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Fuming over waste 'secrets'
Call for incinerator bosses to reveal more information and allay concerns
The Deputy Mayor of Bedford said this week that he is 'dreadfully frightened' after incinerator firm Covanta refused to reveal which chemicals would be released into the atmosphere at their proposed Bedfordshire site.
The US energy firm remained tight-lipped this week, after being asked by the Times & Citizen to disclose details of emissions from the site which would burn rubbish from across the region at Rookery Pit near Stewartby.
It has now emerged that Bedford Borough Council and the government's infrastructure planning commission (IPC) have also not been told what emissions will be released over Bedfordshire.
Deputy mayor Councillor Charles Royden said: "They can't give answers on emissions because they don't know what they will be burning.
"It is a mix of the known and the unknown, and both are dreadfully frightening."
Mr Royden also referred to Covanta being prosecuted in the US for breaching emissions regulations.
He said: "It's concerning that a company which has been prosecuted for emissions is planning to set up an incinerator in our area and we don't know what is coming out of it."
Covanta is currently holding public exhibitions across the county detailing the plans. In a report handed out at an exhibition in Ampthill on Sunday the company stated that "no air quality standards are predicted to be breached".
But campaigners are still unhappy. Hugh Roberts, spokesman for the Marston Vale Action Group, said: "I don't trust Covanta at all about what is going to go into the incinerator or come out of it. Saying that the Environment Agency has approved it does not reassure us."
Covanta managing director Malcolm Chilton said: "During this process gases and particles are given off which, if left untreated and put into the atmosphere, could be dangerous and would be irresponsible.
"However, modern EfW plants are engineered to extract the vast majority of gases such as dioxins and furans. In fact 40 per cent of the technical equipment inside a modern EfW plant is devoted to this alone."
What do you think about the incinerator? proposals Email your views to us at editorial@timesandcitizen.co.uk
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Weather for Bedford
Saturday 19 May 2012
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