Friday, October 16, 2015

LCSWMA Board of Directors

1299 Harrisburg Pike
Lancaster, PA 17603
Ladies and Gentlemen:
My name is Mike Martin. I am Chairman of the Hellam Township board of
supervisors. Thank you for providing Vice Chair Steve Wolf and myself the
opportunity to address you this morning on a topic of mutual interest and
concern: the proposed Perdue soybean processing facility to be located
adjacent to your mass burn facility in Conoy Township, which is directly
upwind of Hellam Township .
First I need to state clearly and unequivocally that misinformation printed by
LNP and statements made by Perdue that Hellam Township has "doggedly"
opposed this plant are patently false. Nothing could be further from the truth.
While we recognize that with this plant, as with all things, there are both pros
and cons, Hellam Township has - from day one - strongly supported the
construction of this plant. Our reasoning for supporting the plant is quite
simple and quite clear. This is at least the third buyer you have proposed for
this site. The previous two posed potentially higher risks to our air quality.
Frankly we're worried about what might be proposed next as a development
opportunity if the Perdue plant is not built.
What Hellam Township has consistently opposed is the dumping of 208 tons
of hexane into our air. 208 tons is more than four times the amount allowed
in an air quality "non-attainment" area such as we are in. Our air is already
among the worst in the nation in terms of both fine particulates and ozone
contamination. Just south of the proposed plant site is the Armstrong Ceiling
Tile plant which is the largest single point source of VOC's in Lancaster
County. VOC's are a class of organic compounds that include hexane, and
which combine with nitrogen oxides in the presence of sunlight to create
ground level ozone which inflames and damages lung tissue.
To make matters worse, some large emitters of nitrogen oxides are located
just north of the proposed Perdue site: Brunner Island coal fired electric
generation plant, and your mass burn facility.
The coup de grace is a study by Millersville University that found there are
temperature inversions that trap pollutants close to the ground where
residents must breathe them on 311 days per year.
Using American Lung Association statistics for York County extrapolated for
Hellam Township we find that almost one in six of our residents suffers from

asthma or COPD.
Accordingly, it is only common sense for Hellam Township to attempt to work
cooperatively with Perdue to reduce or eliminate the hexane emissions from
their proposed plant, and that is exactly what we have attempted to do. We
searched for alternative mechanisms of soybean oil extraction and found
several. All current soybean oil extraction plants in Pennsylvania use what is
called the "expeller" method, which basically squeezes the oil out by spinning
the crushed beans. Perdue says they don't want to use that.
Our research turned up another method that combines the cold expeller
process with steam. Even if Perdue would have to generate its own steam,
which it would not have to do if the plant were to be built next to your mass
burn facility, the steam expeller process is more cost-efficient than the
hexane approach to oil extraction. But again, Perdue said they're not
interested, even though two steam expeller units would duplicate or exceed
the production capacity they plan for the site.
Finally we looked for ways to reduce the hexane that would be emitted. We
found a very commonly used pollution control device called a regenerative
thermal oxidizer abbreviated RTO. This device burns off the hexane. This is
the device that the American Lung Association and Hellam Township are
currently urging the DEP to require. Interestingly one of DEP's own engineers
has already stated that if Perdue were to use an RTO most DEP technical
issues would be addressed. And various engineers have stated that Perdue's
objections about safety and feasibility are without merit. Indeed, an RTO was
originally intended to be installed in Prairie Pride's soybean processing plant
in Missouri.
In a recent LNP article it was reported that your spokeswoman, Kathryn
Sandoe, said that the authority has concerns about unnecessary fossil-fuel
emissions - i.e., carbon dioxide - from the regenerative thermal oxidizer
Hellam Township is insisting upon. This is a bit odd, as for 2013 it was
reported that your mass burn incinerator was responsible for 414,466 tons of
CO2 emissions, which is 44% of the CO2 emitted in all of Lancaster County.
The RTO would add only 3,005 tons. Hellam Township's consultant, Osman
Environmental, responds, So LCSWMAs position is that they would prefer to
see emissions of hexane, a neurotoxin and volatile organic compound,
increase in Lancaster County by 2,222% rather than have CO2 emissions
increase by 0.3%.
There are other alternatives for eliminating the hexane without an RTO.
Current plans call for both steam and water to be piped to the proposed
Perdue plant from your mass burn incinerator. The exhausted hexane could
be piped back to the mass burn incinerator and burned by that facility for a

real win/win.
Perdue also says an RTO would cost too much, but it would cost only a
fraction of the $8.75 million tax payer dollars Perdue has been promised by
the State of Pennsylvania. An RTO is eminently affordable and is a very
reasonable and responsible solution that will help protect the health of the
people we serve.
Last week Hellam Township Supervisors received a threatening letter from
Alex Henderson of the Lancaster law firm, Hartman Underhill and Brubaker,
LLP (HUB) which represents you. Not knowing whether or not this board
authorized the sending of this letter knowing its explicit content, I can only
say I certainly hope not.
I have taken the time to review the brief online bios of each LCSWMA board
member and based on those bios I can't imagine that you knew what was in
the letter we received from Mr. Henderson. The letter began stating a desire
on your part to "reach out" to Hellam Township. Now that sounds cordial
enough, but ladies and gentlemen, may I suggest that if you were sincere in
your desire to "reach out" to Hellam Township you would not "reach out" with
a letter from your law firm, nor would a letter from you open with a nonsequitur and end with a threat. It is clear that such a letter is certain to be
seen as a club, not an invitation to dialogue.
Moreover, authority CEO Jim Warner, as reported by Ad Crable in LNP, stated,
"We think the township [Hellam Township] is going above and beyond in their
opposition and its impeding the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management
Authoritys business. Their actions are detrimental to every soybean farmer in
Lancaster County and its unfortunate. Now let's be honest, folks. Mr.
Warner's comments and the Henderson letter are most certainly not an
invitation to dialogue.
Mr. Warner was quoted in a second LNP article as stating that LCSWMA has
not even attempted to dialogue with Hellam Township. And yet the
Henderson letter condemns Hellam Township for not attempting to dialogue
with you and claims that if we do not make the attempt to dialogue then that
will be proof that Hellam Township is not "acting in good faith". So, by the
standard youre using to judge Hellam Township you yourselves are not
acting in good faith because as Mr. Warner clearly stated you have not
attempted to dialogue with Hellam Township.
Let's address the needs of the soybean farmers. What seems to have become
lost is the statement by Perdue that they are going to build the soybean
elevator and storage facility regardless of whether or not the soybean
processing facility is built. So, our local soybean growers will have a local
outlet for their soybeans regardless of whether or not hexane is dumped into

the air we all -including soybean farmers - breathe.

The Henderson letter goes into great detail about what a good steward of the
environment you are. But this invariably leads one to ask, then why do you
care not a whit about 208 tons of hexane, more than four times the permitted
amount, being dumped into our air?
The Henderson letter also says, The Authority does not understand why
Hellam Township would attempt to substitute it's [sic] judgment for that of
the DEP .... We're hearing that statement echoed from such a wide variety
of sources that it is very clear that statement, nonsensical as it is, is being
orchestrated - almost certainly by Perdue.
All Hellam Township has done has been to call DEP's attention to Perdue's
attempt to use an illegal approach to permitting, and to follow the laws of
Pennsylvania and the procedures of the DEP in providing comments on the
proposed Perdue air permit. If we are attempting to substitute our judgment
for that of the DEP then so is every other person and organization that
commented on the proposed Perdue permit, and so are you.
With regard to any appeals of whatever is decided initially by the DEP, it is
always possible that Hellam Township, citizens groups, Conoy Township,
Perdue or you may appeal. To suggest as the Henderson letter does that any
appeal by Hellam Township or any other party is somehow inappropriate
demonstrates blatant and highly irresponsible disrespect for the laws of
Pennsylvania and the basic rights to due process guaranteed to every one of
us by our legal framework, including our state and federal constitutions which
we have all taken an oath to support.
The Henderson letter stresses how confident you are of the DEP's ability to
make a correct determination regarding the Perdue application. Will that
confidence in the DEP continue if the DEP denies the Perdue application, or
would you then be inclined to attempt to substitute your judgment for the
judgment of the DEP by filing an appeal?
With regard to the length of the permitting process, DEP Secretary John
Quigley recently told the York Daily Record editorial board that Perdue's
permit application would receive a low grade because it did not meet the
basic requirements set forth for permit applications. The delays are not the
fault of Hellam Township, nor the fault of the DEP, but instead they are the
fault of Perdue and its consultants who seem to be more intent on attempting
to bully those who express concern about the air we breathe and on waging a
propaganda war in the press than they are in meeting basic permit
application requirements and working cooperatively with those who have
been attempting to work cooperatively with them, including Hellam Township.

Ladies and gentlemen our role yours as well as ours - is to attempt to

encourage people to involve themselves in government, not to threaten,
bully, and try to intimidate those who choose to participate. Your attempts to
intimidate and bully a small, neighboring municipality are highly
disappointing and disturbing.
In two places the Henderson letter identifies LCSWMA as a "municipality"
instead of a "municipal authority". Some of you may know that Pennsylvania
Municipal Code makes the health and safety of its residents the highest
priority of a municipality. While it is not in my power to bequeath municipality
status on LCSWMA, I never-the-less encourage you to take seriously the
charge Pennsylvania municipal code places on municipalities to make the
health and safety of our residents our highest priority.
I am a farmer, and there are, and have been, many farmers in my wife's and
my extended families. I very much appreciate the farmers' need of a good
market for their products. But I also appreciate the need we all have to
breathe. At the first public hearing on the proposed Perdue plant more than
125 people were present from both York and Lancaster counties. Virtually all
testified against Perdue's intent to emit more than 200 tons of hexane,
several in tears because of the difficulty breathing they and their loved ones
already experience.
We you, Perdue, Conoy Township, soybean growers and their associations,
and Hellam Township - we all owe it to our farmers, the residents we serve,
our families and ourselves to stop this cycle of blame, bullying, and
recrimination. Instead we must work together cooperatively and
imaginatively to find a way to make the proposed Perdue plant a reality
without further degradation of the air that we all must breathe.
I look forward to hearing from you - not your attorneys - on ways we can
continue the dialogue Hellam Township has attempted to initiate this
morning.
Thank you!

Michael C. Martin
Chairman, Hellam Township Board of Supervisors

Steve Wolf

Vice Chairman, Hellam Township Board of Supervisors