Stop Trashing Our Air Act tabled – it couldn’t get the votes to pass
The sponsor of the Stop Trashing Our Air Act tabled the bill after it became clear Thursday that it would not get enough votes to pass in Philadelphia City Council or to withstand a veto by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker who opposes the measure. The legislation would have banned the city from continuing to send trash to the Reworld incinerator in Chester.
The bill was subject to heavy lobbying by the environmental justice group Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL), Chester Mayor Stefan Roots and other proponents on the one hand and by Reworld employees and labor unions opposing it on the other, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Sponsor Jamie Gauthier needed nine votes to pass the 17-member City Council and 12 votes to overcome a mayoral veto. Gauthier pledged to continue to push for passage of the bill.
Both Chester and Philadephia residents argued that emissions from Reworld cause or worsen asthma and other health conditions, while Reworld Facility Manager maintained that the plant operates wll within the “strict requirements” of the federal Clean Air Act.
CRCQL contends that Reworld’s emmissions combine with those of other polluting industries in Chester, Trainer, Marcus Hook and Eddystone to exceed EPA and Pennsylvania environmental health standards. The EPA recently announced it no longer plans to quantify the economic costs of air pollution to human health while it would continue to consider human health as one factor in setting regulations. The Trump Administration has pledged to dismantle most environmental regulations.
At least one Philadelphia City Council member, at a hearing last month, questioned whether Phildelphia should curtail its use of the Reworld incinerator while Delaware County, which burns most of its trash there, had not yet made a commitment to halt its own practices.
A proposal to substantially reduce incineration is part of a Zero Waste proposal recently adopted by the Delaware County Council but it is not clear when or how that proposal would be put into action. The county is also in the pocess of adopting a 10-year solid waste plan that may incorporate elements of the zero waste proposal.
In addition to Philadelphia and Delaware County, Reworld imports trash from cities in other states to burn in the incinerator. The Chester incinerator, built in the 1990s, is often cited as the largest in the United States. The company operates a similar incinerator in Camden, N.J., across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.
