Cornell officials have offered to create a Community Advisory Committee to participate in additional review processes, not required by state regulations, that will help guide design and construction of an upgraded replacement incinerator for the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Cornell's proposal, made on July 30 to the Forest Home Improvement Association and other community organiza tions, was made in response to concerns expressed at a June 24 community meeting on the proposed incinerator up grade. At that meeting, Cornell and state officials briefed the public on the status of the project and responded to questions and concerns, particularly relating to the proposed incinera tion of regulated medical waste, including plastics.
"The university and the College of Veterinary Medicine have been determined, from the beginning of this project in 1991, to protect the health and safety of the members of this community not only the residents of surrounding neigh borhoods but also the thousands of our students, faculty, staff and visitors in close proximity to the facility," said Franklin M. Loew, dean of the college. "We are determined to accomplish this objective while simultaneously meeting our statewide responsibilities for both animal and human public health. We are offering these additional processes in good faith and in acknowledgment of the serious concerns of members of our communities. We, too, are committed to ensuring the safety and welfare of the community."
The action steps Cornell has volunteered to take in constructing a state-of-the-art incinerator to replace its existing, decade-old incinerator include the following:
· The university proposes the creation of a Community Advisory Committee to participate in the development and implementation of additional review processes. Committee membership would include, but not be limited to, represen tatives from the Forest Home Improvement Association, the Tompkins County Board of Representatives, the Ithaca Town Board and Cornell environmental staff. The Community Advisory Committee would be actively engaged in reviewing the scope of the proposed new studies, their findings and the opportunities for public examination and discussion of those findings. Cornell liaison for the Community Advisory Committee will be Robert R. Bland, P.E., university environmental engineer.
· Cornell will develop a formal decision-making process based on the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process. The subject for this review would be the proposed action: "incineration of conventional Regulated Medical Waste (c-RMW) in the proposed College of Veteri nary Medicine incinerator." The action is based upon the assumption that the incinerator will be built as proposed and will incinerate pathological waste and animal remains clas sified as RMW. The option to incinerate plastic-based c -RMW will be the action that is evaluated. An analysis will be written by a consultant retained by Cornell. Faculty from the Cornell Center for the Environment will be asked to review the scientific validity of the analysis. The College of Veterinary Medicine will develop the analysis, issue find ings and make a decision either to implement the action or pursue alternatives.
· Cornell recognizes community concern about the air -model methodology, based on data from the Syracuse area, used in environmental assessment of the proposed project. To assess the relevance of the Syracuse data, the State University Construction Fund (SUCF), the lead agency on the project, will compare the model results using local Game Farm Road Weather Station data with the model based on Syracuse data and discussed with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).
"We understand that the local Ithaca data may or may not be accepted for the formal permit application considered by the Department of Environmental Conservation, but we believe that this information may be useful to the department as well as to the university and the local community in further evaluating the ambient air quality aspects of the project," the Cornell statement said.
·SUCF will re-evaluate the use of the "urban" versus "rural" designation used to characterize the topography in the model. It is important to note in this regard that the principal change from a rural to an urban designation is not the consideration of how many people may be affected by the antici pated emissions but rather the size and scale of surrounding physical structures and their potential impact on wind flows.
·SUCF will forward all information on air quality modeling to NYSDEC for its review and will ask NYSDEC to postpone its determination that the air quality permit applica tion is complete until NYSDEC has had an opportunity to examine this additional meteo rological data and to consider whatever changes may result from the utilization of an "urban" designation in the air quality model.
·The college's review of existing technologies has determined that incineration is the only available, practical method of disposal for the college's pathological wastes and for those animal remains that are now classified as Regulated Medical Waste remains that are either known to be or may possibly be infected and dangerous to hu mans. A written statement of this analysis will be prepared and made available to the public. The nature and volume of this material is such that no alternative disposal mechanism allowed in New York state is as safe and appropriate as incineration, espe cially for the individuals who must come in contact with the material.
·Cornell will support the current permit applications that provide for the incinera tion of RMW, but concurrently will review the college's alternatives to incineration of conventional RMW. This review will be undertaken in consultation with local residents and public officials. If it is determined that better alternatives are available, then c -RMW will not be included in the incinerator waste stream even though such a practice might have been permitted by the state.
·Cornell will continue to document an inventory of RMW sources and prepare an RMW Waste Management and Minimization Plan to assure that RMW is generated and handled according to regulations and also to protect workers and the public, and to minimize generation of RMW.
A complete version of a report to the campus and the community on the proposed replacement incinerator project can be accessed at the Cornell News Service Web page, under Special Features, at http://www.news.cornell.edu.