How people power from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa defeated the moneyed interests’ plans for a toxic tire-burning plant.
Kicking the tires
By
Guy Wolf
Before a shovel of dirt was turned over to build the largest and most expensive ($50 million) waste tire incinerator in the United States, residents like Kathy Wherley of Preston, Minnesota, knew it was time to gather information and educate the public about the impacts of burning waste tires. The Heartland Energy and Recycling operation would have included a 210-foot smokestack burning 10 million wastes tires per year and emitting two tons of toxins per day (including mercury, lead, PCB’s, and arsenic).
Soon after Heartland Energy’s plans were made public a group of dedicated citizens with little political or environmental background formed an organization called SEMEP, Southeastern Minnesotans for Environmental Protection. That was more than four years ago.
Soon after SEMEP formed politics and money entered the picture, and in 2001 the Minnesota Legislature passed HF2133 to give Heartland Energy property and sales tax exemptions. Citizens were outraged that a facility that was not even licensed nor permitted was being granted special status by the state. Heartland Energy owner Bob Maust is the father-in-law of Assembly Rep. Greg Davids, who represents the same legislative district as the site of the proposed waste tire incinerator, but both denied any "conflict of interest."
But the citizens would not know how much money and influence would impact the decision to build the plant until the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) completely ignored the protests and the science and on February 26, 2003, issued an air permit for the facility without even requiring an Environment Impact Statement (EIS). It was impossible to believe that while outdoor amphitheaters would require an EIS in Minnesota, a toxic incinerator spewing tons of pollutants each day over the Root River and the Mississippi River watershed would simply be waived. Citizen groups that had expanded across the southeastern part of Minnesota and on into Wisconsin and Iowa, and the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse Campus Progressives were more angry and determined than ever to stop the construction of this plant.
SEMEP's lawyers, with much legal help from the Midwest Environmental Advocates in Wisconsin, the Minnesota Sierra Club, and the Clean Water Action Alliance of Minnesota stepped in to assist the citizens in court. And on February 17, 2004, Joseph F. Wieners, a Minnesota District Court Judge, rescinded the order for the air permit and sent the decision back to the drawing board. Now it was time for citizen power and the political muscle of ordinary citizens to rise-up and demand democracy. And they began to do just that.
Citizens organized rallies and press conferences, held house parties, and sent thousands of e-mail messages. They gathered more than 7,000 petitions and went to groups like the Zumbro Valley Medical Community to get support from Mayo Clinic-affiliated doctors to sign on and testify to the dangers of this proposed plant. These same citizens also recognized the importance of regaining their political might in the local community and successfully asked and received petitions signed by the Fillmore, Houston, and Winona county boards in Minnesota and the La Crosse County Board in Wisconsin to require a full and fair Environmental Impact Statement.
When it came time to once again travel to the chambers of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency more than 100 miles away in the bowels of money and influence in downtown St. Paul, ordinary people from three states came to make their case. On January 26, 2005, the MPCA overturned its decision to grant an air permit to Heartland, and by a vote of 6-1 required a full Environmental Impact Statement. The MPCA had not overturned an air permit in more than a decade.
But the citizens of the three-state area did not stop organizing and gathered in the cold of February in Houston, Minnesota, to celebrate their victory and plan how to continue organizing. The calls and letters to U.S. senators Mark Dayton and Russ Feingold, and Congressman Ron Kind continued, thanking them for all their support and asking them to continue to help in the battle against this "God to toxic tire burning."
On March 8, Bob Maust entered the Preston City Council chambers and, with a single sheet of paper, announced that he was withdrawing his proposal to build the tire plant in Preston. Maust said he was sorry to report that the Heartland Energy and Recycling Project he had proposed is no longer under consideration. He then said he does not like to admit to failure but that his company had succumbed to mob rule and would take the project where the jobs will be appreciated—or something to that effect.
Citizen power exists in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. My best guess is that all of these organizations will continue to meet and make sure the Preston tire incineration plant or anything like it never takes root in a valley so beautiful and so full of life. And they should stand as an example for citizens and organizations everywhere to follow.
March 27, 2005
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Guy Wolf lives in Stoddard and is the advisor to the UW-La Crosse Campus Progressives.
