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Opinion The Daily News, Friday, November 2. 2001 23
/Gasification is generating
some heated discussions
&a-eeDalds. -a otgisl5 sah anly
Nvews ciriolting co=mnitl. 1e lhes
A few wtbks ago a group of ns 0
Gearade's Resaurantt on the stitatorn
of former-Sen, Osbert Potter and a
Caribe Wastec Technologies Inc rep-
resntative to discuss the solid waste
tes poftre Vrno islands. Du nge the
mee dLsctuesed gasiwficatonot and
ithe applicao i my have to diote Vg n
Irands'solid ase ckd ss.
The Virgin Islands generateas some
660 toe of waste per day or 220,000
tomes per year for some 100,00 people.
I tbe pit ypr we have wiotessed a
rise in bthe total ewe of wmste gen-
eated and ponds generated per per-
s~n. Our dumps in the Virgin Islands
have roch ts capacity.
Reoidth .vistst sad wildlife health
arconstantly being threatened by air
pollution and toxic emision in our
environment. Our underground water
supplies and tte marine environment
ae also heavily impactedby our dump
ntap e so bhad thaiwthe Bovon dumpo
ot St. Tbemas is opeating without an
Environmeote l Pratection Agency per-
n. On St. Coix officials oft Federal
Aviation Administration said ihe An-
guidlla dump wl be closed by December
2002 if the Virgin Islands government
doesn't get its act together or risk
the closure of the Henry E. Roldsen
Airpo This would hawvearmorimpact
on the V.I. coomy, especially on SLt
Croix
Meanwhile, the EPA conttinueso fine
the V.L goveosmert whenever it fails to
doposofwaste opery wheneverit
doesn't comply with fedealoler territorial
standards. However. polines tas been a
mator otetacle in the territory achieving
a shoetr heh system; a stable ectn'
anl a cleaner nvironi-ent
Believe me. the gasification proposal
by Caribe Waste Technologies and the
V I government will generate some
heated debate on whether this technol-
ogyr me the needs of thseislands'
.-Aid waste cas What is gasificlton?
the air. the need for WAPA to bum 6
rmlion gallons ofoil each year; and
1.5 million pounds of pollutant from
the Virgin Islands air each year will
0ow nS be eliminated.
f 1Davis Presently the government of the
r V-iigoIslands pays approximatelyS5.5
million per year to operate 6e Angelta
and teovoni dumps This project if
approved by the seturs and the ri-
dents of dAese islands is expected to
cGasification is a manufacturing genete some $15 million per year. on
process that "onvers o l into a clean additionl tax revenue to the V.I. gov.
gas tia can be used as fuel to gencr- erneet. However, there oee nmay
ate poweror as a basic chemical build- issues ha needtobeaddressed if are
ilg block ifot e prod etiof feiliz- to ,aeltis roe
. er scals and fises." h the hand- a Will WAPA purchase lectrcity
oUs we emeied drig the meeting il sad werfrdom te gast'ation .fdicllty'
also gtveste p-by-aepprocess of Wha sir pottuants will dths faciley
how the system worob i elimitatting eatil?
solid wste. How wnysypemanewtjohoword
this solid waste facility create? What
a level ofjobs would be held by local
Training for positionsatthenew
It Is up to the people of waste facility ae issues tat must be
these islands to educate ironed out in order for psifeation to
themselves about become a reality in addessing our
sesid waste Issues?
gasification. One thing I Other se are the evpotg of
know for sure, time s ste fo St. Thomas, St John and
not on our side to so e Water Island to St. Ctoix. My uoder-
tehat o lb gth auum ireiAy
the solid waste s elbebtlowStCiox 1ieojob. t
problem. is the mos logical and cos-effective
way to haove 1e facility oli so St. Croei
due tohe largest indutrial omple
in ihe Virgin Islands. The facility will
The g~ifiaion proposal also claims create 250 jobs during the initialco
that all waste delivered to the facility stimc on phase and 70 newpewmanent
will be 100 percent recycled. The jos
recycled products used to generate "Airaoxwnaely $45 million trlabor
electricity and water, aggn emateri asd maerials will be rvesed in the St.
al forconcreteadditivmetalproducb. Croix economy during cosoution; and
andodther mscellaneousnmatelssuch I million eachyeardtheeatcrduring
as industrial grade saiL zinc hydroxide operation." according to infonaution
and sulfur sold to industrial and frIm Caribe Wae Technologies
commercial customers Thefacliy alsoexpected otraet
A further claim is that gaifica- thousab ofisitors and Inences each
tion would eliminate St. Coix's dump. year. which could tether increcres -
which contaminates the underground cnues ior St Croo.
wier andmanne environment- ad its up toe ope ofthee islandsto
posonous leachate produced at the St. educate the.d tlves about gasielion,
Thomas dump. Als the company men- One thing I know for sur meisnia on
Uioed cancer-causing dioxins from oursidetosolvehesolidwstopmbtelm.
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