Officials Require Incinerator Hearing

Fri., May 15, 1998

From Staff Reports

State Department of Ecology officials will require a public hearing on a proposed new waste incinerator at Washington State University.

The date and place of the June hearing has not yet been set, said Jani Gilbert, spokeswoman for Ecology’s Eastern Washington office.

“We just decided there was enough public interest to warrant holding a hearing,” Gilbert said.

The Department of Ecology has been negotiating with WSU for years to build a more technologically advanced burner for its infectious waste. Ecology issued an administrative order last fall establishing a construction schedule after finding WSU’s current burner violated air quality standards 32 times in 1997.

Gilbert said the hearing only will address air pollution standards, despite some citizen’s concerns about wastewater from the new burner’s proposed wet-scrubber system. Ecology officials are still unsure whether a separate permit will be pursued for water released to Pullman’s city sewage treatment plant.

“I know there will be a lot of temptation to talk about other issues, but legally we have to stick to that one (air) issue,” Gilbert said.

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