Thirty Protest Pollution At Incinerator

Fri., May 12, 2000

From Staff

About 30 people protested pollution Thursday at Spokane’s trash incinerator.

“We want to send a message to policy-makers that this has to go,” said organizer BrightSpirit, motioning over her shoulder to the incinerator.

A state report in 1998 showed that the West Plains facility, where Spokane’s trash is burned, produces more carcinogenic dioxin than the combined total of the state’s other six incinerators.

Most of the dioxin is shipped to a regional landfill, and state officials have said they don’t know whether it affects human health. Protesters contend the incinerator is contaminating land and the food it produces, causing cancer and shortening lives.

“Stop poisoning me,” read the sign carried by 2-year-old Imishkin Ferris, whose mother said she worries about the girl’s future.

“I work hard, I feed her organic food, I nursed her until she was ready to be done, and it just doesn’t matter,” Arelya Rain said. “There’s still toxins pouring into the air.”

Protesters said Spokane’s trash should go to a double-lined landfill until more environmentally sound disposal methods are found. Ultimately, they said, Americans must learn to produce less trash by shopping smarter, recycling more and reusing as many products as possible.

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