The waste treatment facilities began proliferating in Chester in the 1980s. Even at that point, Chester was home to many polluting industries. It was surrounded by industries like Witco Chemical and Scott Paper. British Petroleum and Sunoco Oil Companies had oil refineries to the east of Chester.
Full Answer
What is wrong with Chester PA?
Located Southwest of Philadelphia in Delaware County, Chester is home to approximately 44,000 residents, most of which are African American and low income. Chester is also currently home to four toxic and hazardous waste treatment facilities, which residents claim are the underlying source of their recent health problems.
How has air quality changed in Chester?
Over the last 20 years, tighter EPA regulations and improved pollution control technology has somewhat improved air quality in Chester. But at times, many of the plants have struggled to meet the EPA’s standards. The Covanta incinerator has weaker pollution controls than most other incinerators the company owns.
What is Chester PA known for?
At the beginning of the 20 th century, Chester was an industrial hub, hosting a Ford Motor Company plant, a General Motors plant, and a Scot Paper plant that at one time produced 60% of the world’s toilet paper. Before World War II, it was considered one of the state’s cultural capitals.
Is there a public health crisis in Chester PA?
Despite increasingly stringent regulations in the 22 years following this study, Chester’s public health crisis continues. According to an analysis of 2010 data conducted by the Center for Excellence in Environmental Toxicology at the University of Pennsylvania, 38. 5% of children in Chester have asthma.
The Problem
Since 1985, a Pittsburgh investment company known as Russell, Rea & Zappala (and now Gomulka), has continued to build several toxic and hazardous waste treatment facilities in the community of Chester, Pennsylvania.
Background
In the mid 1980's, the residents of Chester City, Pennsylvania had no idea that their community had been targeted and would later become home to numerous toxic and hazardous waste treatment facilities as the state's landfills neared capacity.
Key Actors
Zulene Mayfield is chairperson of a grass-roots organization known as Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL).
Demographics
Chester City, Pennsylvania is a low-income, predominately black (65%) neighborhood comprised of roughly 44,000 people. The residents of this community make-up 8% of Delaware County's entire population, and has the highest percentage of minorities in the state.
Strategies Used
At the beginning of this struggle, residents were not organized and engaged in various tactics which required a great deal of effort, and the effects were minimal.
Solutions
Perhaps the biggest step taken by the grass-roots organizations fighting both RR&Z and the DEP is the recent filing by the CRCQL of a federal lawsuit accusing them of "Environmental Racism." More specifically, the lawsuit claims discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 saying that despite being home to only 8% of the county's population, Chester currently handles more than 67% of the entire county's waste.
Recommendations
In my opinion the best recommendation would be to shut-down these polluting facilities, however, this is unlikely to happen because politicians benefit at the expense of the residents of Chester. In the past, some groups in other communities have had success in their cases by attacking waste companies for ignoring environmental regulations.
When did Pittsburgh become a waste magnet?
In 1985, a Pittsburgh investment company known as Russell, Rea & Zappala ...
What is the Westinghouse incinerator?
The Westinghouse incinerator is one of the largest in the country, burning not only 100% of Delaware County’s own waste, but the waste brought from surrounding states (New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Ohio). Since the appearance of these industries, negative health outcomes continue to emerge.
Where does trash come from?
The trash is sourced from Delaware County, Philadelphia, New Jersey all the way up to New York City. Often rebranded as ‘waste-to-energy’, ‘energy from waste”, or “resource recovery”, trash incineration is the most polluting way to manage waste or to make energy.
Where is Covanta trash incinerator?
Covanta operates the largest trash incinerator in the U.S. in Chester, PA and is located on the Delaware River and Highland Avenue. The incinerator burns municipal solid waste to generate electricity and handles 1.2 million tons of garbage per year. The trash is sourced from Delaware County, Philadelphia, New Jersey all the way up to New York City.
How many jobs did Westinghouse offer?
The facility Westinghouse promised 110 jobs and $2.7 million in revenue to the Chester City Council through taxes and fees. In 1991, Westinghouse opened a trash to steam plant in Chester that brought in trucks from Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The energy produced from the "trash to steam" facility was sold to the city ...
Does Covanta use carbon injection?
Covanta’s Chester incinerator uses less pollution controls than any other incinerator in the state and the fewest of any of their fleet of 39 incinerators nation-wide. It currently lacks controls to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) that cause asthma and carbon injection to remove additional toxic metals and dioxins.
When did Chester, PA become a health problem?
The city’s first documented health problems date back to 1995 when an EPA study of Chester found that 60% of children tested for lead in their blood had concentrations above the Center for Disease Control’s maximum healthy level.
How much trash does a Chester incinerator burn?
It’s maximum capacity is the largest of any trash incinerator in the country—most burn fewer than 1,000 tons of waste per day. Chester’s residents aren’t the ones creating most of the trash, though. Only 1.6% of what the incinerator burns comes from Chester.
How many incinerators does Covanta use?
Covanta operates about 50 municipal waste incinerators around the world, including about half of the 76 so-called waste-to-energy facilities in the United States. Every day, the facility burns as much as 3,510 tons of municipal waste (roughly equivalent to the weight of a naval combat ship).
What happens when trash is burned?
When trash is burned, it releases a number of toxic compounds into the atmosphere. The company has admitted that additional pollution controls would be a drag on profits. During a 2009 examination of the Covanta incinerator, an EPA inspector asked if installing more pollution controls would reduce NO x emissions.
What is the impact of burning trash?
Burning all that trash releases large amounts of dozens of different pollutants, including nitrogen oxides (NO x ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and particulate matter, which are tiny bits of solids and liquids a fraction of the width of a human hair.
What was the common site in Chester, Pennsylvania?
At the beginning of the 20 th century, Chester was an industrial hub, hosting a Ford Motor Company plant, a General Motors plant, and a Scot Paper plant that at one time produced 60% of the world’s toilet paper.
What happened to the town of Dr. Pepper after the war?
But after the war, a few of the prominent businesses either moved from the city or shut down, setting off a steady decline in the city’s economy. Between 1950 and 1980, the town lost a third of its jobs as businesses moved elsewhere and wealthier residents fled to the suburbs. Dr.
Is incineration worse than landfilling?
Trash incineration, even with all of the normal pollution controls, is more polluting than coal power plants, and is worse than landfilling the waste directly. When burning trash, 30% of it becomes toxic ash that makes landfills more dangerous to groundwater. The other 70% becomes air pollution.
Is Chester City a polluter?
They're the largest air polluter in Chester City and one of the top few air polluters in the 7-county Philadelphia region. They operate without two of the four pollution control devices common to trash incinerators.
