Date: October 16, 2024
To: Youngstown City Council
Subject: Reinstating Pyrolysis and Gasification Moratorium
My name is Rachel Meyer. I am the Ohio River Valley Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. Moms is a national nonprofit which has 1.5 million total members with about 70 here in Youngstown. Our mission is to protect children from air pollution. I would like to voice support for a reinstatement of a moratorium on waste pyrolysis and gasification.
While these technologies have been labeled “advanced recycling” by industry groups, they are neither advanced nor recycling. Pyrolysis and gasification are not new technologies. They are considered incineration by the federal EPA and therefore, according to the EPA, require certain safeguards such as scrubbers and monitors for the air pollution generated. Any facility using such technologies to burn tires and plastic to produce dirty fuel will be generating toxic pollution, and this is especially concerning for many reasons.
When tires and plastic are heated and burned, many harmful chemicals and particles are released. Consider that plastics are now estimated to contain over 16,000 chemicals. Potential emissions include climate-warming carbon dioxide, Hazardous Air Pollutants, Nitrogen Oxides, VOCs, heavy metals, dioxins, particulate matter and many more.
Many of these substances are carcinogenic. Some of the other health impacts include asthma attacks, heart disease, neurological problems, lung disease, damage to the immune system, endocrine disruption, diabetes, reproductive and developmental problems, preterm birth and low birth weight.
It is the children who will suffer most if such a facility ever comes to fruition. Children breathe faster than adults, so they inhale more air and can be exposed to more air pollution than adults, especially relative to their body size. Children exercise more and spend more time outside than adults, which means that they can breathe more outdoor air pollution. Children’s lungs and brains are still developing, and developing lungs and brains are more sensitive to pollution.
There is no good place for such a facility and certainly not Youngstown. All of these dangers would have the greatest negative impact on the local residents and students. This is also an environmental justice community and an area already burdened by polluting facilities. The cumulative impact is unjust. It’s more than a community should ever have to bear. I urge everyone to please consider the terrible consequences that burning tires and plastic would have on the community and especially the children. Please support another moratorium.