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Our Air is Your Air

Guess what? Joe Sullivan's "Blowing the Whistle on Bad Air" [Dec. 24] didn't speak to other sources of toxic pollutants; it's also the diesel trucks, planes, trains, marine vessels and the toxic air emissions stemming from dirty industrial processes!

As Gomer Pyle said many a time, "Surprise, surprise," and just in case you didn't know, Loudon County's ozone problem also contributes to Knox County's dirty air dilemma, thus being added to the EPA's non-attainment ozone status, which, by the way, comes primarily from vehicles but more specifically diesels and fuel coal industrial use from Loudon County!

For years, local officials have turned a deaf ear to residents' concerns and complaints about air quality and the sickening sweet odor that travels from the A.E. Staley (Tate & Lyle) Loudon plant, a manufacturer of ethanol (sixth in the nation, October 2003 source) and high fructose corn syrup. With each successive summer, the pungent odor has grown stronger and traveled yet longer miles.

At recent public meetings, citizens were told this manufacturer plans to expand and partner with another giant chemical polluter and to expect more pollution like ammonia and other unknown chemicals deemed proprietary. Employees from current facilities will fill about 25 specialty jobs.

The plant purportedly uses 700 tons of coal and 1,200 acres of corn per day that travel from the Midwest by barge. According to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) latest data, this plant is 12th out of 295 for facilities in all industries nationwide for acetaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Another company located in the same Loudon industrial park, Viscase, a food-casing manufacturer is fourth out of 121 facilities in all industries nationwide for carbon disulfide, a reproductive and development toxicant. Add to the mix a smelter (aluminum dust or fumes) and a supra multi-national company that incinerates sludge and wood by-products to generate steam for a Fortune 500 company, which also add particulates and dust to the air quality of the area.������

While consumers will be asked to do their part to clean up the dirty air dilemma by checking their auto emission tailpipes, the irony of it all is there are no plans by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to ask dirty industrial processes such as these that have openly admitted at public hearings using old 1980's emissions technology in some portions of their plant to upgrade to newer emission technology controls to help cut down on these harmful toxic air emissions.

At the same public hearings, a well-respected local pediatrician has repeatedly testified of increased respiratory ailments among our children. The doctor believes as emissions from nearby manufacturing plants increased, so have incidences of respiratory problems, which affect 60-70 percent of patients that he now sees. Our community is very concerned about the dirty air and related health problems, and so should you be, since air pollution has no boundaries and our community's health concerns might just be your heath concerns, too.

Pat Hunter
Lenoir City