Board to keep Davis incinerator open

FARMINGTON — Davis County's embattled burn plant will keep on firing up its incinerator.

Against the wishes of three dozen residents who showed up for a public hearing Wednesday, Wasatch Energy Systems' Administrative Control Board passed its budget, including funding for the incinerator, for fiscal year 2002. The board is composed of Davis County commissioners, representatives from every Davis County city except Bountiful — which is not part of the garbage district — and one from Morgan city, also part of the district.

Residents showed up en masse to ask local lawmakers sitting on the board to reject the proposed budget. In its place they asked for a new budget that would allow Wasatch Energy — the special service district that burns garbage for 15 cities in Davis and Morgan counties — to shut down its garbage incinerator by the end of next fiscal year.

Residents complained that the plant is expensive — Davis County residents pay about 60 percent more for garbage collection than Salt Lake County residents — and some fear dioxin emissions from the plant are the cause of a brain-cancer cluster around the plant.

"This is a very unpopular operation," said Tom Uhland of South Weber. "You people need to start listening to the people and let your egos go to the side."

Despite the pleas, the board unanimously voted to keep the incinerator.

Board Chairman Jerry Stevenson said the group that gathered at the County Commission chambers for the budget hearing was a vocal minority spurred by environmental activists who have sought to close the incinerator for years.

Stevenson, who is also mayor of Layton, said he receives few incinerator-related complaints even though the plant sits in his city.

Activists and residents have long been critical of Wasatch Energy, which has regularly failed dioxin emissions tests in the past six years. Dioxin is a byproduct of burning trash, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lists it as a "known human carcinogen."

Last month, Davis County Health Director Lewis Garrett announced that his office found evidence of a cancer cluster in and around South Weber. While there is no evidence linking the cluster to the incinerator, the discovery raised the ire of many already-skeptical residents. Last week Wasatch Energy asked for the resignations of its two top officials, executive director LeGrand Bitter and operations director Jack Schmidt.

New director Nathan Rich said Wasatch Energy will do everything possible, including lending money, to assist the health department in finding evidence that could help determine the cancer's cause.

Despite those promises the district's new budget called for a 47.5 percent decrease in funding for environmental testing and a 10.5 percent decrease in funds for professional consultation. In the past, Wasatch Energy has hired outside professional consultants to do its environmental testing.

---

E-MAIL: bsnyder@desnews.com