KEEP's Campaigns
Stop the Tire Burn!
KEEP is a group of concerned citizens in Erie, PA whose current campaign is to educate the public on tire incineration. Erie Renewable Energy wants to build a tire burning facility on the former International Paper site near East Lake Road and Downing Avenue.
The facility would receive 1,000 tons of tires per day. The accepted average wieght of a used tire is 20 pounds. The burn rate is 36.5 million tires per year or 100,000 per day for the next 40-50 years. Students graduating from college this year could be attending their grandchildrens high school graduation and the plant will still be operating.
Why is it so bad to burn tires?
Look at the end of a human hair and then imagine how small 1/70 of it is. It takes 70 microns to make the diameter of a human hair. Each day 1,260 pounds of micron sized particles will come out the 300 foot tall smoke. These particles of pollution can cause all types of health problems. Section 3 page 8 of the Erie Renewable Energy application shows that 23 dangerous chemicals will be released as a result of this proposed tire burning operation. Eight of these chemicals, including lead, mercury, carbon monoxide, zinc, and benzene, have been identified as seriously carcinogenic. Dioxin, one of the most highly cancer causing substances known, also will be released. There is no safe level of dioxin intake by humans. Dioxins accumulate in plants, domestic and game meat including fish, as well as in human tissues. Dioxin can travel 100 miles from its source depending on the prevailing wind.
The Environmental protection Agency has recognized that current test methods used to determine the amount of particulate matter released into the atmosphere by burning tires are flawed so there is no way to accurately predict particulate matter emissions.
What you can do.
Help KEEP preserve your environment and your health. Write a letter to the Erie Times-News expressing your concern. Attend the KEEP meetings. Let Erie City Council know that the negative environmental impact of a tire burning facility would far outweigh any economic benefit it would create. Encourage council members to review the human health impacts of the proposed emission from Erie Renewable Energy tire burning facility, and explore all legal options under federal Environmental Protection Agency rules to intervene and stop the building of this plant. Ask your employer to get involved in this fight for clean air and water.
