Burning of waste offers solution

  In regard to the June 22 Editor's Notebook by Terry Ross about solar power projects by Arizona Public Service, the company will no doubt be responsive to federal mandates on alternative power sources. It is equally an opportunity for the "bottom-line" of the Pinnacle West Corporation to be enhanced and at what cost to the APS customers?

  During the tenure of Jimmy Carter, the cost of energy was addressed by focusing on conservation. The speed limit on Interstate 8 was reduced to 55 miles per hour; it was even enforced. There was an electric vehicle demonstration program. Vehicles with zero pollution could be recharged overnight, when APS was producing power that no one was using.

  Also, there was a beginning of consideration for converting solid waste to electricity or steam energy. The technology was not new, but had been generally ignored by the energy companies in America.

  Currently, the city of Phoenix hauls solid waste to a landfill south of Buckeye. The city of Los Angeles hauls solid waste to the Glamis area northwest of Yuma.

  The city of Yuma, under the leadership of former Mayor Marilyn Young and City Administrator Joyce Wilson, decided to enter into a very long agreement to have solid waste hauled to a transfer station and thence to the landfill at Copper Mountain.

  If the solid waste of the metropolitan areas of Phoenix, Los Angeles, Tucson, and San Diego were transported by rail to the greater Yuma area, it could be reduced to almost zero by burning - with the remainder being land-filled with no adverse effect of the environment.

  Low cost electricity could be produced and distributed locally, low cost steam and electricity would be available to the proposed refinery in the greater Wellton area and the existing landfills could be 'mined' for high BTU content and added to the solid waste stream.

  The cities of Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego and Los Angeles would pay a "tipping fee" that would further reduce the cost of the electric and steam energy delivered to the users, residential and commercial.

  The sad part of this story is that the City Charter of the city of Yuma allows the city to own and operate an appropriate "waste-to-energy" plant. Given that our elected officials Mayor Larry Nelson and council members Ross Hieb, Raul Mendoza, and Ema Lea Shoop want to commit the city to incurring a debt for the proposed events center and Mayor Nelson draws his retirement from Pinnacle West, there is no interest in the city of Yuma for protecting its citizens from corporate greed.

  Who speaks for you?

JACK KRETZER
Yuma