Trash program dead; city fathers mourn. [St. Louis]

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 04:00:00 EST 1977 · Electr. World; (United States)

OSTI ID:7318631

St. Louis metropolitan-area officials are bitterly disappointed over Union Electric Co's decision to cancel its $70-million power-from-trash program, designed to save the utility up to 1-million tons of coal annually, and to recycle tons of steel, aluminum, and other metals and valuable materials. In addition to compounding refuse-disposal problems in the St. Louis area, the cancellation was also a disappointment to many cities and towns around the nation where rubbish and garbage have become a major headache--most of it uselessly burned, causing a pollution problem, or being put into increasingly scarce landfill sites. UE scaled down its borrowing because of a binding referendum passed by the voters of Missouri that forbids utilities to put construction-work-in-progress in the rate base, thus prompting UE to scrap the trash program as borderline in favor of the other construction programs deemed more important. UE also postponed completion of two 1,150-MW nuclear units in Fulton, Mo, to cut $600-million from borrowing needs. Additionally, for the past two years UE has been unable to get a trash-collection transfer station at the southern end of the city or in adjoining counties. Compounding the problem were statements attributed to Environmental Protection Agency officials--claims that EPA found ''significant levels of bacteria and viruses which may pose occupational health hazards'' at UE's original experimental waste-processing plant. City officials could not trace the source of these statements, but the reports didn't help in winning public support in transfer-station zoning fights. (MCW)

• OSTI ID: 7318631
• Journal Information: Electr. World; (United States), Journal Name: Electr. World; (United States) Vol. 187:6; ISSN ELWOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
090400 -- Solid Waste & Wood Fuels-- (-1989)
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200103 -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Waste-Fueled Systems
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
299003* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Unconventional Sources & Power Generation-- Other-- (-1989)
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320604 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Municipalities & Community Systems-- Municipal Waste Management-- (1980-)
510500 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BACTERIA
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
COMMUNITIES
ELEMENTS
FUELS
INCINERATORS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
LAND POLLUTION
LAND USE
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS RECOVERY
METALS
MICROORGANISMS
MIDWEST REGION
MINERAL RESOURCES
MISSOURI
MUNICIPAL WASTES
NORTH AMERICA
OXIDATION
POLLUTION
PROCESSING
PUBLIC RELATIONS
RECOVERY
RECYCLING
REFUSE DERIVED FUELS
RESOURCES
SOLID WASTES
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTE PROCESSING PLANTS
WASTES