Sunday, April 22, 2001

By Fred Knapp, Stars and Stripes

Jason Carter / Stars and Stripes file photo Enviro-Tech's incinerator next to Atsugi Naval Air Facility will be shut down and dismantled by the end of the month.

ATSUGI NAVAL AIR FACILITY, Japan — Residents are breathing a sigh of relief after hearing that a dioxin-belching incinerator near the base here will close.

Herminia Thompkins, who lives in a high rise just a few hundred yards from the incinerator, welcomed the news that it would close.

"It’s good if they shut it off," she said.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Forces Japan expressed optimism Friday at news reports that the Japanese government had approved spending more than $40 million to buy the Enviro-Tech industrial waste incinerator, and another $7 million to dismantle it.

"I think we’re all ecstatic that it looks like the solution is in sight and it looks like there’s going to be relief for the Japanese public and for the Americans that are affected by this problem," said Col. Jeannette Minnich.

U.S. officials could not be reached Saturday after the Japanese government confirmed the news reports.

The announcement signals a major turning point in a controversy involving the U.S. and Japanese governments and the private Japanese company that operates the industrial waste incinerator just outside Atsugi Naval Air Facility.

For more than 12 years, the Navy has been documenting problems with emissions from the facility formerly known as the Jinkampo incinerator. Emissions of dioxin, which can cause cancer, were recorded at levels up to 70 times higher than those allowed by Japanese law.

Filters installed last year appear to have cut emissions, but they still "routinely" exceed permissible levels, the Navy said in February.

Reports Friday indicated Enviro-Tech would stop burning at the facility, which actually houses three incinerators, by the end of April, and dismantle it by the end of the year.

"I’ll believe it when I see it," said Victoria Martin, who lives in a apartment on base about a quarter-mile from the incinerator.

Martin said her daughter Essie, 3, had developed "mystery fevers" that she says appeared to be triggered by attending church near the incinerator. "Headaches have become routine for our family."

Emissions affect children in the nearby Child Development Center, said Mike Turner, who works there. "We don’t let the children out on (some) days when it’s really nice, because the air quality is very low," Turner said.

That happens more than three days per week sometimes, said Sheila McCoy, another center employee. When a restricted day is announced on the center’s intercom, "You can hear the moans and groans," Turner said.

Rachelle Shipman, who lives in the same building as Thompkins, said the incinerator did not have much effect on her family. "It’s just not a big deal to me," she said. "I don’t feel like it’s affected our health in any way."

Shipman said the Navy briefs families on the problem before they move in.

Another tower resident, Teresa Crane, and her husband had hesitated before moving in. Crane said the military required them to sign an agreement acknowledging that they knew the incinerator was there and could be hazardous.

Civilian employees who work in a nearby housing warehouse on base said the closure would be a definite improvement.

"Sometimes you gag if it’s early in the morning," said David Shook. "Sometimes it’s okay. I’ve (heard about) people throwing up on the golf course," he said, referring to the links a short distance away.

Norman Smith, another warehouse employee, said he had heard complaints of people leaving the base with bronchitis that they blamed on the plant’s emissions.

News of the incinerator’s pending shutdown Saturday reached Guam, where hundreds of members of the Atsugi-based Carrier Air Wing 5 are making a port visit aboard the USS Kitty Hawk.

"I hope it’s true. I never thought I’d see it happen in my lifetime at Atsugi," said Petty Officer 1st Class William Callahan.

"It’s like living next to a hazardous waste dump. You get sick to your stomach at least once a week."

Callahan said he didn’t know about the incinerator before he moved to Atsugi with his wife and child three years ago. He likes Japan but had planned to transfer elsewhere when his current tour ends next January.

"Now that I’ve heard (the incinerator) is closing, I’ll definitely extend," he said. "The fact that it’s taken this long to close is amazing. I’m glad they actually coughed up the money to do this."

It was not only base residents who were pleased with Friday’s news. Mayor Kazuyoshi Mikama of Ayase City, where the plant is located, cited citizens’ health concerns in welcoming the government’s decision to shut down Enviro-Tech, calling it a "drastic solution."

The incinerator has been a longstanding irritant in U.S.-Japanese relations. For years Japanese officials said the plant was operating legally and there was little they could do. However, The late Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi vowed in 1999 to resolve the problem.

Subsequent Japanese government efforts to deal with the problem had focused on paying for Enviro-Tech to build a higher smokestack to disperse its emissions, rather than having them billow toward the nearby area. But those efforts foundered last year on a dispute over whether the government or Enviro-Tech would own the $10 million, 100 meter stack.

The U.S. government has also sued in Japanese court in an attempt to shut the incinerator down. That lawsuit was still ongoing before Friday’s announcement, and Minnich said she did not know what its future would be.

Steve Liewer and Norio Muroi contributed to this report.

PREVIOUS STORIES:
          Apr. 21: Japanese government says incinerator will be closed
          Feb. 23: Navy, Japanese disagree on quality of air near Atsugi
          Feb. 22: Japan: Dioxin levels near Atsugi now acceptable

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