Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - January 2006
Comments? send them to the editor.
Letters to the Editor
RE: Wacky scare and breakthough,
November 2005 editorial
Dear Tom:
I really like your editorial on trucking
garbage to Detroit. That is the worst environmental
situation as you state, and anyone
who ever looked underneath a landfill
would be ashamed to reject the idea of
incineration. I challenge every young ‘environmentalist’
to show that incineration is
not better than driving an ‘incinerator on
wheels’ full of garbage to Detroit, and then
dumping it in a ‘slow-burning incinerator’
(producing methane instead of carbon dioxide)
which pollutes our water resource. It is
a political thing, however, with the wrong
message getting to our politicians.
Craig Jowett, Ph.D., P.Eng.
President, Waterloo
Biofilter Systems
Rockwood ON
Dear Tom:
Just read your editorial in the ESE magazine
and concur with your assessment of
the issue. As the former Chief Engineer of
the Engineering Division of the now
defunct Metro Works Department I have
seen all the issues you detailed in your article.
I maintained for years that incineration
of waste products can be done safely with
the technology available today. However it
was always put aside as politically not
acceptable. I personally was involved in
harnessing the methane from the 3 landfill
sites in the GTA and although we finally
succeeded in collecting the methane and
utilizing it in power plants at all 3 locations,
it was an extremely difficult process mainly
due to political interference and could
have been achieved years earlier if the
politicians would have stayed on the side
lines.
I remember the shutdown of the
Commissioner Street incinerators and when
that was done the statement by environmental
activists at the last meeting “saying on to
the next issue, the Ashbridges Bay sludge
incinerators". The end results speak for
themselves.
Garbage and sludge incineration is done
safely all over Europe but we only listen to
the activists.
Loved your article.
Leo Sweers P.Eng.
Toronto, Ontario
Dear Tom:
I was pleasantly surprised to read your
article on our company on the occasion of
Summa Engineering’s 25th anniversary and
also demonstrating our efforts on behalf of
the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
We were pleased to promote the cause
of the Heart and Stroke Foundation and we
hope that our example will be followed by
other business entities.
Tom, both Fernando and I would like to
extend our sincere gratitude for this recognition
Frank Cosentino
Vice President
Summa Engineering Limited
Dear Steve and Penny:
Hi could you pass this article on to Tom
as I quoted him in my paper and thought he
might enjoy reading this. The paper is in the
first proof with some minor editorial
changes to come. BTW, JPER is one of the
top planning journals in the world.
100% post-consumer electronics from...
Chuck Hostovsky, PhD, MCIP
Assistant Professor -
Urban & Environmental Planning
Department of Geography
St. Cloud State University (Minnesota)
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