Just as a recent Green Bay Press Gazette article noted about the Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin (CWAC), Oneida Eye stands by its position that OSGC lied to the Oneida Business Committee, to General Tribal Council members, to surrounding communities and to officials of the City of Green Bay.
Oneida Eye supports Green Bay’s appeal of the WI Court of Appeals’ March 26, 2014 reversal of Brown County Judge Marc Hammer’s January 9, 2013 decision against OSGC.
As noted in a recent CWAC Weekly Update email:
CLAIMS MADE TO THE GREEN BAY PLANNING COMMISSION ON FEBRUARY 21, 2012
1.Claim: Mr. Cornelius stated there is no hazardous material. The system is closed so there is no oxygen. Once it is baked all the gas is taken off by a “cherry scrubber” so it takes away any kind of harmful toxins that might be in the gas and the rest is burned as natural gas. Anything that is left over will run back through the system. The ash that comes out can be dumped in a landfill or mixed with cement as a road base.
Fact: The DNR stated that emissions will include: arsenic, cadmium, chromium, fluoride, lead, mercury, copper, nickel, iron, tin, selenium, antimony, zinc, phosphorus, siloxanes, potassium, sodium, chlorides, hydrogen sulfide, dioxin/furans, and formaldehyde. The EPA stated that there have been no studies that show the ash is safe for other uses.
2. Claim: When asked if what was left in the ash, Mr. Cornelius stated this is all taken out in the process. It’s all scrubbed out. A lot of this stuff is destroyed when it goes through the energy process at the end.
Fact: Mercury is one of the heavy metals expected to be left in the char, which makes “It’s all taken out in the process” a false statement. Mercury, as with other metals, is not destroyed in the process, or by any combustion process, making “A lot of this stuff is destroyed…” a misleading statement.
3. Claim: Council member Bremer stated in the materials provided there is reference to some stake-holder challenges and she wondered who would be the stake holders challenging this process. She asked for information on who is objecting and why. Mr. Cornelius stated there are some people who are just opposed to the Oneida Tribe and obviously they are a corporation of the tribe.
Fact: Opposition to the gasification incinerator began when Oneida Tribal members and area residents opposed construction in the Town of Oneida. Citizens continued to oppose construction when Hobart and Ashwaubenon were proposed as locations. There is no evidence of opposition due to the Oneida Tribe’s participation. Opposition has been based on the technology to be proven not to work elsewhere.
4. Claim: Mr. Cornelius stated the heat is generated from a natural gas burner that runs on product gas. The system does have to be started up by propane or natural gas. Once you get rolling, you’re on your syngas. He added there are no smoke stacks, no oxygen, and no ash. There is carbon and ash which actually could have been tested and go right into organic farming. There are no fallout zones. There are some diosons (dioxins) but no PCB’s. This all goes into slag in here.
Fact: The original DNR permit shows 10 emission stacks. 3 stacks 60 feet tall, making “no stacks” a false claim. Oxygen is present in the MSW making “no oxygen” a false claim. The remaining material is commonly called char and amounts to 1/5 to 1/3 of the original MSW. It is expected to contain heavy metals and dioxins, which makes “…it could go right into organic gardening” a false claim. The EPA stated there have been no studies to support the claim that it is safe for organic gardening.
FROM CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT APPLICATION GIVEN TO CITY COUNCIL for 3/1/12 MEETING
5. Claim: Stacks are absent from the image rendering submitted to the City of Green Bay in the Conditional Use Permit Application. This reaffirms previous public statements made during presentations in Ashwaubenon in which OSGC stated it was a closed-looped system. Some members of the City Council attended that meeting including Jerry Wiezbiskie.
Fact: The original DNR permit showed 10 emission stacks in OSGC’s first application. Three stacks were 60 feet tall, making “no stacks” a false claim. The emission stacks shown in the plan indicate that it is not a “closed-looped” system and there will be emissions.
GREEN BAY CITY COUNCIL MEETING SEPTEMBER 1, 2011 (this statement was made after the permit was issued)
6. Claim:Mr. Cornelius affirmatively represented to the Green Bay City Council, “…there are no smokestacks…” This is the same claim he repeatedly made to the media including the Green Bay Press Gazette in which he was quoted saying there are no smokestacks and no emissions. “It’s a closed looped system.”
Fact: The original DNR permit showed 10 emission stacks in OSGC’s first application. Three stacks were 60 feet tall, making “no stacks” and no emissions a false claim.
Oneida Eye encourages its readers to sign up for CWAC’s Weekly Update emails at contact@cleanwateractioncouncil.org, to visit CWAC’s website and download, read and share CWAC’s informative Newsletters, and to consider becoming CWAC members.
The Oneida Tribe has strong potential allies in the fight against corporate polluters. Unfortunately the current Business Committee seems to be ignoring or rejecting offers to collaborate with them to protect the health, safety and welfare of the Oneida people & reservation and neighbors.
