COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT Remote location using Microsoft® Teams Wednesday, October 25, 2023 1:00 p.m. PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON, CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMAN JIM HARRITY
Good afternoon. Before we begin the public hearing, I will make the following announcement: City Council Committees are currently meeting remotely. We are using Microsoft Teams to make these remote hearings possible. Instructions for how the public may view and offer public testimony at public hearings of Council Committees are included in the public hearing notices that are published in the Daily News, Inquirer and Legal Intelligencer prior to the hearings and can also be found on PHLCouncil.com. I now note that the hour has come. Ms. Alford, will you please call the roll to take attendance. Members that are in attendance will please indicate that you are present when your name is called. Also, please say a few brief words when responding so that your image will be displayed on screen when you speak.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair and colleagues. Present.
I am present. Thank you. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. This is the public hearing of the Committee on the Environment regarding Resolution No. 7 230328. Ms. Alford, will you please read the title of the resolution.
Resolution No. 11 230328, a resolution authorizing hearings in the Committee on the Environment to evaluate the environmental justice impacts of the City's waste management practices and potential alternatives to the City's contract with Covanta Delaware Valley, LP.
Thank you. Before we begin to hear testimony from the witnesses we have for today, everyone who has been invited to the meeting to testify should be aware that this public hearing is being recorded. Because the hearing is public, participants and viewers have no 3 reasonable expectation of privacy. By continuing to be in the meeting, you are consenting to being recorded. Additionally, prior to recognizing Members for the questions or comments they have for witnesses, I will note for the record at this time that we will use the chat feature available in Microsoft Teams to allow Councilmembers to signify that they wish to be recognized. In order to comply with the Sunshine Act, the chat feature must only be used for this purpose. Again, I'd like to thank all of my colleagues and all of you for being here today. I am truly grateful for your time and for your dedication to this crucial issue of environmental justice. And though I am a lifelong resident of Philadelphia -- as Will Smith says, West Philadelphia born and raised -- I have many times stated and for the record, I think I married into the largest family in the city of Chester. So Chester is very close to my heart and it was very important to me that we hold this conversation today to discuss what has been a longstanding community issue in the ways that the City of Philadelphia contributes to the challenges that are impacting our neighbors and friends in the city of Chester. And so, I want to thank everyone here today for being willing to share their perspective and for the work as we embark on a journey to develop collaborative solutions for our most challenging issues. We are taking a whole government approach to addressing climate change and environmental justice, and that means thinking about how all of our actions impact our residents and their surrounding communities. And I am looking forward to the discussion we will have today that will allow us to take necessary next steps on this journey together. And with that, I pause to recognize any colleagues who wish to be recognized at the onset of the hearing.
Madam Chair, I just wanted to thank you for this very important work that we're about to undertake today. And I think that recognizing that this is not a local issue, this is really a regional issue. It's not just Philadelphia, but it's beyond, so much farther beyond, that this is something that we really should be talking about on a regular basis. So I applaud you for bringing this conversation to the forefront of our minds and looking forward to the dialogue today. I think it's very, very important. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam Vice-Chair, and thank you for all of your advocacy and work in the environmental space. We truly appreciate you. At the onset of this hearing, I wanted to be very clear that we have a number of individuals who are slated to provide testimony today. And in the best interest of time and also availability, recognizing that today has become a very, very busy day, I am respectfully requesting and asking everyone to please summarize your testimony so that we can get through all of the panels and all of the individuals who have signed up to provide public comment. And we will also notate the individuals who have provided written testimony for the record. I would like to now recognize I think I see Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
Thank you so much, Councilmember. I'm sorry. I was having some tech difficulties. I want to thank you so much for holding this hearing and for you examining this important issue. We can feel the impacts of pollution and environmental racism in our families, in our children and in our communities, and I know this is true in my neighborhood where the life expectancy is decades lower than Whiter wealthier neighborhoods, where in of the children in the neighborhood has asthma. And it's also true with Chester, a city where about three-quarters (inaudible) --
Yes, ma'am. Just start with the asthma part and then you went out.
Okay. Thank you. Well, I was talking about my neighborhood 3 -- in kids have asthma and it's also true for Chester, in a city where three- quarters of the residents are Black and where the asthma rate is five times the national average. I realized that the Covanta trash incineration plant is one of the largest in our country and it causes -- it's a major cause of toxic pollution in Chester. The burning of trash is one of the most dirtiest and most harmful ways to dispose of waste, then generate electricity but -- and we can feel it. In Chester, more than 38 percent of the children suffer from asthma, and the national childhood asthma rate is percent. 7 The pollution that Chester 8 experiences is not only to children and the residents with lifetime impacts of asthma, but we know that the Covanta Chester plant is known to contribute to other health conditions like heart disease and lung disease. We know that a study out of Harvard also showed that exposure to pollution from the plant increases the risk of death from COVID-19. The impacts of this pollution are even more than its health impacts. Asthma causes the society millions of dollars. One study pegged the cost being $349 million per year for Philly alone, and the population in Chester -- and the pollution in Chester destroys the community. Residents say they don't sit on their porch anymore and the pollution has taken away their sense of neighborhood. Far too often our Black and Brown communities suffer health, economic and mental harm of our systems while others make big profit. We must change this. And Philadelphia contributes to the very serious health problem that children and residents in Chester face and we must work to end this. So in Philadelphia, we must join them. We cannot continue to dispose of our trash in that way. One, the way it causes asthma for thousands of children in Chester and it burdens communities of color with harmful, expensive and community-destroying pollution. So thank you so much for hosting this hearing, Councilmember.
Thank you. And thank you so much, Councilmember Brooks, for being here and to all of my colleagues for being here, for all of your work that we've been able to do together around environmental justice. And so, Ms. Alford, will you please call the first panel we have to testify this afternoon on Resolution No. 230328. And again, I want to reiterate if we can please summarize our testimony so that we can endeavor to hear from as many witnesses as possible. Thank you.
Zulene Mayfield, Samantha Wittchen, Kirstie Pecci, Russell Zerbo, Jessica Ram and Michael Ewall.
Okay. Good afternoon. Are you all connected and ready to proceed with your testimony? (Nodded head.)
Okay. Excellent. So will you please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. We will begin with the first witness. Eliza, may you repeat the order.
I have the order. Thank you so much. Good morning, Madam Chair and other members of Philadelphia Council. I am Zulene Mayfield. I am the Chairperson of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living or we like to be called CRCQL. We were formed by residents and we continue to be governed by a coalition of volunteer residents and allies throughout the United States and the (inaudible). CRCQL formed in 1992 in direct response to the self-proclaimed trash-to-steam plant. At the time we had little knowledge of what a trash- to-steam plant was. So we were woefully undereducated and underserved by our local government. They weren't aware either. The incinerator was a collaborative effort between those in Delaware County government and at the time the Westinghouse Corporation. Despite popular belief, Chester City officials at the time opposed the incinerator primarily because they understood the financial inequities that Chester would receive. Residents responded at that time to everything that we could see, hear and smell. The impact to the community was immediate. The smells both from the trash burning and the choking fumes from the enormous 18-wheeler truck traffic, the soot as the residents called it, we now realize that it's particulate matter that lands on the cars and penetrates our homes, the leaching from the trash trucks, the constant noise from the incinerator, et cetera. These issues continue to this day. As was noted, the Covanta incinerator is the largest incinerator in the United States. They burn up to 3500 tons of trash per day. Over 98 percent of this trash originates from outside of our City via truck or railed in from towns, cities and other states. Philadelphia sends more than 400,000 tons of trash to Chester per year. 8 percent of the trash burned comes from the city of Chester. So it is -- I'm trying to summarize my testimony. So it is burned and reduced to 30 percent the trash volume. The toxins are reduced to ash and sent to the Delco County- owned landfill. The rest goes into air that we breathe. So Chester's low-income primarily Black and Brown community is roughly bearing the brunt of trash from 2 million people, including Philadelphia, New York and Delaware County Council -- I mean Delaware County. A 2019 study from the New School found that Covanta's Chester plant was one of the most significant polluters of its kind in the country. Although Covanta will claim that they are within their permit limits on emissions, this is a 30-year-old facility with 30-year-old technology. If they were to apply for a permit today, they would not be able to meet today's emission requirements and would be denied. The Covanta Chester plant is the largest incinerator. Yet they lack proper pollution control devices. Covanta has 39 incinerators. The Chester facility has only two pollution control devices, the least from any incinerator they run. For example, the Covanta incinerator in Plymouth, a majority White community, burns 1200 tons of trash per day and there are four pollution control devices. We have demanded many times that Covanta install additional pollution control devices to mitigate some of the pollutants and they have refused, claiming that it isn't cost- effective. Although the Chester incinerator is Covanta's most profitable incinerator, they've refused to spend any of those profits to minimize the harms for our community in the Philadelphia region as a whole. Covanta ranks as very high liters of pollutants in the Philadelphia region. No. 2 in mercury. No. 3 in sulfur dioxide. No. 3 in nitrogen dioxide. No. 4 in cadmium. No. 5 in carbon monoxide. No. 6 in greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming and climate degradation. No. 5, which are asthma triggers, bronchitis and cause heart attacks for those suffering from heart disease, in addition to being high in lead and arsenic.
Exposure to the toxic emissions from Covanta has led to equally high rates of asthma, respiratory diseases, cancers and other environmental illnesses that the residents have suffered for decades. 5 percent of our children suffer from asthma, included are incidents of low birth rate babies and the mortally rate of stroke, heart disease and cancer rates are extremely high in Chester. The life expectancy rate in Chester is now 67 years, 11 years below the national average. What is not captured in those statistics are the complaints of rashes, nosebleeds, chronic issues of dry eyes, sinus and bronchial health problems and the list goes on and on. In addition, the anxiety of what is that smell now, there's a high level of anxiety in our community every time a smell permeates our senses, and that's hourly. The Tishman Environmental and Design Center Research Center said, Chester residents are significantly more likely to develop lung and ovarian cancer and die from a stroke or heart disease than any other Delaware county resident. Every day Chester residents are attacked physically by the operations of the Covanta incinerator. We literally cannot breathe. In 2019, 41 organizations requested that Mayor Kenney instruct your Streets Department not to reward a contract to Covanta for burning trash in Chester. At the same time, the City of Chester Mayor Kirkland penned a letter to the Streets Department in support of signing the contract with Covanta. Chester residents were not made of his actions and were not in favor of signing the trash contract. In addition, what is called the Chester Environmental Partnership or CEP penned a similar letter. The CEP is not a representative organization of the residents and is funded yearly by Covanta. Covanta does pay the city of Chester $4 million to $5 million in what are called community host fees. In 2017, Mayor Kirkland signed a secret deal with Covanta lowering those host fees resulting in a loss of revenue of about $10 million, all the while our city was heading into bankruptcy. No 15 one knew about that deal until we found out about it. Out of the 110 jobs at the Covanta incinerator, only 6 people from Chester work there. Yes, I said 6. And in recent months, Covanta had started donating to different community organizations such as our local football teams, the Boys and Girls Club. We're not in opposition to that because this is something that they should have been doing all along, but we know that they're doing it now in a way to try to gain allies. This year they gave away 250 food bags, although there are roughly 13,000 households in Chester. Them trying to buy allies, it's not working. As a byproduct of Covanta's trash-burning, they generate electricity. I want it be known that to our knowledge none of that electricity comes to the city of Chester for the residents, and we have successfully advocated that Delaware County take steps to wean our County off incinerator. The Delaware Council are implementing a true zero waste resolution strategy and have started diverting their trash away from Covanta and towards landfilling. CRCQL was also instrumental in getting the Delaware County Solid Waste Authority to end Covanta's put up or pay up contract, which means a guaranteed amount of trash. If the municipality falls short of trash tonnage, the municipal will still have to pay that amount to Covanta. Philadelphia is still locked into a contract like that. This is in contradiction to exploring a real zero waste policy plan and putting Philadelphians in a distinct position of paying to poison us in the region. Since the incinerator has been in our community, our financial status has changed. It went from bad to worse. So we have to question the economics of what will they do in our city. Not only that, there are direct real adverse financial costs to the Chester residents also. Our homes, the property values have been devalued.
We incur added medical costs such as payments for doctor bills or copays. Parents lose wages when their child is sent home from school. Some even lost their jobs because of an asthmatic incident. Our homes, I have experienced foundational damage from the never- ending truck traffic. Residents lose sleep from the incinerator, the noise itself or from the rumbling of trash trucks that start lining up on our streets as early as 2 o'clock in the morning. There are increased costs with trying to keep our homes and cars clean from the soot. And there's a loss of community. There's a loss of socialization in our community because people don't stay outside. They don't sit on our porch homes. So we lost a sense of community. For example, in the neighborhood where I bought my house at when I bought my house, it had an 81 percent owner- occupied homeownership rate. It is now somewhere below 40 percent. For years there have been plans to redevelop our waterfront. Talks and actual plans of creating a source of entertainment, eateries, condominiums, shops and green space to generate revenue for the city of Chester. Covanta's incinerator is a hindrance to the economic development of Chester. No one is going to sit, eat and smell Covanta's garbage. We believe that Chester's revitalization cannot be realized with Covanta in our city. CRCQL has been tirelessly fighting to demand an end to our community being targeted as the toxic dumping ground and a regional hub for waste. It should be people over pollution. Chester residents should not be profit for pollution. Philadelphia Council, please commit to real solutions concerning your trash. Our life expectancy is being reduced by years. Members in our community are really suffering and dying. None of us have our own supply of air. We all breathe. Therefore, we should all care. Chester gets the pollution first, but ultimately Philadelphians breathe it also. This is climate destruction and environmental genocide, and it must end. Philadelphia must decide if Chester is your neighbor or your dumping ground. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Zulene Mayfield. I know it's hard to summarize 30-plus years of advocacy in the Chester community, 30-plus years of leadership in that community. So I do want to thank you so much for the work you have done, for the work of CRCQL and for how you have convened the advocacy groups over the years. And I appreciate you providing testimony and constantly pushing us as members of Council to ensure that we are looking at every alternative and possibility to what we know you all are facing in the city of Chester and how it impacts your overall health and life expectancy and also particularly for the children and the young people. So I want to thank you very, very much. Before we move on to the remainder of the panelists for this panel, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the individuals who have submitted written testimony. We have received written testimony that will be added to the record from --
Sorry. Just one second. We need to pause. I'm told we're having some technical issues with Channel 64, so if we can just pause for one minute.
Certainly. Okay. We will pause the hearing to address technical issues related to Channel 64. Thank you. (Brief recess.)
Thank you. We are now resuming the City Council Committee on the Environment hearing testimony from Panel No. 1. We will now proceed with hearing testimony from Samantha Wittchen from Circular Philadelphia; Kirstie Pecci, Just Zero; Russell Zerbo, Clean Air Council; Jessica Ram, Covanta Plymouth Trash Incinerator Community Information Group; and Michael Ewall, Beyond Burning. And I'm going to respectfully request and ask particularly now because of the technical difficulties that we are experiencing that you please summarize your testimony so that we can get through this panel, the other two and all the public commenters and the questions that we have. We must conclude this hearing by 3:00 p.m. Thank you so much. Okay. Are you connected, then you can proceed with your testimony, Samantha.
Yes, we can hear you. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Thank you. Thank you for having me today. My name is Samantha Wittchen and I am the Director of Programs and Operations for Circular Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to drive the circular economy in Philadelphia, to reduce waste and boost local economic development. There will be a number of other people who will speak very directly to the issue of the environmental justice as we just heard Ms. Mayfield speak so passionately and forcefully about. So my testimony today is going to be to connect why addressing these very urgent and very important environmental justice issues is also aligned with the City being on track with its zero waste goals and managing to meet those goals at the same time. Circular Philadelphia applauds you for taking the proactive approach and to anticipating the end of the Covanta contract and revisiting the City's waste management practices to reaffirm its commitment to its zero waste goal. It's our proposition that the best way for the City to reach the stated goal by 2035 is to take a holistic approach to how it manages materials and invest in businesses that take a circular economy approach to materials management. S. Environmental Protection Agency's waste management hierarchy. That hierarchy places source reduction, reuse and recycling and composting at the top as the most sustainable waste management strategies while incineration even with an energy reduction component and landfilling are least sustainable. Currently with the way that the City's contracts are structured it spends the most money on the least sustainable waste management strategies, incineration and landfilling. Simply put, the City's waste managing contracts and budgeting priorities are in direct conflict with the zero waste objectives. To align with the zero waste objectives, the City should be funding source reduction, reuse and recycling and composting. Waste management strategy that focuses on the sustainable waste practices also has tangible economic development rewards for the City. 5 trillion global economic opportunity. 5 trillion by reducing waste, stimulating innovation and creating employment to bring the employment benefits into focus for Philadelphia, The MacArthur Foundation estimates that you can create six times the amount of jobs when moving to a circular textile industry. Philadelphia currently has about 6,000 jobs in that sector. If the City supported a circular textile waste management strategy, Philadelphia stands to gain another 30,000 jobs in that sector. We believe that here in Philadelphia investing in the circular economy businesses to manage our municipal waste will not only address these very urgent environmental justice issues that we will continue to hear people speak about, but it will also create local living-wage jobs. We have already seen this with the growth of Philadelphia-based composting companies such as Bennett Compost and Circle Compost that process food waste. And it already has an existing contract with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, which has allowed them to grow their operation, add jobs and support the City's zero waste goals. Remark Glass, another Philadelphia-based company, has been processing glass for Philadelphia residents and continues to expand their reach without any City support. Rapid Recycling has established itself as the effective recylcer of not just typical single-steam materials but also of hard-to-recycle materials that often end up in the trash because they're not allowed in our curbside recycling stream. These local businesses provide good-paying jobs to Philadelphians while supporting our larger zero waste goals. I heard Ms. Mayfield give a statistic that Covanta incinerator was employing six local residents. These existing companies here in Philadelphia employs far more than that from our local neighborhoods.
If the City took a holistic circular approach to waste management and aligned its contracts with its zero waste objectives, not only could these existing businesses scale to meet the needs of the City, the City could set the right conditions to attract other circular businesses to set up operations in Philadelphia, to process materials for use and recycling that currently end up sent to the Covanta facility. Older businesses like --
I apologize for the interruption. I'm going to respectfully request if you could just please summarize your testimony. I'm going to ask everyone if you can keep it to three to five minutes because we really need to get through -- I have at least 30 people here. Okay. And I need to hear from each person within the next 60 minutes. Okay. So if we could just keep it two to three minutes, we want to get questions in after each panel for the Councilmembers as well. Okay.
So just to summarize, it's our position that the City should consider waste management alternatives to Covanta that support sustainable waste strategies. It should align its funding and contracts to these strategies. Our own Zero Waste and Litter Action Plan calls for materials sent to waste energy to make up no more than 8 percent of the total City waste 9 stream. And by taking the approach 10 to waste management and funding waste management that I've outlined, that will allow the City to get back on track to meeting its important waste goal. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak.
No, thank you. Thank you for your testimony and your passion. It really does come through. And please just submit your full testimony for the record. We'll ask questions for this panel, colleagues, at the end of the testimony for this panel. We'll now hear from Kirstie Pecci from Just Zero. Again, please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Kirstie Pecci. I am the Executive Director of Just Zero, a national nonprofit that works soups and nuts on waste issues. We work on pushing back against incinerators and landfills but also making sure that we're supporting real solutions. I want to call out -- first of all, in the interest of time I did submit some testimony and I'm very happy to follow up with anybody who wants to give me a call. org, easy to find, call me or email me and I'm happy to follow up on the information or to back it up with reports and other data to make sure that I'm clear. Also, in the interest of time I'd just like to call out that Ms. Mayfield has already explained in detail, in great detail, what the community is facing living near a facility like this, an incinerator like this. And also that Ms. Wittchen has done a wonderful job explaining the idea of the circular economy and managing our waste differently. So thank you very much for both of those. Couldn't agree more on the jobs piece and the cost piece. I think it's really important to understand, number one, no high heat technology ever works. They're all toxic. They're all toxic air emissions, toxic ash. They're all very expensive and they all make you addicted to a waste system where you have to be producing waste. You have to put or pay as Ms. Mayfield explained the contract where you have to create that much waste or you get penalized. You're paying for sandwiches that you're not eating in other words, right. So that's the first thing. The second thing, landfilling just as much as a problem, not going to be a good alternative. The question isn't what do you do with your waste. The question is how can you produce materials that are either not waste because you kept them separate. They're separated so they retain their value as a material or you phase them out so you're not creating them anymore. So I'm going to jump into some solutions. I can talk all day about incineration and other disposal problems. This doesn't even work in (inaudible) no matter what Covanta tells you. There's no magical unicorn that makes high heat technologies no matter if they call it pyrolysis or gasification, same thing with landfills. But let's talk about the solutions. You guys can follow up with me. I'd be delighted if any of you called me, Madam Chair or Vice-Chair, on these issues. Happy to give you any information you need. Solutions: First thing, get out of that contract. Put or pay is always a bad idea as we already said. Number two, the way to avoid toxicity, we need to keep things separate and we need to incentivize producing waste, pay as you throw. Start looking -- right now I can't find how much you're spending each year on your trash alone. It's mixed in with your Streets budget. Pull it out and start taxing people. When you set up the tax bill, say this is how much you're paying for waste. And when you say to them this is how much you're paying for waste, you can pay less through a pay-as-you-throw program where you have a smaller bin or you have to buy a bag. Immediately the residents of Philadelphia, just like they had in other cities across the country will start changing what they buy because they don't want to buy that bag to put it in. So you will reduce trash by 40, 50 percent. Some of it will end up in your recycling stream but immediately you will save money. So first call out how much they're paying for their trash, and then put a program in place to reduce it. Incentivize producing less trash. And also, make sure you take care of your low-income folks. Get them free bags or free vouchers, whatever you need to do. We're not trying to penalize seniors or low-income folks, but you want to make sure you're capturing how much it really cost every person, every household. If you think about 550,000 households in the City, how much is it costing. Number two, you already heard of composting. You want to phase out your food scraps from that trash. Start slow.
Do what Massachusetts started doing and what Vermont did. Within the next seven years you shouldn't have any food or yard waste in your trash. That's almost a third of your trash. It's cheaper to compost once you set the system up and it will create nice soil that you can use cleanly in the City. Next -- and again, I can talk all day about these things, but I am jumping right through because I know we have a lot of important people to hear from. Next --
Next, bottle bill. Only got 800,000 people, they have a bottle bill. Maine, I think they've got 1.3 million people, they've got a bottle bill. You've got 1.6 million people in Philadelphia. If you put a bottle bill in place, you could reduce your curbside immediately by 40 percent. You're paying 90 bucks a ton for curbside. If you could reduce that by 40 percent, that is a huge cost savings. You don't pay for that. The producers pay for the handling fee, and the deposit is what incentivizes people who bring it back. So I'm happy to talk about that. If the City doesn't want to do it yourself, you can try and get the state to do it. million people 11 doing a bottle bill, that would be 12 fantastic. But the City could 13 definitely do it yourself -- again, the producers could also pay for the staff you need and the data you need and get it done. So that's something you should really think about. If you want to cut back that recycling, do that. And then lastly I would say, and again I could talk about this stuff all day, but lastly I would say anything you can do to pull out your data to make sure you're making everything transparent so people know where the trash is going, know which recycling is actually getting recycled, where it's getting recycled and how much all of this is costing everyone, then even folks who are not as aware of the environmental injustice being done here or not as aware of how this is impacting your litter and everything else, because a bottle bill has also cut litter significantly by the way, which will be another day. But all of these pieces would also save you money. So there are some folks who don't care about the climate or the environment or their neighbors unfortunately, but everybody cares about money. So please, happy to help any time I can. Again, Kirstie Pecci from Just Zero. Let me know how I can be helpful, and thank you very so much for having this hearing and doing this good work.
No, thank you, Kirstie, and thank you for your recommendations. I know that we received and circulated testimony, but we will take special note as to some of the recommendations that you have shared. And I'll have some questions for you and for this panel at the conclusion. I apologize in advance. We are going to start timing each person. I really want to get through this so I can be respectful of everybody who has reached out. So we will time each person, okay, moving forward so that we can get through this. We are now moving forward with testimony from Russell Zerbo, Clean Air Council. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Thank you, Madam Chair. My name is Russell Zerbo. I'm an advocate at the nonprofit Clean Air Council headquartered in Philadelphia. Again, good afternoon Madam Chair and other members of the Environmental Committee. Covanta's waste incinerator in Chester, Pennsylvania is one of the largest waste incinerators in the country and is currently operating in a high priority violation of the Clean Air Act while also currently operating in significant noncompliance with the Clean Water Act. Covanta's waste incinerator in Plymouth Township, Montgomery County is also currently operating in high priority violation of the Clean Air Act. Unfortunately, the City of Philadelphia sends 34 percent of its waste to these two facilities with the vast majority going to Chester. There is no, absolutely no reason for the City of Philadelphia to send its trash to multiple incinerators that are currently operating on a high priority violation of the Clean Air Act. According to the Philadelphia 2020 Municipal Waste Management Plan, the City of Philadelphia sends over 56 percent of its waste to landfills with the rest going to the incinerator. However, this can be misleading. Municipal solid waste has an average ash content of 27 percent. This means that the waste Philadelphia sends to incinerators still must be disposed of after incineration. The incinerator versus landfill paradigm is false. There is absolutely no reason to expose Chester and Plymouth Township residents to the air and water pollution associated with incineration when incineration does not eliminate waste. Additionally, Covanta's claims about reducing greenhouse gas emissions via incineration are false. This fallacy is based on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency loophole that ignores two-thirds of the carbon dioxide emissions from trash incinerators. EPA estimates that two-thirds of the municipal solid waste stream is paper and plant matter, which is highly suspicious in itself because municipal solid waste that enters incinerators is rarely inspected. Covanta only inspects 10 incoming truckloads of waste per week 11 out of well over 150 truckloads of 12 waste per day at its incinerator at 13 Plymouth Township, and even those 14 inspections do not include opening 15 bag waste. Further concerning, Covanta's waste incinerator in Chester, Pa recently received a violation for accepting waste from truckers without a valid Act 90 waste transporter waste authorization. The City of Philadelphia should not be doing business with this company. The make-up of the waste incinerated at Covanta's facilities is largely unknown, which should refute any claims of greenhouse gas productions. EPA's claim that two-thirds of municipal solid waste is paper and plant matter leaves it to claim that two-thirds of carbon dioxide emissions from waste-to- energy facilities are biogenic, meaning they would happen naturally and are thus exempted. This equates instant incineration with the lifetime natural decomposition of paper and plant matter. This is why composting has been held back for decades. We think it involves burning trash. In reality, burning trash creating 2,988 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour of electricity generated according to the EPA. The --
Pardon me. Please summarize your testimony.
Okay. Sure. I will skip ahead. Incinerating municipal solid waste does more polluting than coal. Rather than equating waste incineration with natural decomposition, the City of Philadelphia has an immense opportunity to collect residential composts that can be used in gardens and farms while reducing the overall waste burden. Additionally, the City's ban on single-use plastic bags has been widely adopted. The City government should immediately pursue bans on other single-use plastic products that would further reduce the City's overall waste burden. And the facility that the City sends the overall majority of its waste to the Fairless Landfill owned by Waste Management. And next year they are slated to install a Renewable Natural Gas gathering and distribution system. There are 532 currently operating landfill gas projects. There is plenty of landfill capacity in the state of Pennsylvania. There are modern landfills that capture the methane gas and use it for energy. Pennsylvania imports more trash to be disposed of than any other state in the country. And in summary, the City of Philadelphia's already doing the right thing by banning plastic bags and sending the majority of its trash to modern landfills. The City must continue to utilize modern landfills, ban single- use plastics and additionally begin collecting residential compost. And just one more short thing: It is frustrating that the City's contract with Covanta was renewed for one year in 2023 without public notification. Before any new waste contracts are renewed or remain in 2024, please notify the public. And thank you for the opportunity to speak.
No, thank you and thank you for talking about some of the work that has been done in the Council and the work that we need to continue to pursue. We will next hear from Jessica Ram. You can proceed with your testimony. State your state your name for the record. Please try to limit your testimony to three minutes. We are timing everyone. So at around three minutes I'm going to ask you to summarize your testimony.
Okay. Thank you. My name is Jessica Ram. I currently and have for the past few years lived down near the Covanta Plymouth in Montgomery County. Covanta Plymouth is Montgomery County's largest polluter and we're also abutted next to some of Philadelphia's most wealthiest neighborhoods in this area. So I know a lot of other people from our community couldn't make it because of the timing of this, but I just want to represent what it's like living near the Plymouth facility, and over the past few years there's been numerous malfunctions. I can relate to Zulene about people, they don't know whether they can go outside on some days. The noise is a constant, constant issue. There's just -- the facility is just (inaudible) all the time constantly. The malfunctions have led to noxious odors where people don't want their kids outside. They have to close their windows. It's just kind of unlivable and just not somewhere you picture your home being in a place where you have to close windows and worry about your kids outside or if the malfunction will continue into the day, does that mean my kids should play soccer on the field at night. Those types of things that we live with. So as I mentioned, the malfunctions have been just as a part of living constant. The smells can be acrid and just burning. People in the community wonder if their autoimmune issues have been caused by this facility, whether them or their neighbors cancers have been caused by this facility. We'll never get answers. And it's just kind of a product of living near the facility. The DEP doesn't really have any teeth. Even though the facility operates with an air permit, they don't really seem to have any kind of punishment or, you know, any way of making sure that these things don't happen again. One of the biggest malfunctions resulted in a fine that wasn't really proportional to the effect that this place has on the community. And the malfunctions continue any way. Covanta has never taken responsibility of any of their malfunctions. If we go to meetings such as this and complain to people, Covanta will show up and they will gaslight some of the residents that show up and say, no, we're not bad, we're not operating poorly, you know. You guys are complaining about something that's not us. And it's just kind of frustrating to be, you know, trying to find anyone who will listen to us. And in the meanwhile have Covanta not only deny that they are a problem, but only when there's a violation issued by the DEP will they maybe backtrack somewhat. The burden that's been placed on the people is exorbitant. It's just absurd what people -- I had mentioned trying to figure out who can help us fix this problem because it's clearly not the DEP and clearly not Covanta. Yeah, in summary please don't send your trash to these archaic facilities. Nobody's building incinerators anymore, you know. Both of these facilities are 30-plus years old. There's a reason for that. And even though it's not being burned in Philly, these are surrounding communities. And the residents of Plymouth stand with the residents of Chester also because we know that Chester has less pollution control than our facility in Plymouth does, and we understand the monster that they're dealing with. So thank you for listening.
Thank you and thank you for your testimony. Thank you for summarizing. Thank you for being succinct and thank you for sharing your story and for supporting the residents of the City of Chester. We will now hear from Michael Ewall. He will be the last witness for this first panel. Then I'll have a few questions for this panel. Mike, you can proceed with your testimony. State your name for the record and then proceed. Three minutes. Okay.
Oh, gosh. Okay. Thank you, Chair and Committee members. My name is Mike Ewall and I'm the founder of Energy Justice Network and the new project Beyond Burning. I also serve as a certified zero waste consultant to county governments and a few states. The Covanta waste disposal contract was approved and signed by the City in 2019 over the objections of 41 organizations, giving Covanta one-third of the City's trash to incinerate and the other two-thirds to Waste Management for landfilling. Both contracts were for four years with three one-year renewal options. So we're now in the first of those three one-year renewals. It's my hope that this hearing leads to Council taking action that this is the last renewal so we can end the process of burning our trash this coming July. Since January 2022, just under 38 percent of Philly's trash goes to incinerators turning trash into air pollution and toxic gas (inaudible). But the 62 percent goes directly to landfills. Philadelphia has several distinctions. We're surrounded by the nation's largest cluster of trash incinerators. Whichever way the wind blows we breathe someone's trash. The five incinerators including our City are all among the top seven industrial air polluters in the seven-county Philadelphia area. One of these five is the nation's largest, not one of the largest, it's the largest in Chester burning 3500 tons a day. 34 percent of which is from Philadelphia, the largest contributor. That incinerator has always been missing two of the four control systems that most incinerators have, the one that reduces nitrogen oxides that triggers asthma attacks and the one that takes up the most toxic pollutants like dioxins and mercury and (inaudible) ash. While they'll be installing the first of those missing systems in the next few years due to state requirements, it will only reduce their emissions of that one pollutant by percent, not the 70 to 80 10 percent reduction required if they 11 were held to moderate standards. 12 They will still be the largest air 13 polluter in Chester and one of the 14 top two in the seven-county region. 15 Philadelphia has some other 16 distinctions. We're the poorest 17 largest city with one of the worst 18 asthma and cancer rates of all other cities in the nation. Each year we're classified as one of the top 10 asthma capitals in the nation. Delaware County is the second largest source of waste burned on Covanta's incinerator in Chester sending almost as much as we do, but they're determined to draw that amount down to zero in the next few years. The (inaudible) to develop a zero waste plan to end incineration and reduce waste substantially. That plan includes a comprehensive life cycle analysis that compares incineration to across nine different health criteria and found that incineration was far worse than landfilling across those criteria including the climate. Now, with this understanding I urge you to follow the desires of 41 groups that objected to this contract in the first place and many others here today to say that this needs to end. We urge that City Council introduce and pass the waste contracting for Clean Air Act, which is recommended as the top priority bill by the Air Quality Advisory Committee, on which I serve with you, Councilmember, as Chair of this Committee. This bill will prohibit the City from signing or renewing contracts to burn the City's waste, recyclables or compostables. There's no shortage of (inaudible) waste in Pennsylvania which is the nation's largest import of waste due to permanent landfill capacity. So while the real answer is zero waste, the immediate first step needs to be to stop the most harmful impacts by ending incineration. The time to act is overdue. Thank you.
Thank you. Mike, you were at three minutes. Thank you so much. Thank you kindly for your testimony and for all your advocacy and all the recommendations and just your tireless work that you have been doing, not just on the committees and the extension of the Council Environment Committee, but just all the work that you do in the community as well. I have a few questions for this panel. Is Zulene Mayfield still here?
Okay. I have a question for you. What are some changes you would like to see take place within Covanta and what steps would you like to see your Councilmembers take to address some of the more overarching concerns?
Well, absolutely we don't want it in our community. We view it as being the No. 1 killer. You know, I can't think of a better word right now. We are losing people in our community. In the last two months, I've lost two cousins from cancer. 51 years of age and 62 years of age, young people in my opinion. So overall we do not want Covanta. There is no 24 co-existing. We don't give a damn how many donations they give the football teams and basketball teams and poultry bags of food. What they are doing to us is absolutely environmental genocide. They are taking years of our life away from us. So the utopia is they are no longer in our community. We are pushing and we have transformed our government, and we are still transforming it. We've taken out a regime that is no longer going to be in power to make these bad deals. So we have a lot of optimism in our new incoming administration, and we are also going to push them on doing the right things. We've been working with Delaware County Council and Solid Waste Authority, and we have pushed them into making decisions that are more beneficial to us as a community and the county as a whole and the entire region. If we can reduce the pollution, we can reduce some of the health problems that we are experiencing in our community. You know, we don't have one primary care physician in our city, but we have the largest incinerator in the country. We don't have a market. Our pharmacy just closed so now we have one for 33,000 to 37,000 people because we know that we were undercounted at the Census. We see a lot of revitalization that could happen on our waterfront. We have 3.9 miles of waterfront of which Covanta sits on right next to the Philadelphia Union Stadium, that just created a sportsplex that people don't know is right next door to an incinerator. So we want immediately -- you know, they can put in the pollution control devices. They are choosing not to do it. They said it's not cost-effective for them to do it. Is it not cost-effective because you're in a Black and Brown community because every other community you have an incinerator at they have more pollution-control devices than your largest incinerator.
Well, thank you. Thank you very much again for your testimony and for your advocacy and for some of the points that you have indicated in the response to the question. For, Samantha, really quickly if you could just talk about what you think are the most impactful steps the City should take over the next few years to put us on the right path to our zero waste goal. You know that you all put out a really focused policy paper around reducing waste. So if you can say what you think the most important step that would be that would be helpful.
Yes. I think we have a number of policy initiatives that we could advance in the City that will help us towards that zero waste. The first is single-use plastics legislation and working on how do we make it so that single-use plastics, particularly for take-out containers, are not allowed in the City if they are not reusable or compostable or recyclable in the facilities that we have available to us here in Philadelphia. We have a couple of other policies around construction debris, which although we know it's not technically allowed in the residential waste stream, we know that it still ends up there. And so, we think there's some opportunities on expanding access to construction, re-recycling using the City's existing sanitation convenience centers to collect those materials and partner with one of the organizations that we have here in Philadelphia, like businesses that actually recycle those construction and demolition materials and then require that construction demolition recycling to happen. I think the third main thing I want to make a point about is I think when the City is thinking through these contracts and who is managing our waste and where we're sending it via for recycling or for ultimate disposal, we need to be thoughtful about how do we take a portion of that and invest in our own businesses here in Philadelphia that have workable, scalable solutions for this waste and these materials that is not our typical giant mega conglomerate corporations that typically deal with our materials. If we took even a small percentage of the money that we send to those places like the Covantas and Waste Managements and diverted them to these local businesses that are ready to scale with municipal investment, we could make a giant dent in where our waste is headed. And so, I think as you're thinking through these contracts and the City is thinking through how does it spend its money and how does it think about how it manages materials, we really need to be rethinking who gets those investment dollars from the City to manage those materials.
Excellent. Well, thank you for that response. And I love the idea around the sanitation convenience centers. We received a lot of feedback even in some of our environmental groups, the ones that Mike referenced earlier around some creative ways so we can expand the services at the sanitation convenience centers since they're already aptly placed throughout the City of Philadelphia and have real convenience as far as location. And so, I appreciate that testimony. I want to thank this first panel for your testimony, for all of your work that you have done and we look forward to continuing to work with you. This is not the end. This is just the beginning of recognizing that we are too at the end of a term and that we are moving into a new term, and a lot of transition and changes are forthcoming but we know that that can be good. And so, we look forward to continuing to work with you. Thank you so much, Panel 1. We will now proceed with Panel No. 2. The second panel consists of our Administration in the City of Philadelphia. And so, the second panel we have the Streets Department, and pardon me, we have Nidhi Krishen, Deputy Director for Climate Solutions for the Office of Sustainability; Kyle Lewis, Department of Streets; and Scott McGrath, Department of Streets. Are you all connected and ready to proceed with your testimony? MR. McGRATH: Yes.
Okay. Excellent. All right. Nidhi, you may proceed. State your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, Chairperson Gilmore Richardson and members of the Committee on the Environment. My name is Nidhi Krishen and I am the Deputy Director for Climate Solutions at the Office of Sustainability. I am here today to testify in support of Resolution 15 No. 230328 authorizing the Committee on the Environment to hold hearings evaluating the environmental justice impacts of the City's waste management practices and potential alternatives to the City's contract, the Covanta Delaware Valley, LP. Environmental justice entails the equitable distribution of environmental benefits and burdens and redress of past harmful environmental policies and practices. The Office of Sustainability supports the review of greenhouse gases and toxic air pollutants from municipal solid waste incinerators located in environmental justice communities and the environmental and health impact of these pollutants on these communities. The Office of Sustainability also supports the comprehensive evaluation of solutions to reduce the pollution burden in these communities. As a city, we have a responsibility to not only address environmental injustices within Philadelphia but also to address where we may be contributing the injustices in our neighboring cities. Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you. Thank you kindly for summarizing your testimony. We will now hear from Kyle Lewis and then Scott McGrath from the Department of Streets, and then I'll proceed with any questions we have for this panel. And, colleagues, if you have any questions for this panel, please indicate in the chat so that I may tee you up. Okay. Kyle?
Good afternoon. I just wanted to note that my camera is not working.
Understood. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your summarized testimony.
Good afternoon again, Chairperson Gilmore Richardson and members of the Committee of the Environment. My name is Kyle Lewis and I'm the Recycling Program Director in the Department of Streets, and I thank you for this opportunity to join you in discussing the challenges and solutions to sustainable waste disposal. The Department of Streets continues to pursue sustainable waste disposal options through maximization of the existing practices and innovation and collaboration of new programs and technologies. In addition to those mentioned or those will be mentioned by my colleague Scott McGrath, the Department of Streets is increasing diversion through recycling, seeking grant funding to increase use of sanitation convenience centers and working to increase viability of waste byproducts. Even with these developments in play, we're open to new opportunities for sustainable waste management for the 600,000 tons of municipal solid waste produced annually. Currently the viable options are waste disposal, waste-to-energy and energy recovery and landfilling. Supporting the more sustainable is multi-prong. Our recycling program is rebounding from the effects of COVID-19 and is on track to approach pre-COVID tonnages, targeted at 85,000 tons compared to 90,000 tons in 2019. With consistent direct community engagement, traditional and social media and direct mail, we've increased recycling tonnage and thus the recycling rate, from 8 percent to 13 percent from 2020 to 2023, while at the same time decreasing contamination over this period by an average of 8 percent. The city-wide reduction in contamination yielded an annual savings of approximately $1.5 million per year beginning in Fiscal Year '24 for the duration of the contract. The department is open to discussing sustainable solutions, reducing environmental impacts and environmental justice challenges and working with the Committee to minimize these impacts regardless of the disposal technology being used. I'll now turn it over to my colleague Scott McGrath.
Scott, if you're connected, please state your name for the record and proceed with your summarized testimony. MR. McGRATH: Good afternoon, Chairperson Gilmore Richardson and members of the Committee. My name is Scott McGrath, Environmental Planning Director for the Streets Department, and thank you for providing the department with an opportunity to discuss the challenges and alternatives to creating a path toward more sustainable disposal options. As you know, our current contracts in place with Waste Management and Covanta Sustainable Solutions are approximately 70 percent of City-collected waste which goes to Waste Management and 30 percent or about 180,000 tons goes to Covanta. I will also add that these contracts include with Covanta, we send them 1.5 to 2 million pounds a year of electronic waste which is recycled. Going forward, the current disposal options, although they're not ideal, represent the best available that are to us and when we evaluate these options, we look at transportation impacts and operational impacts on our disposal systems as well as disposal cost. In an effort to provide a more sustainable path toward waste management, we have a pilot provision in that Waste Management contract, which allows us to test the extraction of organics and recovery of the organics to be recycled through that contract. We have not been able to utilize that provision as yet, in part because of the infrastructure that's needed to do this. We've been in discussions with both PGW and the Water Department to develop this infrastructure, and part of these discussions also involve leveraging federal infrastructure funding such as the planned Hydrogen Hub to provide some of the funding to build this infrastructure. So that's more our focus going forward as we try to develop, move on from sort of the current interim disposal options that we have with Covanta and Waste Management and looking toward more sustainable, long-term options that involve extracting the organics for the waste stream. We've been doing extensive work in terms of evaluating the composition of the trash that we collect and the recycling to sort of maximize what we can recover going forward and developing the resources in grant funding, et cetera, to develop the infrastructure to manage these materials in a more sustainable way. So thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Scott, and thank you to the entire panel from the Administration. Certainly appreciate all the work that you all do on behalf of the City and the work that we do together. I do have a few questions for this panel. And, colleagues, if you have any questions, please indicate that in the chat. But if you could limit your responses to less than a minute and then please supply any additional information via written response, and we will ensure that that information is shared with the Committee. But in 2019 as one of the previous witnesses from Panel stated, the City entered into contracts with Waste Management and Covanta. They were four-year contracts with the option of three one-year renewals. We know that the renewal period should have started this year. So can you please provide any updated contracting documents to this Committee as it relates to both of these contracts? MR. McGRATH: We can forward more information on the actual contract documents to the Committee. That certainly isn't a problem. As you mentioned, we're in the first renewal period and there's two more renewal periods and I think as we probably indicated to you in the past, it will take some time especially as we transition to a new Administration to develop a new RFP, which will include a greater focus on alternative technologies and looking at different ways to manage our waste.
Okay. Excellent. Well, you walked right into my next question, Scott. Relative to our preparation around these contracts ending around 2026, we know how long it does take for us to plan and we recognize the transition period that we're in, so if you could provide any information on how the department is really doing a holistic sort of review and thought process around addressing our City's overall waste management in this next contracting phase and how you all will really work to prioritize zero waste or using any planning studies that our department already pays for around helping us to address some of the concerns that have been voiced by some of the panelists that we've heard from today. MR. McGRATH: As I said before, we have done some extensive analysis of the composition of the waste that we collect as well as the recycling that we collect and direct to the waste management materials recovery facility. And with our consultant we've been looking at what portions of the waste stream we should be targeting going forward. And as I said before, the biggest piece of that is really the organics fraction. That's why as I said before we're already actively looking at how we can manage that -- better manage that portion. But the challenge will be increase -- creating the infrastructure around that. And the RFP that we'll be doing for the next round of contracts we'll try to address that issue.
Okay. Excellent. And for the record for this hearing and for all the witnesses who are able to join us or listening, please note that I have a number of questions for the Streets Department that I have submitted in writing and will await those responses and share them with the Committee upon receipt. But due to time purposes today, we're not able to go through each question that I have, but I did submit several pages of questions that we will await responses from the Streets Department. So I thank you all so very much for your participation this afternoon and we look forward to continuing to work with you during this transition and then over the next several years. I also wanted to notate for the record relative to our sanitation convenience centers because that's something that continues to come up, that we really look forward to working with you all on how we maximize the use of those locations so that we can do more geographically with less. Okay. All right. Thank you very, very much. MR. McGRATH: Thank you.
Okay. Have a great day. We will now proceed with Panel No. 3. Panel No. 3 will be Alyssa Wilds, Senior Manager of Corporate relations at Covanta; Michael Van Brunt, VP of Environmental and Sustainability at Covanta and Kim Bradford, PA State and Environmental Manager for Covanta. Are you all connected and ready to proceed with your testimony?
Excellent. Excellent. So you can state your name for the record. Proceed with your testimony. I'm going to ask for your summarized version of your testimony, and then we will proceed with any questions we have for this panel. Alyssa Wilds.
Good afternoon everyone. My name is Alyssa Wilds and I am the Director of Corporate and Community Relations at Covanta. My fellow panelist and colleague Kimberly Bradford, PA State Environmental Manager, will follow me to attest to Covanta Chester facility's emissions, technology and reporting. Thank you for this opportunity to speak before you. I would first like to begin by stating that Covanta fully supports the resolution's call to evaluate the environmental impacts of current and alternative practices. We are pleased to see the resolution focus on not only the current facility but also alternatives since downstream processes have impacts that are important to consider. We support the City's transition to zero waste while recognizing waste-to-energy is preferable to landfilling per the waste hierarchy. Waste-to-energy is an internationally recognized means of reducing the life cycle of greenhouse gas emissions relative to landfilling. Waste-to-energy has a lower overall environmental impact for managing waste remaining after recycling. My responsibility at Covanta is to oversee our community outreach efforts across the country, address longstanding environmental justice concerns and ensure residents remain informed and heard. I joined Team Covanta in September 2021 as the community outreach specialist for Del Val, Camden, Union and Essex, our other waste energy facilities in the region. Delaware Valley is the longstanding name for the facility in Chester, Pa. Upon joining the team, I was immediately educated on all things Covanta, including our environmental justice policy. In 2011, our environmental justice policy was created in Chester alongside residents, stakeholders and activists. The goal of the policy was to recognize the need to engage all community stakeholders, address concerns, open lines of communication and ultimately become a good neighbor and a valued community partner. Shortly after my start, I realized Covanta's poor prior inconsistency with community engagement caused stakeholder mistrust. Each of our host facilities has intricacies and individual needs and cannot be treated as the same. Corporations have long promised and underdelivered to these communities. However, they collectively agree they were unwilling to partner with Covanta until they saw consistency from us. The work that was started in September 2021 has continued and expanded, regrouping and revising as often as necessary. I've allowed myself to lead -- let the last meeting lead me to the next meeting. I leave every encounter asking whom else in your city should I speak to. That practice led me to a two-day meeting with the Jean-Pierre Brice of CMPradio in Chester and many more. This last past April I was requested and was granted a meeting with Jean-Pierre Brice and a group of local business and community leaders. Many were unhappy to sit with Covanta, yet did so because of their relationship with Jean-Pierre. During the meeting I was asked hard questions about Covanta's inconsistency and environmental impacts. The meeting was intense. Yet I received transparent dialogue and walked away with a list of requests. The top three requests were jobs, support for children's programming and help with the City's blight. We agreed to keep the lines of communication open and are still working collaboratively on those items and other things mentioned. At the time of the meeting at CMP we only had 6 employees from Chester's 19013 area code. Today we have 21 Delaware Valley Covanta colleagues that live in the city of Chester. We hosted a series of career fairs over the summer. Along with the additional 158 new hires, we created employment pipelines and a few partnerships to address issues encountered during the hiring process. CareerLink is assisting with training and job readiness.
We are working with the Chester Upland School District to expand their CTE program to provide necessary training to students who wish to begin their careers immediately after graduation. Also, we are launching an apprenticeship program with Delaware County Community College. The curriculum is currently being established. Covanta Del Val has expanded its support to children's programs to include youth sports, summer internships and opportunities for students to explore education without walls. We will continue to provide post-high school scholarships and supports to programs catering to children's overall well-being, educational improvement empowerment, career exploration, events and helping agencies working to end food insecurity. Del Val has also worked alongside Delaware County initiatives to quell the City's illegal dumping. We continue to uphold our commitment to the City's Adopt-a-Park program through the Parks & Recreation Department. At the request of residents, we have cleaned areas of blight and supplied dumpsters for additional supplies for them to do the same. While we have done far more than listed, I have noted the above because these are the requests that were made in April and again during our June listening tour. We want all of our host communities to trust that Covanta will do what we say. I want them to see that the start-stop efforts of the past have ended. In addition, I answer the questions and concerns posed by the community on our website. Sometimes I bring in senior planning and corporate leadership whenever necessary. Covanta recognizes the importance of the work being done. Not only has the community relations team expanded to ensure the work continues, but our outreach efforts are now a company-wide effort. I am a product of a Covanta community. Overburdened and underserved cities like my hometown has been disregarded forever. I am devoted to this work to guaran --
We lost you for a minute, Ms. Wilds, but I'll ask that you please summarize your testimony. Can you hear me? (No response.)
Yeah, we are unable to hear you so we are going to proceed with Michael Van Brunt. Hello?
Now, I can hear you. Maybe you might want to --
Yeah, you might want to turn off your camera so that can help with the Internet connection potentially. Ms. Wilds? (No response.)
I can hear you. If you can just summarize your test --
Yes. If you could just please summarize your testimony and then we'll move on to the other two witnesses that we have --
I am a product of a Covanta community. Overburdened and overserved cities like my hometown have been disregarded forever. I am devoted to this work to continue to make good on Covanta's promises, speak the languages of the community, offer information at multiple levels of understanding and is available to answer questions and listen to concerns. We are open, available (inaudible) --
Ms. Wilds, I'm sorry, but we are unable to hear you. You did go out again. I'm going to ask Kimberly Bradford to proceed with your testimony, with your summarized testimony. We only have 30 minutes left for this hearing.
Yes, ma'am. I have summarized my testimony for today. And the complete testimony has been submitted for your review and consideration. So good afternoon, Council. My name is Kim Bradford and I am the Pennsylvania Environmental Manager for Covanta. I've worked at Covanta for over seven years. In my current role, I work directly with environmental specialists at the PA waste energy facilities, providing guidance and support regarding environmental compliance matters. Before my promotion in 2020, I was the environmental specialist at the Covanta Delaware Valley facility for three years working directly hand-in-hand with facility personnel to ensure that the facility maintained compliance with all environmental requirements. Lastly, I am a proud resident of the city of Philadelphia for over six years and I reside in the Wynnewood neighborhood. Along with my colleague Alyssa Wilds, I would like to reiterate that Covanta is in full support of the resolution called to evaluate environmental impacts of both current and alternative practices. Just for the sake of time, I just want to respond to some of the concerns that were brought up in the testimonies today. So in response to our community request for greater access to our realtime emissions monitoring data, Continuous Emissions Monitoring, CEMS, as part of our environmental justice commitment to transparency in our communities in which we operate, Covanta posts our CEMS data for our waste-to-energy facilities on our website. The Delaware Valley facility operates over 74 CEMS points and achieves a 99 percent availability across all CEMS. The emission data for the Delaware Valley facility is available online for your review and consideration or for anyone's review or consideration. This is the same data that is submitted to the Commonwealth's Department of Environmental Protection, PADEP, every calendar quarter. In 2022, we met our standards over 99 percent of the time and we continually aim for protection -- for perfection, but we are proud of our stellar record. In response to some of the concerns regarding our air pollution control devices that were brought up today, consistent with our environmental justice policy Covanta seeks to engage in two-way communication with our communities of which we operate. As a result of this two-way dialogue, in 2021 we embarked on the extensive voluntary testing program to reduce our nitrogen oxide emissions. Our test program involved an installation of Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) technology, an established and effective emission control technology that utilizes ammonia injection to reduce the formation of NOx. With the installation of the SNCR technology, the facility will meet the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Recent Available Control Technology, RACT Rule III, which is intended to reduce the ozone information in the region. After we attain the PADEP environmental permit approvals, installation will be completed by the end of 2024. Once the SNCR system is fully installed, we are planning to conduct a trial program to add carbon injection to our facility to further reduce mercury and dioxin emissions. Although the Delaware Valley facility performs exceptionally well in terms of mercury and dioxin emissions, coming in more than 90 percent below the EPA standards, we aim to do even better and are exploring if activated carbon injection may able to reduce our emissions at the facility. Finally, we have heard the nearby community's concerns regarding noise generated by the facility. Noise may be created when the facility has to vent steam. To help mitigate this, in 2024 Covanta will replace our steam vent mufflers. This project will significantly reduce noise impacts beyond the facility's fence line.
In conclusion, Covanta Delaware Valley acknowledges that our facility is located inside of a community that has long had to bear a disproportionate share of environmental burdens from industry, transportation, large and small stationary sources and neighboring communities. Due to the location, industrial history and prior discriminatory land use decisions, the city of Chester (inaudible). We are sensitive to these burdens and continually strive to do better. We continue to welcome constructive two-way communication with the community stakeholders. We utilize this feedback to improve our outreach activities and our environmental performance. This is not just a commitment for today. It is a commitment to the future. Thank you for scheduling today's hearing and for giving us a chance to present to the community.
Excellent. Thank you very much for your testimony. I want to just do a soundcheck for Ms. Alyssa Wilds. Are you connected?
Now we can hear you. Okay. I just wanted to make sure we could hear you. We lost you for a moment. And what I was stating was that if you turned off your screen, I was hoping maybe that would help with the Internet connection so that we may hear you. But Ms. Bradford did provide a summary of the testimony as well as respond to some of the things that were notated thus far in the hearing. I do have several questions for this panel. I will tell you that I have several pages of questions for this panel as I had for the Streets Department and the Office of Sustainability. I am going to submit the questions, the bulk of them in writing for written response, and ask that Covanta please respond to all of the questions that we will offer in writing so that we may share that information with the whole Committee on the Environment. I do want to ask just a couple on the record as we are very limited on time, and I do want to be respectful of all of those who have signed up, over 15 people to provide for public comment. Okay. Ms. Bradford, thank you very much for your testimony. As of yesterday, the EPA's website, it lists Covanta Delaware Valley as significant or Category 1 noncompliance under the Clean Water Act and as high priority violation under the Clean Air Act. Can you just explain the reason for this status and how is the facility significantly under EPA limits for emissions but out of compliance with EPA, because that just does not make sense to me?
Yes. So I believe the Clean Air Water Act violation, that is -- that's incorrect as noted in the database because the facility is in compliance with its water standards. As it pertains to the air quality, that is associated with the February loss-of-power event at the facility, and we are currently working with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to work through that consent assessment. I believe the database has it listed or also noncompliance for third and fourth quarter, which that's not true because we're getting ready to submit our reports for third and we're currently in fourth quarter, but we will be working with our consent assessment associated with the loss of power --
Pardon me, pardon me, Ms. Bradford, and I apologize. Mr. Zerbo, I appreciate you linking that information. However, the chat feature per state law can only be used by members of Philadelphia City Council. And I do want to ensure that we are in compliance with the law. And so, please know that it's not a slight to the information being shared because you know that I too -- just so you see, I have a copy of the report and I have the information with me here, but we are getting this information on the record for Council purposes. And so, I just want to notate again please only Councilmembers utilize the chat feature at this time. Ms. Bradford, please proceed in summarizing your response and then we'll move forward.
Yeah. So like I said, we are working through that consent assessment regarding the January loss-of-power event at the facility and then that will wrap that issue up on the EPA database.
Okay. So again, what I'll ask you all to do, in providing detailed responses to this Committee I am going to read through some of the questions I have for the record. I will submit the questions in writing to your team. I am requesting written responses back to this body so that we may share them, okay, and then we will do a further analysis relative to our disagreement regarding you all being listed on the website because it is there. Okay. I have the information in front of me. And so, I just want to make sure that we are all working with the same set of information so that we can have official information in writing for this body so that it informs how we are moving forward in this process, not just this year but in the upcoming term which will span 2024 to technically the first Sunday in 2028. Okay.
All right. I have an additional question relative to Covanta. On the first page of your written testimony, you show that Covanta's emissions, that they are below the EPA standards, but you all did not provide any time frames for where that data comes from and what was used to make the chart. And so, if you could just let me know over what period that particular data comes from.
Okay. Excellent. And then I do want to state for the record that I have had a conversation and had the ability to have a meeting with Covanta, and I do want to thank them for that opportunity because at the onset I think we all know sort of where I am on this issue because of the ties that I do have to the Chester community and how I know this has really impacted people from a health perspective and from an overall community perspective. I do not want to negate the fact that I recognize that you all are seeking to do work in the community. However, I would respectfully request that that work continues and that you all are willing to speak with any and all stakeholders, particularly those who are residents of the city of Chester relative to their concerns in their community. We recognize where we are from a city perspective right now. I was not here to vote on that contract relate to being a member. But what I will be here for the next term God willing, and what I request is that you all in the interim continue to have face-to-face conversations with actual residents of the city of Chester so that we can prioritize their concerns. And I recognize that we're really far apart on this issue relative to where they are and where Covanta is, because we heard some of the testimony earlier relative to this being non-negotiable around Covanta even being there. But for the time being right now until we have to address the contract renewal after this contract is over, I am respectfully requesting that you all meet with the residents of the city of Chester, particularly those who are in the (inaudible), those who are here today so that you can continue to address some of their concerns because some of these things can be worked out. I heard one thing that I thought was easy low-hanging fruit around all the other facilities that Covanta runs, having the special testing apparatus and the city of Chester not having the apparatus. So anywhere where you can find easy wins in the interim, I'm respectfully requesting that you do just that. In the sake of time to respect all of our witnesses who have signed up, I will submit the balance of my questions in writing for your written response. I will allow closing remarks from Ms. Wilds because you did have testimony and I do want to give you a minute to have closing remarks.
Thank you. I pretty much had finished what I had to say, my testimony. I just want to say that we are, in fact, here for the long haul. The start-stop of Covanta has ended. The inconsistencies have ended. We have been steadily doing this work since September 2021 and it will not go away. So any opportunity we have to engage the community, we are willing to have the tough conversations. We are (inaudible) to come into our facility to do a tour. Whatever it is that we must do, we are willing to do. So please you can reach out to us via the website. You can call me. You can call the facility. And please we would love to have a sit-down and find a way where we can collaborate and get some of these concerns that you have worked out. I would love to do that. I am open and ready to do that, my team and I. Thank you.
Okay. Excellent. Thank you very much for your testimony. We will await the written responses from the Covanta team. We are requesting that that information be sent within the next seven days so that we have the opportunity to review it prior to the end of our Council session this term. Okay. Thank you very, very much.
Excellent. Thank you so much. We will now move forward with public comment. Eliza, if you could just read the names of those who are connected and available for public comment. I will read the names quickly of those who have provided written testimony that will be placed in this Committee for the record: Harrison Mace, Emilia Crotty, Julie Simone or Julie Simon, Jim McLaughlin, Emily Davis, Andrew Burgess, James Bannerman and Ann Dixon. We thank you all so much for the submission of your written testimony. We are including that in the record for City Council's Committee on the Environment. Eliza, we can now move forward with those who are here to provide public comment. For the sake of time, I am respectfully requesting and asking that you summarize your testimony, submit the balance of your testimony for the record so that we may get through the 15 or so people that we have within the next 16 minutes. Thank you so very much for your kindness.
Hope, are you connected and ready to proceed with your public comment?
Yes. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony and turn the volume down on your T.V.
Okay. Please summarize your public comment.
Okay. Again, my name is Hope Primas. Is this my two to three minutes?
Yes, ma'am. And we actually have about 15 minutes left now, so I'm just respectfully requesting if you can keep it to a minute and then submit the balance of your testimony for the record.
Okay. Thank you. Again, my name is Hope Primas. I'm a citizen of West Germantown and I've lived in Philly for about years 7 now. And I was born and raised in 8 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania which is 9 home of the infamous incinerator 10 which was supposed to earn the City 11 $1 billion, but instead it threw the 12 city into bankruptcy and an 13 environmental crisis. 14 I'm also a severe asthma 15 patient, had to be intubated several 16 times. And the issue here seems to 17 come from the same blueprint for 18 conducting business as the appalling 19 Harrisburg incinerator, and that's 20 why I'm here to testify. To quickly give some background, in the '70s a predominantly minority community in Harrisburg has been housing the municipal incinerator that serves the entire largely White county around the city. And for the three decades it was running, the incinerator was the highest emitting dioxin in the country according to the EPA. And as you know, dioxins are very poisonous. They cause cancer. In fact, my mother died of cancer in an area that not only had the incinerator but also a three-mile (inaudible) incident. And on top of that, although the data is old I think it's relevant. In September 2000, a study published by the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation found that women in the Arctic in Nunavut, Canada were found to have high levels of dioxins in breast milk. And the study tracked the origin of these dioxins and to make a long story short, they found that the greatest amount of dioxins was coming out of the Harrisburg incinerator. So it's my understanding that Covanta now operates the Harrisburg incinerator and the one in Chester. I also understand that the incinerator in Chester is the largest in the nation, the number one polluter in the region and operates with the fewest pollution controls. So keep in mind that in 2021 there were close to five times more Black and African American residents than any other race or ethnicity, which is an unforgivable example of racial disparity and how it mirrors the placement of Harrisburg dirty incinerator. So, in fact, it was determined that burning trash in Chester is a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for the City to conform this through its contract. So --
In conclusion, although Pennsylvania recently strengthened their pollution standards for incinerators, more needs to be done to reduce or eliminate the pollution and the devastating impact on the public. And I hereby request that the legislation that was sponsored by Councilwoman Richardson, which is the Waste Contracting for Clean Air Act be formalized, which will make it illegal for the City to continue to sign and renew contracts to burn the City's waste, recyclables and compostables. So thank you for allowing me to voice my concern and considering my request.
Thank you. Thank you kindly for being with us today and for all the information you shared and for the request. We do hear you and we're taking copious notes and appreciate your concerns. Eliza, will you please call the next public commenter, and just as a reminder we have very limited time and I'm respectfully requesting that everyone please keep their public comment to one minute.
Yes. Please turn down your television so we can hear you without feedback.
Anya, you may proceed with your testimony.
Hi. My name's Anya Rose and I was an elementary teacher for years. Many of my students, 7 especially students of color, had 8 asthma. And I know that the PES Oil 9 Refinery was the region's number one 10 air polluter for a while. But now that that's gone, it's Covanta, Covanta's incinerator. Philadelphia is consistently ranked as the top 10 asthma capital by the Asthma Allergy Foundation of America. And incinerating this garbage and all of the things that would be happening at the place would just be contributing to our pollution problems. So as a teacher, I had to see students with asthma constantly and it's a sad thing. They can't participate the same way as other kids. They have to stay in at recess. They have to carry inhalers. This needs to be a choice. We can choose not to incinerate our garbage. We can choose a different way, so it just seems like a really backwards choice to be making right now, especially in a time when we have other things to worry about like wildfire smoke and other things that are contributing to air pollution. So my request is that we pass the Waste Contracting for Clean Air Act by the Air Quality Recycling Committee.
Thank you. Thank you, Anya, for your public comment and thank you for the recommendation. Eliza, please call the next public commenter. Please summarize your testimony.
Okay. COUNCIL TECH SUPPORT: I believe that Linnea was not available so we should be moving to Jonathan.
Jonathan, are you connected and ready to proceed with your testimony? COUNCIL TECH SUPPORT: I believe it's ringing for him now. Sorry.
Jonathan, thank you so much for your patience. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your public comment, and please summarize your public comment as we are very limited on time.
Gotcha. It's okay. Mine is short. Hello. My name is Jonathan Leibovic. I live at 1224 South 21st Street and zip code 19134. Thank you very much for holding this hearing and I applaud Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for introducing this bill. Our City's zero waste goal as you all know gains to fully eliminate the use of landfills and (inaudible). The goal is reasonable because they've already made so much progress towards zero waste. We have of course our plastic bag ban, which has already kept over 200 million plastic bags off our street and out of our storm drains. We have composting facilities and dozens of recreation centers across the City employing dozens of people and creating thousands of pounds of fertilizer and Parks & Rec recently published an agriculture plan containing a detailed blueprint to expanding our (inaudible) across the City, which is on of the Urban Agriculture Plan if you want to see that. Zero waste policies work and they are popular, and we know what we need to do to recycle and the solutions are win-win. We also have a long way to go and our contract with Covanta is, as I'm sure you've all been hearing, one of our worst offenders, specifically the guaranteed annual quantity clause is a direct obstacle to our City's stated zero waste goal. The guaranteed annual quantity of waste going to Covanta for incineration and going to Chester's air and Chester residents' lungs should be zero, and that is my comment. Thank you very much.
Thank you so much, Jonathan. Zero waste, zero waste, zero waste. Thank you so much for your public comment and also for your patience. Eliza, please call the next public commenter.
Traci, are you connected and ready to proceed with your public comment?
Yes. Thank you. State your name for the record and proceed with your public comment. Please summarize your testimony.
Traci Confer, resident of Philadelphia. As far as underjustice or, sorry, environmental justice as concerns go, incinerators tend to be in our region in populated areas and landfills tend to be in less populated areas. So just on the basis of environmental justice concerns, sending trash to landfills is better than sending them to incinerators. The most important thing to keep out of landfills is organics. So I would say to the priorities is ending incineration and getting organics as a first priority out of the stream. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you kindly for your testimony and for your feedback. We appreciate you being here this afternoon. Eliza, please call the next public commenter and please summarize your testimony.
Ogbonna, are you connected and ready to proceed? (No response.)
Ogbonna, are you connected and ready to proceed? (No response.) COUNCIL TECH SUPPORT: His number is ringing. I think I spoke to him earlier so I think he should be answering.
Okay. Ogbonna -- oh, okay. COUNCIL TECH SUPPORT: I guess he's not available.
Okay. Sorry about that. Are we ready for the next public commenter?
Okay. Lynn Robinson, are you connected and ready to proceed with your public comment?
Yes. Lynn Robinson, are you connected and ready to proceed with your public comment? Please summarize your public comment. State your name for the record.
Okay. Thank you for taking my comment on Resolution No. 230328. As a resident, I strongly urge City Council to pass the Waste Contracting for Clean Air Act. This legislation would end the practice of burning trash and recyclables collected by the City and collected by companies who contract with the City. Parents tell their children not to talk to a stranger offering candy, and I'm asking City Council to stop accepting the sweet-looking business deal from your old friends at Covanta. Each time you make this deal, you incinerate the health of people who never harmed you. It's past the time for Philly to enact zero waste practices without any more pilot project procrastination and put all of our diminishing amounts of waste in landfills which is less harmful than incineration. Philly should collect table scraps across the City and compost them. We should set up a multi-stream recycling system because we know single stream doesn't work. And you should let the public volunteer to advise you on how to reduce single-use plastics. The incinerator industry like Covanta marketed the idea that burning trash disappears waste in the form of green energy, but the process is dirtier than burning coal and the waste doesn't disappear. It's goes into the lungs in Chester and when the air travels north to our lungs in Philly. It lands as toxic soot on surfaces inside and outside of homes including land where food grows. Incinerator ash gets dumped in landfills and quickly reaches toxins through any imperfect liners. Also, ash gets added to road pavements where it leaches toxins. We as Philly have to take responsibility for the destination of our waste. Last year the UN finally declared that a healthy environment is a human right. By poisoning the air in Chester (inaudible) with Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution says that we all have the right to breathe clean air. Our trash is creating illnesses and (inaudible) pursuit of happiness. In Chester, 38 percent of residents have asthma and approximately 1 in 5 Chester babies die in infancy, which is twice the Philadelphia rate --
Please summarize your public comment. I apologize. We are very limited on time and we have about 10 more people.
I don't think that City Council would approve a City contract to slowly poison family dogs like Golden Retrievers, but does the City of Brotherly Love consider Chester residents inanimate objects or maybe rats. Please not another contract with Covanta. Pass the Waste Contracting for Clean Air Act. Thank you.
Thank you. And thank you, Lynn. I just want to also thank you for your participation in Council's Civilian Advisory Committees and all the work that you've done with the Civilian Advisory Committees as well. Eliza, please call the next witness for public comment. Please summarize your testimony.
Marta, are you connected and ready to proceed with your public comment?
How are you? Please state your name for the record and proceed with your public comment. Please summarize as we have a number of additional public commenters.
Thank you. My name is Marta Guttenberg. I'm going to try to be quick. I believe that what we have learned about Covanta and its practices today rise to the level of criminal. They can field their data. They lie to residents. They harm the environment. When they are called out by agencies, they pay a fine which is chump change to them. I think that City Council is correct in promoting legislation that will allow them to cut ties with this kind of criminal enterprise and I endorse the measure under consideration. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you so much. We certainly appreciate your feedback and testimony. And for the record, I just want to be very clear that the contract that everyone is referring to was not approved this term. It was approved last term. We are concluding the 2020 to 2023 term and the new term begins in 2024. So I just wanted to ensure that I stated that for the record. Eliza, please call the next public commenter. Are you connected and ready to proceed with your testimony?
Yes. Hello, Lisa. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your public comment. Please summarize your testimony as we have several additional witnesses.
Please turn your computer down. We're receiving feedback.
The City should not renew its contract to pay Covanta to turn trash into breathable poison. It should adopt the Waste Contracting for Clean Air Act. Until Philadelphia reduces its waste stream landfilling is a better choice than Covanta. And in addition to mercury and other toxins, Covanta's emits many ozone precursors. Given that our regional ozone nonattainment area has recently been downgraded, the City should reduce its contributions to ozone by not feeding the incinerators. The direct cost of Covanta (inaudible) --
Okay. I'm sorry. We lost you for a moment. Please proceed.
Okay. The direct cost between Covanta and landfill are possible to switching low cost money. However, additional and indirect costs make landfilling a better economic and policy choice for the City for waste reduction. Most pollutants are not easily eliminated, but there are good alternatives to burning trash. Landfill now. Then reduce, reuse and recycle better, but don't burn. Thank you.
No, thank you. Thank you so much for your public comment. Eliza, please proceed with the next public commenter.
Yes. Mitch, are you connected and ready to proceed with your public comment? And also, please turn your computers down so that we do not receive feedback.
Got it. Yes. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Mitch Chanin. I'm speaking on behalf of POWER Interface, which I think as folks know is a multi-racial, multi-faith organization that works for racial and economic justice on the livable planet here in Philadelphia and in other parts of Pa. I'll be really, really quick. We are in solidarity with folk in Chester who are fighting to end the practice of incinerator in their community and support the call to end incineration of trash produced here in Philadelphia in order to protect public health. Just to add one thing that maybe hasn't been spoken yet in these testimonies is that I think Philly has been on what I think is a very, very slow journey towards ending incineration. We used to have multiple incinerators here in the City of Philadelphia to burn trash. Several were closed in the 1970s. Two more were closed in the late '80s including a huge one on Spring Garden Street right on the Delaware River. And then in 1988, City Council made the decision to reject the proposal from Mayor Goode to build a very large we'll call it trash-to-steam plant, another incinerator at the Navy Yard because of concerns about public health. And so, we've made a serious I think very good decision not to allow incineration in our City, but we've allowed our trash to be sent to be burned in another city polluting other lungs of Chester residents and folks in Plymouth Meeting and elsewhere. And so, now that we've stopped incinerating in Philly decades ago it's time to finally stop the practice of sending our trash to be burned in other communities. And, yeah, I'll leave it there. Thank you very much.
No, thank you very much, Mitch, for your public comment but also for your participation on the committees. Truly appreciate your feedback and your work. Eliza, please call the next public commenter.
Mary Ann Duffy, are you connected and ready to proceed with your public comment?
Yes. Thank you. Please turn down your computer. And for all the forthcoming public commenters, please turn your computers down so that we do not receive feedback.
Okay. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your public comment.
Hello. My name is Mary Ann Duffy. I'm an architect, a local member of AIA here with the Committee on Environment and a South Philadelphia resident. Here's my summary: There's absolutely nothing good that comes from incinerating trash. I want to highlight the outrageous greenwashing about energy by Covanta because incineration is even worse than coal. To make the same amount of energy at the coal power -- power plant trash incinerator, in 2018 really 65 percent more carbon dioxide, as much carbon monoxide, three times as much nitrogen oxide, five times as much mercury, nearly six times as much lead, 27 times as much hydrochloric acid. The comprehensive Delaware County Life Cycle Assessment Study conducted last year stated incineration in Covanta, then landfilling, incineration as it's far more harmful to human health and the environment than just simply sending its trash directly to landfill. Covanta's greenwashing plan filled roads with incinerator ash will also only further pollute our groundwater. Pennsylvania has landfills across the state making it the largest importer of trash from other states. So on the short-term, as many others have suggested, the lesser of two evils to end incineration immediately and use our landfills when we must as a first step to solving our waste pollution issue. So I'm asking Councilmembers to step up and show your love for our City and region, the people, the environment and your own health and the health of your children by signing the Waste Contracting for Clean Air Act to make it illegal for the City to continue to sign or renew contracts that burn our City's waste. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much for your public comment and for being with us today. We only have a few more witnesses, colleagues, and I appreciate you all being here and thank you so much for everything that you do to help our Council. I see my colleague Jim Harrity there. And so, for the next public commenters please turn your computers and/or televisions down so that we do not have additional feedback. Please summarize your public comment. Eliza, please call the next witness.
Shari, are you connected and ready to proceed with your public comment?
Yes. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your public comment.
Yes. Please proceed with your summarized public comment.
Okay. So we support the Resolution 630328(sic), and we are in solidarity with CRCQL, Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, and we are totally against incineration and we want to point out something I'm not sure that came up today. We support material diversion. We want to see a reduction of trash much more effective and really it's at 8 percent right now. We were at 6 percent in 2007. In 2015, we were up to 21 percent. I just want to compare it to LA, who's at a 76 percent of material diversion. And so, we wholly support the new zero waste and litter department in the City and professional and experienced leadership around material diversion, because Philadelphia could be one of the greenest most amazing cities in the country. And incineration points to our failure to live up to our potential and the resistance of our perhaps maybe the lack of expertise in our Streets Department to take on material diversion because it is a different expertise than transportation and managing streets, et cetera. So we strongly, strongly support getting rid of incineration and we need to reduce landfilling and we need to reduce the dumping and waste on our streets by diverting material and repurposing, recycling, all that stuff.
All right. Well, thank you kindly for your testimony and for joining us this afternoon. We do appreciate the feedback that you have noted, and thank you for that information you shared relative to Philadelphia in comparison to California. Eliza, please call the next public commenter.
Vanessa, are you connected and ready to proceed with your public comment?
Yes. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your summarized public comment.
Okay. Hi. I'm Vanessa Levy. I'm a resident of Philadelphia. I'd like to share some points against renewing Philly's contract with Covanta. First, ending Philly's needs of incineration is doable since the start of last year. Just under 38 percent of Philly trash went to incinerators. That 38 percent could be reduced in just a few years if the City was serious about zero waste strategies. And even if we didn't, there's adequate landfill space to accept that waste immediately. Pa has a bunch of landfill space, 43 landfills providing more than twice the disposal capacity that our state needs. We're not stuck without alternatives to incineration. Landfills are the lesser evil compared to burning trash first, then landfilling toxic ash. Second, incineration is expensive and will only get more costly over time. EPA is required to update their regulations for incinerators for every five years and hasn't updated them for 16 years. A federal court has forced EPA to finally update these regulations by the end of this year, which will likely be finalized late next year. In March, EPA presented that their new regulations could cost the industry between $52 million and $1.6 billion. This could mean over $60 million in upgrades just at Covanta's incinerator in Chester. Would Philly as a customer providing a third of their trash be on the hook for $20 million in passthrough costs? After all, that incinerator is missing two of the four major pollution control systems used at incinerators. While other new regulations are already forcing them to finally install the missing controls for nitrogen oxides that trigger asthma attacks, they will not be coming up to modern standards which are much more protected and incredibly costly. Even after installing these controls they've been missing for over three decades of operation, they will still have no controls to reduce emissions of the most toxic chemicals released, dioxins and mercury. I expect that EPA's updated regulations won't allow them to keep operating without such controls and any cost increase will push their prices higher than what we currently pay for landfill. I'd like to conclude by requesting that the Council pass the Waste Contracting for Clean Air Act. Thank you for holding space for these points to be heard.
No, thank you and thank you for being with us, and thank you for the information that you shared and for the recommendation for not only this Committee but for Council. Eliza, do we have anyone else here to provide for public comment?
Okay. And I'll ask the Tech Team also if you can just please try to see if we could connect Ogbonna Hagins.
Yes. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your summarized public comment.
Okay. Please proceed with your summarized public comment.
I'm a proud resident or former resident of Chester, Pa and a breast cancer survivor. Today I'm here to discuss the Covanta care initiative. (inaudible) Alyssa Wilds and Brittany Addison. As the CEO of CPMradio, I've had numerous discussions this March about how Covanta can possibly impact Chester. While many discussed the environmental aspects, I'm here to highlight the commendable actions they taken. They've helped my organization CMPradio Foundation. They have done autism walks. They have donated to City Teams, the Wesley House which is some of our homeless shelters. They've helped with Chester High's senior trips and career fair and multiple other organizations. That's all I have to say.
Well, thank you very much for your public comment.
Thank you. Eliza, do we have any further witnesses here to provide public comment?
Okay. And we weren't able to connect with Ogbonna Hagans?
The Tech Team said that they did try to contact him again, but it doesn't like anyone else was able to be reached at this time.
Okay. Thank you for the clarification. I just want to notate for the record, that multiple attempts were made to ensure that everyone could participate in the hearing this afternoon. Again, are there any further witnesses to provide testimony for this hearing? (No response.)
Is there anyone else here to testify on the resolution 17 whose name has not yet been called? (No response.)
Hearing none, are there any other questions or comments from members of this Committee? (No response.)
Hearing none, I want to thank you all, all the panelists and the witnesses for your participation today. We do value your opinion. I do see the hand raised of my colleague Councilmember Jim Harrity. Councilmember Harrity, you are recognized for comment.
I just wanted to say thank you to you, Chair, for doing this. And also, thank you to everybody who has submitted testimony and gave testimony. It's very enlightening and we are glad that so many people decided to attend and that shows that this is a very important issue, so thank you.
Thank you, and thank you for being here, Councilmember Harrity, and just for your commitment and all of your hard work in Philadelphia City Council. And I want to say before we conclude for the record that I too very much appreciate the work of all of the panelists who are here today no matter on what side of organization you're representing, I appreciate you coming. We know that this is a huge environmental injustice issue that we must solve and look at. And as we know, this is not something that this particular Council in this term had the opportunity to decide upon, but we know that in the next term we will be faced with this issue and we want to ensure that we have adequate information going into the next term to adequately address this issue, fully understand where we are as a city, how our operations are impacting our neighbors, not only in the city of Chester but regionally, and really figure out how we reduce waste in our stream and downstream as well. This is an exceedingly important issue to the health, the wellness, cleanliness of another regional partner in the city of Chester. This is something that we must continue to look for alternative ways around waste management and we intend to do just that as we move forward. So again, I want to thank you all for your willingness to be a part of this conversation. This is just the beginning. We will await the additional information in writing to this Committee and it will be disseminated to the members of the Committee so that we have full information as we move forward. So again, I thank you all for your participation today. We value each of your opinions. This will conclude the business before this Committee today, the Committee on the Environment. Thank you all so very much for your attention. Have a great day. (Hearing concluded at 3:19 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL