Waste burner exceeds air pollution limits again

Spokane’s Waste-to-Energy Plant late last month exceeded air pollution limits for the second time in less than a year.

A spike in carbon monoxide pollution coming from the plant’s smokestack Aug. 31 was registered after a power failure, which also triggered a fire outside one of the plant’s two boilers.

That blaze resulted from pressure building up in the boiler from a pipe that burst, causing about 100 tons of burning garbage to be pushed out from a boiler.

The fire was contained mostly to a hopper where garbage is placed just before going into the boiler, but flames reaching as long as 30 feet shot out of the hopper for several minutes until plant workers, using water cannons, put them out, said Damon Taam, system contract manager.

No one was injured, and the fire caused only minor damage, he said.

Mayor Dennis Hession said he has confidence the plant is safe. He added that he hasn’t been briefed in detail about the incident.

“Sometimes these things happen,” Hession said. “You do as much as you can to try to control the variables, but sometimes that doesn’t happen.”

Taam said a similar fire occurred at the plant in 2001.

The West Plains plant, which burns most of the waste generated in Spokane County, is owned by the city of Spokane and operated by contract by Wheelabrator Technologies, a division of Waste Management.

The plant normally generates its own power, but at 1:50 p.m. Aug. 31, electricity was lost during a storm. Taam said lightning likely struck the plant or nearby power lines.

When the plant’s power goes off, the city usually gets power from Avista instantaneously to keep the plant operational, but there was about a four-minute gap before that happened. Taam said it’s unclear why there was a lull.

It’s also unclear what was going into the air during the outage because monitors – and systems designed to clean the air before it is released – went down along with the power, said April Westby, an environmental engineer with the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency. The levels of carbon monoxide beyond what’s allowed by the plant’s permit were discovered after monitors became operational again.

Westby said Wheelabrator provided information about the incident to the air agency as required. The plant could be fined for the excess emissions, but its permit allows it to avoid fines in circumstances considered beyond its control. A report submitted by Kelle R. Vigeland, a manager at the plant, requested that the agency consider the emission unavoidable.

“The plant took prompt action in response to this event following standard operating procedures,” Vigeland wrote.

The agency has asked the plant for additional information before determining whether a fine should be levied.

The boiler with the broken pipe was fixed and became operational Sept. 2, Taam said.

This is the second time in less than a year that the plant’s pollution exceeded limits. In November, the plant violated clean air rules when it released two pinkish plumes after burning pharmaceutical waste containing iodine that HollisterStier Laboratories requested be burned though a special waste permit.

The city was not fined for that incident but was instead required to develop a plan for better screening wastes burned by special permits.