Up in Oregon, there is a plant that seems to offer solutions to at least two of the problems concerning the environmentally conscious citizens – waste disposal and energy generation.
Since 1987, a company known as Covanta, in cooperation with Marion County, has been turning municipal waste into electricity. According to its website, Covanta Marion processes 550 tons per day of municipal solid waste, generating up to 13 megawatts of energy which is then sold to Portland General Electric. The facility also processes about 700 tons of in-county medical waste each year and about 1,200 tons from elsewhere, making it a small percentage of the total waste burned. Out-of-town medical waste is charged a higher fee.
It is an elegant solution that has worked well for over a quarter of a century, but it is now in jeopardy – all because the B. C. Catholic, a Vancouver based newspaper, reported that the plant was burning Canadian medical waste that included aborted fetuses!
The Marion County Board of Commissioners is moving to ban the practice immediately.
Apparently, even in super-liberal Oregon, burning unwanted babies to light your house is just too creepy.
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