional recovery plants, at Baretto Point in the Bronx, at 206 Street in Manhattan, at Newton Creek in Maspeth, Queens and at Fresh Kills in Staten Island are being considered. Last August, the New York City Board of Estimate approved funding for the Navy Yard project.Signal Environmental Systems, Inc.,which operates similar facilities at five other locations in the country, including one in Peekskill, New York, signed a contract with the City last December to design, construct and operate the facility for 20 years under a %u201cfull-service agreement.%u201d 'At the hearing, Councilmember Abe Gerges, whose district includes the Williamsburg community that abuts the proposed Navy Yard location of the plant, criticized the state for holding the hearings during the summer when many residents of that area, he said, were on vacation. %u201cTo hold hearings during the summer,%u201d he said, %u201cwas not bad if in my opinion it wasn%u2019t planned forpeople not to participate.%u201d Gerges has asked that Commissioner Henry Williams of the state DEC add another hearing in September, and urged that he advertise the hearings in local papers.CALLED TOO RUSHEDGerges also challenged the plan as too rushed. %u201cThe City wants a safe recovery plant. The problem is everyone is trying to rush and doesn%u2019t realize future generations are involved,%u201d he said. He urged that a more thorough study of the plant%u2019s impact on the surrounding areas be conducted including the historical significance of the shores of Wallabout Channel and the need for dredging the canal. %u201cI ask you to deny the application, because in effect it is incomplete,%u201d he stated. Two weeks ago, however, a four judge Appeallate Division court ruled that the project%u2019s final Environmental Impact Statement sufficiently addressed the potential impacts of the project.Joseph Landau, reading a prepared statement on behalf of Borough President Howard Golden, reiterated the objection to the scheduling of the hearings. %u201cIn addition,%u201d he said, %u201cthe single most important document, the draft permit by the Department of Environmental Conservation has been unavailable for review and comment.%u201dThe statement repeated Golden%u2019s past objections to the manner in which the site for the recovery plant was chosen, adding, %u201cthe alternatives analysis clearly indicate that the Navy Yard site was chosen for economic reasons rather than its environmental acceptability,%u201d and stated, %u201cTechnical documents also disclose that dioxin can be destroyed at appropriate temperatures during combustion. The permit should reflect this point and clearly subject this facility to zero levels of discharge in order to ensure the long term health of community residents.%u201d The dioxin controversy has swirled around the incinerator discussions as both sides agree that some dioxin %u2014 the chemical found in Agent Orange %u2014 will be emitted from the plant. Sanitation officials who back the plan say additional acid scrubbers have been added to the design to mitigate the problem, but opContmued on Pane 7Brooklyn Underground Comes Up To Air A Variety Of Arts And Crafts(P h o e n ix /P e a rs o n P h o to s) D e s p ite p o u rin g rain s w h ic h in te rru p te d itss e c o n d day, th e p re m ie re w e e k e n d o f B ro o klynU n d e rg ro u n d w a s a tre m e n d o u s s u c c e s s fo r bo thth e a rtis ts an d th e F o rt G re e n e /C lin to n H illc o m m u n ity , re p o rts o rg a n iz e r S te v e M o h n e y .L o cal a rtis ts of all k in d s g a th e re d in a p arkin glo t, no lo n g e r re c o g n iz a b le as su ch , an d rec e iv e da w arm w e lc o m e fro m th e ir n e ig h b o rs a t th eA rt/D e s ig n M a rk e t on J u ly ?5 an d 26 M o h n e ysays th e p ro je c t c a m e a b o u t as a re s u lt o f th ere a liz a tio n th a t %u201c T h e tim e is rip e fo r th is ty p e ofth in g . E veryo n e k n o w s th e a rtis ts are h ere, butw as n e c e s s a ry fo r th e m to e m e rg e an d fo r th ec o n n e c tio n to be m a d e b e tw e e n th e a rtis ts andth e c o m m u n ity . It h e lp s th e c o m m u n ity to haveits c re a tiv ity v is ib le .%u20191 S ix te e n a rtis ts p a rtic ip a te d in th e e v en t, as w ell as sev e ra l m u s ic a lorouDS from th e n e ia h b o rh o o d . M o h n e y a d d edth a t th e art fair s tim u la te d lo c a ls in c re a tin gm o re new id eas, sayin g \d is c u s s in g o p e n in g lo cal g a lle rie s an d o th e rs im ila r p ro je c ts .\d is a p p o in te d th a t th e m a rk e t w a s n 't c o n tin u in gth e n ext w e e k e n d , h old tig h t, for M o h n e y a ls osaid \re s p o n s e fro m b o th s id e s w a s very fa v o ra b le , soit s e e m s w e have to c o n tin u e .\Ju ly 31, 1986, T H E P H O E N IX , P ag e 5