Cancer fear over plans for £50m waste plant

4,500 sign petition as GP warns of heart attacks, asthma and depression
Paul Kelbie
The Observer,
Sunday October 5 2008

A plan to develop a waste-to-energy plant in Aberdeenshire has sparked a massive protest campaign over fears it could cause health problems.
More than 4,500 people living in and around Peterhead have signed a petition against the £50million plant which developers Buchan Combined Heat and Power Ltd claim will burn a third of the north-east of Scotland's rubbish and produce enough power for approximately 10,000 homes. Six hundred letters of objection have been submitted against the proposal.
Residents are concerned it will spew a deadly mixture of chemicals over the area, causing increased rates of cancer, heart attacks, clinical depression, autism, asthma and coronary heart disease. Their fears have been fuelled by a retired GP from South Wales, Dick Van Steenis, who claims research into similar plants in other parts of the country has demonstrated an alarming rise in serious illnesses in surrounding communities.
'The company's own environmental statement says it will emit arsenic and dioxins which are highly carcinogenic. One of the main things it emits apart from mercury, arsenic, cobalt, and lead is particulate matter,' said John Askey, a father of two who organised the petition. 'Particulate matter are very fine particles. In a smog you get very big particles, but it's the fine ones you can't see that cause an awful lot of illnesses like heart disease, eczema, asthma and cancer.
'Buchan already has the highest cancer, heart disease and stroke rate in the whole of Grampian, so we don't want this incinerator adding to our woes by blowing these fine particles over Peterhead.' Concerns about the plant have also been raised by NHS Grampian and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency which both questioned the suitability of the proposed location of the plant on an industrial site outside Peterhead.
In a submission to Aberdeenshire Council's planning department, NHS officials said they were concerned that the incinerator will be located right beside a children's nursery and less than a mile from the small community of Invernettie.
However, Buchan CHP insists that, if its plant goes ahead, there will be no significant risk to human health, and its director, Glenn Jones, has insisted that any emissions will be 'no more dangerous than those from a domestic car or a wood-burning stove'.
'All our research and documentation are based on fact and in-depth analysis of the process and the technology,' said a spokesman. 'We would be very interested to see Van Steenis's research papers and analysis and find out where it has been reviewed by experts or peer-reviewed by recognised academics.
'These plants are operating cleanly, safely and effectively in Shetland, Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavia, among many other places. Contrary to what a handful of objectors are saying, the plant will not use gas to support the burning of waste; ash and emissions from the plant will not affect human health or local water supplies and monitoring of the emissions will be a continual and robust process.'