posted April 28, 2005 12:09 PM            

Thursday, April 28, 2005 10:50 a.m. EDT
Hillary's Energy Plan: Burn Old Tires

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is backing a plan to burn old tires to supply energy to an upstate New York paper mill that will produce clouds of acrid black smoke - a proposal that has nearby residents in a panic over potential health risks.

In an April 13 letter to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Clinton urged that the agency approve a two week test-burn at International Paper's Ticonderoga, N.Y. mill - which is adjacent to environmentally pristine Lake Champlain.

"I know that some are concerned about the potential air quality impact of burning tires at the mill," she wrote, before explaining that she agreed with IP's claims that pollution from the tire smoke won't be too harmful.

The top Democrat said the health risks were worth taking for the good of the local economy.

"I am strongly committed to working to ensure that IP's Ticonderoga mill continues to thrive and provide hundreds of good-paying jobs in Ticonderoga and the surrounding communities for generations," she explained.

Clinton's support for the tire-burn has prompted heated protest from Vermont Gov. James Douglas, whose constituents live downwind of the Ticonderoga plant.

"Gov. Douglas believes we need people in the United States Senate who understand how important it is to protect and improve our environment," his press secretary blasted, in quotes picked up by the Barre Montpelier Times Argus.

Ironically, Sen. Clinton made air quality a cause celeb two years ago, when she accused the Bush adminsitration of covering up dangerous levels of toxic air at Ground Zero in the days after the 9/11 attack.

"[The EPA] knew and they didn't tell us the truth and the White House told them not to tell us the truth," the top Democrat fumed at the time.

"This is a very big issue," she continued. "It not only has to do with the health and safety of the people I represent. It has to do with the credibility and trust of this entire government."

Like her fellow Democrats, the tire-burn backing Clinton opposes drilling in ANWR.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/4/28/105513.shtml

posted April 28, 2005 02:04 PM              

MONTPELIER — Saying the U.S. Senate needs people who will work to protect the environment, Gov. James Douglas on Wednesday blasted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., for her support of International Paper's proposal to use shredded tires as fuel at its Ticonderoga, N.Y., mill.

"Gov. Douglas believes we need people in the United States Senate who understand how important it is to protect and improve our environment," said Jason Gibbs, the Republican governor's chief spokesman.

He was responding to a letter Clinton wrote to New York environmental officials giving her nod to a two-week test of how much pollution would result from the use of thousands of shredded tires as a fuel source in the 30-year-old mill's giant power boilers.

Clinton is considered a pro-environment Democrat who many feel may run for president in 2008. Douglas is Vermont's top GOP officeholder whose every word is being scrutinized in the context of a potential Senate bid next year.

Their exchange is the latest development in International Paper's two-year quest to see if tires can be used as fuel without spewing unacceptable levels of pollution wafting into Vermont, which sits hundreds of yards across Lake Champlain from the sprawling paper mill.

Plant officials filed their formal application before the New York Department of Environmental Conservation for the two-week test burn in February. The department has delayed consideration of the plant's request, saying the application was incomplete, meaning a test burn can't occur before the fall at the earliest.

Ultimately, the company hopes to get permission to burn up to 72 tons of shredded tires a day, which would replace about 10 percent of the fuel it uses to generate 40 megawatts of power, enough electricity to power Rutland on an average day. The move could save the plant more than $1.5 million a year in fuel costs.

In an April 13 letter to the acting commissioner of the department, Clinton urged approval of the request.

"I know that some are concerned about the potential air quality impact of burning tires at the mill," she wrote.

Clinton added that she agreed with the plant's assertions that pollution from the burn won't exceed the limits spelled out in its current air pollution permits.

"I am strongly committed to working to ensure that IP's Ticonderoga mill continues to thrive and provide hundreds of good-paying jobs in Ticonderoga and the surrounding communities for generations," she said.

Douglas acknowledged the plant's importance to the upstate New York economy, but suggested that without substantial new investments in the plant's pollution control systems, the tire burn is inappropriate.

"I am working hard to maintain the quality of air in Vermont, and I am concerned that a senator from New York doesn't seem to care about air quality," Douglas said in a brief interview in his office Tuesday. "It is not enough to just stay within its current legal limits. We must not suffer a degradation of air quality."

A spokeswoman for Clinton did not return a call seeking comment. Donna Wadsworth, a spokeswoman for International Paper, also could not be reached.

Douglas' involvement in the debate over International Paper's request dates back almost as long as their efforts were first announced.

Staking out a position unusual for a pro-business Republican, Douglas has consistently blasted the plant's plans, saying the risk to Vermont's air and water quality were too great to justify allowing them to go forward. Concerns have been raised about mercury, dioxins, PCBs, heavy metals such as zinc, chromium and lead.

He reiterated his position in a letter to Clinton on Wednesday.

"Your letter seems to downplay the environmental concerns of states in New England should tire-derived fuel be allowed on an ongoing basis," Douglas wrote.

"For the Ticonderoga plant to be both economically and environmentally viable in the long run, significant reinvestment is needed," he wrote. "Boilers and pollution controls should be modernized, regardless of how much more pollution they can 'legally' pump into the air of New England states."

Contact Darren Allen at darren.allen@rutlandherald.com
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050428/NEWS/504280392/1004

posted April 28, 2005 03:55 PM            

What I do know is that Hillary and the rest of the loony left so called environmentalists have protested and blocked or attempted to block the application for building new electric generating plants...including hydroelectric, coal and oil fired plants and of course nuclear.

I know they have also blocked or attempted to block the building of every new oil refinery in America.

So, it's passing strange that Hillary...who is as antibusiness as the rest of the loony left is now promoting the paper company's plan to burn one of the worst sources of pollution on the planet...tires.

While there may be some plants specifically set up to burn junk tires...with the proper scrubbers in the smoke stacks and burners capable of complete combustion, it isn't mentioned at all as to whether that particular plant is so equipped.

I'm also left wondering how Hillary, a woman who repeated over and over again to virtually every question posed to her in Congressional hearings..."I don't remember" and it's the same Hillary who lost her Rose Law Firm billing records for 2 years while under a federal subpoena to produce them...later miraculously found on a table in the entry way to Bill and Hill's private quarters in the White House, is now certain burning tires won't pollute "too much".

posted April 28, 2005 08:17 PM              

"Conservative Agitprop", then?

posted April 28, 2005 09:51 PM              

I didn't address Senator Clinton's or the Governor's remarks or stands; I simply attempted to provide a slightly less wild-eyed account of what's happened.

Seriously, jwhop - if someone posted an article that addressed a conservative or conservatives/conservatism in general as did yours above refer to liberals and liberalism (though always...just...under...the surface) or that ommitted so much of the actual story and supplanted it with innuendo, you'd blast them out of the water...and rightly so.

posted April 29, 2005 12:20 AM            

The NewsMax story was accurate. Hillary is backing a plan to burn junk tires to produce energy. The Governor is not happy and neither are citizens who live in the surrounding area...nor should they be.

Hillary did bi*ch and moan about air quality at the WTC cleanup site...as though anyone could do anything about that. Hello! Most pictures I saw, people were wearing breathing masks who were working at the site.

And now, Hillary is backing a plan to burn junk tires, tires which burn with a choking, dense, black, smelly, hazardous smoke.

posted April 29, 2005 10:42 AM            

There must be essential truth at the base of every story/every position or it falls flat and I won't waste my time reading further.

Those essential truths were present in the NewsMax story and were repeated in the story you posted about the same subject.

NewsMax went further and compared Hillary's position on clean air from a couple of years ago to her present position on burning junk tires. I went further still and questioned Hillary's certainty...given her lapses in memory/judgement, that burning tires wouldn't pollute the air.

There was no stretching here (hyperbole). If you want to see some real stretching of the truth and attempts to connect dots that cannot be connected, read the NY Times.

So, instead of suggesting I just don't get it, why not show me where the NewsMax story veered from the truth and substituted lies....or where I did?