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"I'm originally from Missouri, and I want proof," said Mark Kastel, a Vernon County activist who spoke to the Lower North Side and Depot Neighbors Group on Wednesday night at St. Luke's United Methodist Church.
About 50 people listened to environmentalists and county officials debate the safety of French Island's emissions for about two hours. Chairman Jerry Swim said his group will decide soon whether to take a position on the controversial incinerator, which has been in violation of the Clean Air Act since late 2000.
Xcel officials were notified of the meeting but were not invited to be featured speakers like Kastel and attorney Melissa Scanlan, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates.
Xcel on Tuesday took county board members and the media on a tour of the plant, which is in the midst of a $14.4 million renovation. La Crosse County is paying $10.9 million to install new pollution-control equipment intended to bring the plant into compliance with the Clean Air Act.
Recent Environmental Protection Agency figures show French Island emitted 28 grams of dioxin, almost half the dioxin emissions reported in Wisconsin in 2000. Xcel officials say French Island gets unfairly singled out because other incinerators don't have to report their emissions.
Scanlan said the technology Xcel is installing at the plant isn't the technology that the Clean Air Act requires. While the alternative controls being installed might reduce emissions enough to comply with the law, Scanlan said it "hasn't been proven to work" as well as the other equipment.
Xcel officials have said that the equipment being installed will take care of all the plant's problems and will exceed Clean Air Act standards.
Three county board supervisors attended the meeting. Two defended Xcel.
"I live in the shadow of the plant," said Supervisor Jim Moe, who represents the North Side of La Crosse. He called problems at the plant "past history. This place is really coming around."
"We need to use common sense. We don't need fear tactics," said Supervisor Mitzi Parr, a member of the county board's Solid Waste Committee.
Supervisor Don Bina, who farms on St. Josephs Ridge, asked questions about dioxin, which is a concern to dairy farmers because it gets into cows' milk. "If you have problems, I want to know more about it," he said.
Scanlan and Kastel challenged the supervisors to get figures from Xcel about the plant's emissions as soon as the improvements are completed later this year.
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