Take a look at Europe

Dear Editor,

Covanta’s problems with getting a passing grade on the “state of the art” incinerator again brings out the naysayers.
They may or may not make convincing arguments against this technology.

Again, I wonder if anybody ever questioned the people in Europe that have lived with incinerators over there for decades?

Many folks in North America are under the illusion that anything made in Europe, especially Germany, is top notch, and much better than anything us mere mortals on this side of the pond can build. If that is the case, although I don’t subscribe to that theory, why not do some investigative reporting in Europe to see how the people living within 30 or 50 kilometres of their incinerators have fared health-wise over the years?

Covanta’s incinerator is supposed to be leading edge technology, which would put it ahead of the European models that are probably outdated after all these years. Wouldn’t an honest study of how Europeans deal with the burning of garbage, as they have for years, put some of these fear tactics, if that is all they are, to rest?

One caveat: if this type of study was undertaken, deal with all involved parties, not just the builders of the incinerators. I say this in light of the well-known German auto builder which recently admitted to lying, and falsifying environmental testing.

It appears that Covanta has not attempted to fudge the numbers if at all possible, as they are still struggling to achieve a pass recommendation. So at least things here appear to on the up and up so far. When the pass does come, maybe it will be well deserved, unlike the false pass that millions of German-built cars received so they could legally run on our roads until they were caught cheating.

Russ Horner