Growing Pains on the Old Mission Peninsula: A Philadelphia Story

(Editor’s Note: Neahtawanta resident Dennis Arouca writes the first in our new series called “Growing Pains on the Old Mission Peninsula.” Read more about it here, and feel free to send me your own stories about growth on the OMP – [email protected]. -jb)

My wife and I lived in Philadelphia from 1977 to 1999. Our two boys were born there, and we raised them in what most considered a good and popular neighborhood — homes, schools, parks, shopping, and a valued hospital. Some nurses, doctors and other staff who worked at the hospital also lived in this same neighborhood.

In the early 1990s, the hospital was growing and expanding. Energy consumption and costs would increase, and like most businesses, it looked to reduce other costs to make all the numbers work. A feature of the growth plan was a co-gen waste operation — incinerate waste to generate heat and electricity, while also creating a process for disposal. 

The waste stream for the incinerator was to include what is known in the medical industry as “red bag waste,” which is biohazardous waste, liquid or solid items contaminated with blood and other potentially infectious materials, including the plastics used in medical procedures.

The hospital asserted this project would be positive for the community, as it would eliminate truck transport of red bag waste through the neighborhood, and the entire operation would comply with all local, state and federal regulations.

Still, some felt all this did not add up. I was part of a neighbors group that dug into researching the hospital’s plan. The team included scientists, engineers, medical personnel, financial professionals and attorneys — all volunteers. Research revealed the hospital was indeed following all regulations, but that was not the entire story….

The process of burning red bag waste was standard industry practice at the time — there were more than 4500 such incinerators cross the country. But the process sent emissions into the air that created health risks for those nearby — think mercury and dioxin — and the burning of the plastics created volatile combinations leading to suspected carcinogens that could evade legally compliant scrubbers.     

There was a technology option that could address some of this — a second stage incineration at higher temperatures with better scrubbers, but this would cost more and change the economics of the project. 

The second step of the neighbors group was to send a report to the hospital for its comment. The team intentionally kept it low key but professional; there was no desire to damage the hospital’s reputation out of the box, which might have made constructive dialogue impossible.

After deliberation and community dialogue, the hospital revised its growth proposal and continued the surface transport of the red bag waste to off-site professional incinerators specializing in handling red bag waste in a safer and more environmentally-friendly way. It further agreed to consult with the neighbors group on the time and manner of taking waste away to proper professional disposal, and on other topics.

During all this, we had no knowledge that we were part of a gathering storm for communities dealing with red bag waste. Science was improving, regulators noticed, new disposal options emerged, and incinerators burning red bag waste declined from 4500 in the 1990s to only 57 by 2010. For details on that journey, click here.

How does this relate to growth on the Old Mission Peninsula? A few thoughts…

• Facts matter, especially when your neighborhood’s health and safety is at risk. 

• Science, and what is “good and safe practice,” continually evolves and is not static.

• Just because a group is free to do something under today’s law, does not make it the right choice for your community, especially when health and safety are at stake.

• The tool kit for volunteer neighborhood groups seeking to influence change includes tapping into the knowledge and experience of fellow citizens. Such groups can be as — or more — effective than a single resident at a microphone or in a letter.

• It is important to develop close relationships with local businesses and other institutions, understand the drivers of their businesses, and be open to helping them succeed. We are all in this together, especially on environmental, health and safety matters.

• We all — OMP residents, businesses and other groups — benefit from thinking through the impact of our actions on all stakeholders. Doing the legal minimum or getting a court order does not mean there are no adverse effects that could be avoided or mitigated through other measures.

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