The Cupertino Courier

Kaiser quits on plan to burn tires

Community group likely to disband; company may pursue a permit in future

By Pam Marino

After six months of sometimes emotional public meetings, a Kaiser Cement official said last Friday that the company will not pursue a permit to burn tires in its kiln--at least for now.

Plant Operations Manager Stewart Smith left the door open for a future attempt at obtaining a permit. But in the immediate future, the company will not pursue tire burning in its kiln as an alternative to coal, in part because it became apparent how divisive the issue is in the community, Smith said.

As for the Kaiser Tire Burning Communications Group, the committee of community representatives Kaiser brought together last spring, it appears it will soon disband, maybe even as soon as its next meeting, Sept. 30. Smith said if the group does disband, he wants to meet with the community on a quarterly basis to foster better communication with the company.

Smith said that, to pursue a permit with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Kaiser would have to conduct further testing, a costly endeavor. The company already conducted a test burn of tires in late 1995 and early 1996, the results of which did not conclusively prove that emissions would not negatively affect the environment.

However, Smith said, the company may pursue state funding for the tests at a later date. He also said the company may one day be mandated to burn tires if, for instance, the state legislature passed a law requiring waste tires be burned in existing kilns.

A spokesman for West Valley Citizens Air Watch, while happy to hear of Kaiser's decision, approached the announcement with caution.

"We're pleased the outburst of the community caused Kaiser to delay their plans to burn tires," John Mracek said. However, he expects Kaiser will take the fight to Sacramento, where cement industry lobbyists have been hard at work pressuring state agencies and elected officials to support tire burning around California, he said

"They'd rather fight the battle using their lobbyists in Sacramento than try to work in the community with whom they are neighbors," Mracek said. He said Air Watch will be focusing on fighting the issue in Sacramento.

Despite efforts by Kaiser to smooth over community concerns about tire burning, Air Watch has continued to apply steady pressure on Kaiser, and within the community.

Since Air Watch formed last year after Kaiser's test burns, the group has collected more than 8,500 signatures from citizens in the South Bay.

The communications group was formed by Kaiser, in part to answer questions raised by Air Watch and others in the community. Members of the group include representatives from the city, school districts, union organizations, the Sierra Club and local homeowners associations.

Air Watch members initially agreed to participate in the communications group, but pulled out after only a few meetings, complaining that the group was formed by Kaiser to lead to the conclusion that tire burning would not be harmful to the community. Air Watch members continued to show up at monthly meetings, sometimes shouting in anger at Kaiser officials.

Members of the communications group were growing increasingly frustrated with the outbursts, but nonetheless wanted Air Watch members to formally present their side of the issue at its September meeting. Air Watch leaders initially accepted the invitation, but later declined, stating that they wanted to present their case to the community at a meeting they sponsored. Again the issue was the fact that Kaiser was sponsoring the communications group, and had control of the agenda.

In the meantime, the technical subcommittee of the communications group sent a letter to all members questioning whether the group should continue.

"We made the observation that Kaiser had not presented a case," Steve Sparks of the subcommittee said last week. "There was not a case made for any benefit [to the community] from tire burning."

He said that Kaiser's own test results showed cancer-causing emission increased 19 percent during tire burning, and that while some emissions, called criteria pollutants, went down, the decreases were not significant in the eyes of the BAAQMD. Sparks also said particulates went up about 18 percent.

Both Sparks and City Councilman Don Burnett, the city's representative to the communications group, pointed out that Kaiser's scientists said there is no way to determine whether the increase in carcinogens and particulates can be offset by the decrease of other pollutants, in terms of the overall health risk to local residents.

Both also said Kaiser had stated that if it is found that health risks increase with tire burning, then the company will not pursue a permit.

Smith acknowledged that promise, but he said the test results could have been a result of how they were conducted.

"I believe quite strongly that burning tires in cement kilns is the right thing to do," Smith said. But he also said he could understand community concerns based on the original results.

The time and location of the next communications group meeting were not immediately available.

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