FUSE: Friends United for a
Safe
Environment Aug.12, 2005
FUSE, Inc.
Friends United for a Safe Environment
Post Office Box 85
Friday, August 12, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Barry Blackmon
(903) 838-6806
James Presley
(903) 792-2321
FUSE Opposes Avery Landfill
Proposal
Texarkana-based Friends
United for a Safe Environment (FUSE, Inc.)
announces its
opposition to a proposed
landfill near
The FUSE decision came
after a vote of it's officers and board of directors.
"We support the
leaders of the City of
citizens who
have responded magnificently to the potential threat to their
well-being and
property values." said Barry Blackmon, FUSE president,
a former
resident of
"Like too many other
such proposals, this one was
cooked up
behind the scenes, keeping residents in
the dark
until they
learned of it via word-of-mouth reports.
This is improper,
irregular,
unfair, and undemocratic. Any move affecting residents
should be
proposed openly and never fly below the public radar."
Blackmon pointed out that
targeting
landfill is a
familiar pattern followed in sitting other unwanted
projects.
Previous industry studies, known to environmental groups, have
suggested placing
such facilities in rural or small communities whose
residents are
older, have lived there more than 20 years, with
conservative
philosophy, and are farmers or ranchers.
"These guidelines seem
to fit
Blackmon.
"Most recently, a similar targeting was used in
the failed
attempt to place yet another creosote treating plant
in
southern
"FUSE" , said Blackmon, is also concerned that an initially
small
landfill could
turn into a much different and large operation."
"There are
suggestions, based on public reports and a draft of the
application that
the facility would receive medical waste and use
an
incinerator. As FUSE has made perfectly clear in the past,
incineration creates
more health problems than it solves. The
incineration of
medical wastes, because of volume of chlorine-
based
plastics and other materials, may create dioxins and other
compounds that
pollute the air and cause serious perils to
human and
animal health."
"We believe the best
use of the
application would
be to shred it and recycle the paper into
something more
useful."