Stop Proposed Medical Waste Treatment Facility in Follansbee, WV
The Issue
This is a petition in opposition to the establishment of a pyrolysis facility proposed for disposing of medical waste in Follansbee, WV.
Follansbee Council approved a building permit for construction of the facility in the spring of 2022. In a statement to the Weirton Daily Times, Mayor David Velegol stated “It’s not incineration. It’s a closed system that doesn’t produce emissions." However, the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a formal notice on December 2, 2022 that the company has applied for an AIR QUALITY PERMIT.
This is the exact same facility that was proposed and denied by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in 2021.
While the Council says the facility is not an incinerator, the application to DEP includes documentation that identifies the technology as incineration, including incineration attachments and plans to handle “incinerate only” medical waste. Additionally, the proposal includes plans to manufacture a syngas from the medical waste to power the equipment as a fuel source.
Therefore, this facility is in direct violation of Section 11.2 of the West Virginia Infectious Medical Waste Rule (64CSR56), which states “A commercial infectious medical waste management facility may not utilize incineration technology in any form, including the manufacture or burning of refuse-derived fuel in any form.” Wikipedia defines Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) as a fuel produced from various types of waste.
The application lacks detailed information on how the medical waste received by the facility would be spot-checked to ensure contents matched the inventory list or if there would be any measuring tools to ensure no radioactive material has made its way into the sealed containers.
Additionally, the application states that no medical waste would be stored on site, however page 39 states that the facility would receive 5 truckloads of medical waste per day, but on page 248 the application states that 70 tons/day equates to only 4 truckloads. There are no storage plans for the additional truckload of medical waste and no storage plans for rejected medical waste that could not be processed by the facility. On page 162 of the application, “yes” is checked for “Is all medical waste generated on site?” which does not align with the 5 proposed truckloads of medical waste arriving at the facility per day. Concerningly, the question “Is any waste received from outside the local government government boundary” is left completely blank when the City’s notice for the meeting on Dec. 14 states that “Residents need to know that all the medical waste to be treated originates outside the City of Follansbee, with the majority coming from outside the state of West Virginia.”
Residents near a pharmaceutical waste only pyrolysis facility in New Mexico, reportedly complained of strong odors from the facility. Questions surrounded whether they were taking anatomical and human waste, and that facility renegotiated contracts as a “primary incineration company.” The proposed facility in Follansbee states on page 38 that it WILL be accepting pathological/anatomical waste, human waste, blood and blood products, animal waste, chemical waste, etc.
This proposed facility is within 1,962 ft from the Follansbee Baseball fields, 2,101 ft from a neighborhood, 3,215 ft from the Follansbee Park, and 3,661 ft from the Follansbee Intermediate School North. This type of facility should not be located within a community, but rather an area where potential toxins have the ability to dissipate before reaching our families.
Concerned citizens should sign this petition, contact the DEP with questions, and raise concerns to their local, state, and federal leaders.
DEP: Ed Andrews, 304-926-0499, ext. 41244, edward.s.andrews@wv.gov
Follansbee City Council:
- 1st Ward – Tammy Johnson, 304-527-7065
- 2nd Ward – Charles McCoy, 304-794-6983, McCoy4Follansbee@gmail.com
- 3rd Ward –Nick Cekinovich, 304-400-3220, ncekinovich@follansbeewv.gov
- 4th Ward – Alexis Russell, 304-527-2615, aaruss70@gmail.com
- 5th Ward –Wendy DeAngelis, 304-670-1223, wdeangelis@follansbeewv.gov
- Council-at-Large –John Casinelli Sr., 304-670-6549, jcasinelli@cronimet.com
WV State Legislators:
- House 1st District - Pat McGeehan, (304) 374-7018, pat.mcgeehan@wvhouse.gov
- House 1st District - Mark Zatezalo, (304) 340-3120, mark.zatezalo@wvhouse.gov
- House 2nd District - Phillip W. Diserio, (304) 340-3367, phillip.diserio@wvhouse.gov
- Senate 1st District - Owens Brown, (304) 357-7918, owens.brown@wvsenate.gov
- Senate 1st District - Ryan W. Weld, (304) 357-7984, ryan.weld@wvsenate.gov
WV Federal Legislators:
- House 1st District - David McKinle, 304-232-3801, https://mckinley.house.gov/contact/
- Senate - Joe Manchin, 304-342-5855, common_sense@manchin.senate.gov
- Senate - Shelley Moore Capito, 304-347-5372, https://www.capito.senate.gov/contact/contact-my-office
982
The Issue
This is a petition in opposition to the establishment of a pyrolysis facility proposed for disposing of medical waste in Follansbee, WV.
Follansbee Council approved a building permit for construction of the facility in the spring of 2022. In a statement to the Weirton Daily Times, Mayor David Velegol stated “It’s not incineration. It’s a closed system that doesn’t produce emissions." However, the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a formal notice on December 2, 2022 that the company has applied for an AIR QUALITY PERMIT.
This is the exact same facility that was proposed and denied by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in 2021.
While the Council says the facility is not an incinerator, the application to DEP includes documentation that identifies the technology as incineration, including incineration attachments and plans to handle “incinerate only” medical waste. Additionally, the proposal includes plans to manufacture a syngas from the medical waste to power the equipment as a fuel source.
Therefore, this facility is in direct violation of Section 11.2 of the West Virginia Infectious Medical Waste Rule (64CSR56), which states “A commercial infectious medical waste management facility may not utilize incineration technology in any form, including the manufacture or burning of refuse-derived fuel in any form.” Wikipedia defines Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) as a fuel produced from various types of waste.
The application lacks detailed information on how the medical waste received by the facility would be spot-checked to ensure contents matched the inventory list or if there would be any measuring tools to ensure no radioactive material has made its way into the sealed containers.
Additionally, the application states that no medical waste would be stored on site, however page 39 states that the facility would receive 5 truckloads of medical waste per day, but on page 248 the application states that 70 tons/day equates to only 4 truckloads. There are no storage plans for the additional truckload of medical waste and no storage plans for rejected medical waste that could not be processed by the facility. On page 162 of the application, “yes” is checked for “Is all medical waste generated on site?” which does not align with the 5 proposed truckloads of medical waste arriving at the facility per day. Concerningly, the question “Is any waste received from outside the local government government boundary” is left completely blank when the City’s notice for the meeting on Dec. 14 states that “Residents need to know that all the medical waste to be treated originates outside the City of Follansbee, with the majority coming from outside the state of West Virginia.”
Residents near a pharmaceutical waste only pyrolysis facility in New Mexico, reportedly complained of strong odors from the facility. Questions surrounded whether they were taking anatomical and human waste, and that facility renegotiated contracts as a “primary incineration company.” The proposed facility in Follansbee states on page 38 that it WILL be accepting pathological/anatomical waste, human waste, blood and blood products, animal waste, chemical waste, etc.
This proposed facility is within 1,962 ft from the Follansbee Baseball fields, 2,101 ft from a neighborhood, 3,215 ft from the Follansbee Park, and 3,661 ft from the Follansbee Intermediate School North. This type of facility should not be located within a community, but rather an area where potential toxins have the ability to dissipate before reaching our families.
Concerned citizens should sign this petition, contact the DEP with questions, and raise concerns to their local, state, and federal leaders.
DEP: Ed Andrews, 304-926-0499, ext. 41244, edward.s.andrews@wv.gov
Follansbee City Council:
- 1st Ward – Tammy Johnson, 304-527-7065
- 2nd Ward – Charles McCoy, 304-794-6983, McCoy4Follansbee@gmail.com
- 3rd Ward –Nick Cekinovich, 304-400-3220, ncekinovich@follansbeewv.gov
- 4th Ward – Alexis Russell, 304-527-2615, aaruss70@gmail.com
- 5th Ward –Wendy DeAngelis, 304-670-1223, wdeangelis@follansbeewv.gov
- Council-at-Large –John Casinelli Sr., 304-670-6549, jcasinelli@cronimet.com
WV State Legislators:
- House 1st District - Pat McGeehan, (304) 374-7018, pat.mcgeehan@wvhouse.gov
- House 1st District - Mark Zatezalo, (304) 340-3120, mark.zatezalo@wvhouse.gov
- House 2nd District - Phillip W. Diserio, (304) 340-3367, phillip.diserio@wvhouse.gov
- Senate 1st District - Owens Brown, (304) 357-7918, owens.brown@wvsenate.gov
- Senate 1st District - Ryan W. Weld, (304) 357-7984, ryan.weld@wvsenate.gov
WV Federal Legislators:
- House 1st District - David McKinle, 304-232-3801, https://mckinley.house.gov/contact/
- Senate - Joe Manchin, 304-342-5855, common_sense@manchin.senate.gov
- Senate - Shelley Moore Capito, 304-347-5372, https://www.capito.senate.gov/contact/contact-my-office
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on December 4, 2022