The cumulative impacts of several incinerators will be added to our already high toxic air emissions. Minergy admits this plant is the first of its kind, which raises concerns about the accuracy of their predictions. The limits there were up to 100 times higher than originally proposed to the public. Persistent Toxics Flouride and lead are serious toxins which never break down once they've been released into the environment. In addition, many of the sludges are chlorinated and some are from recycling and de-inking operations which produce sludges contaminated with hundreds of inks, dyes, coatings, plastics, and other contaminants.
Many pigments contain toxic heavy metals.
Some chemicals, such as lead and mercury, will pass right through the baghouse as gases. Minergy would release into downtown Neenah each year. DNR is not requiring scrubbers to control these toxic releases. Minergy will also release more 1,077 tons per year of Hydrogen Chloride, some of which becomes hydrochloric acid on exposure to rain and melting snow. It will allow the paper mills to avoid their responsibilities for many more decades.