Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Agency disputes editorial

guest column

Jon Goldstein

The New Mexico Environment Department strongly disagrees with the views expressed in a recent editorial, "Burn ban is ill-conceived" (El Defensor Chieftain, Jan. 31).

We firmly believe that eliminating backyard trash burning is an important and needed way to protect the health of New Mexicans. The health risks from this burning are real and serious. Outdoor burning of trash produces a number of toxic chemicals including cancer-causing dioxins and PCBs. These dangerous substances don't break down in the environment, so they spread widely, and will negatively impact health and the environment for generations to come.

Studies indicate that just a few households burning trash can put more dioxin and PCBs into the air than a modern municipal waste incineration facility serving thousands of households. In addition to cancer, these trash-burning toxins are linked to reproductive problems and developmental problems in children.

Despite arguments made in your editorial to the contrary, backyard burning is a much greater threat to the environment and human health than the pollution produced by a vehicle hauling trash to a disposal site. Also, while illegal dumping is a problem in New Mexico, NMED does not advocate backyard burning as its solution. These are both harmful ways of disposing of trash, and neither is a good alternative to the other. We should be focusing our efforts on ensuring that all of New Mexicans have access to a trash disposal system that does the least harm to human health and the environment.

We have and will continue to make efforts to inform the public on this important issue. In addition to the issuance of press releases in January and June of 2003, notices were sent to county managers, the New Mexico Association of Counties, the New Mexico Municipal League, the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, and other organizations. Much information on this policy change has also been available on our web site.

We hope that as the new regulation's effective date approaches rural communities will work to make the necessary adjustments to their solid waste collection systems. We will continue to spread the word on these important new regulations as well as assist communities like those in Socorro County to better protect the health of their citizens now and in the future.

Jon Goldstein is Communications Director for the New Mexico Environment Department.

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