James M. Jeffords: “today I am introducing the Tire Derived Fuel Safety Act of 2005 to ensure that Americans living near pulp and paper…”

“today I am introducing the Tire Derived Fuel Safety Act of 2005 to ensure that Americans living near pulp and paper mills that burn tires for energy are protected from the potential harmful effects of air pollutants such as fine particulates. As the price of oil and natural gas continues to rise, U.S. manufacturing facilities are seeking alternative energy sources. Pulp and paper mills, in particular, are replacing these high cost energy sources with lower cost tire derived fuels or TDF due to its high- energy value. The burning of tires results in the emissions of particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, PCBs, arsenic, cadmium, nickel, zinc, mercury, chromium and vanadium. These air pollutants can have serious health impacts on the people living downwind of facilities when effective emissions control technologies are not used. Luckily, most U.S. pulp and paper mills that burn TDF have already installed electrostatic precipitators or fabric filters to control for fine particulate emissions. And, in fact, EPA's 1997 ``Air Emissions From Scrap Tire Combustion'' report states that it is not likely that a solid fuel combustor without add-on particulate controls--such as an ESP or fabric filter--could satisfy air emissions regulatory requirements in the United States.…”