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[Greenpeace Press Release from Environet -- Redistribute Freely]

GREENPEACE: TIRE-BURNING PROPOSAL 'POISON DISGUISED AS RECYCLING'  

        Protest Against Lonestar Cement Tuesday, Feb. 2  
 
SANTA CRUZ, California, January 28, 1993 (GP) - Lonestar Cement's  
plan to burn tires at its Davenport plant is environmental  
poison disguised as recycling, says Greenpeace, which will join  
with area residents Tuesday in a protest urging county officials  
to reject the proposal. 
 
     The protest and press conference will be at noon on Tuesday,  
Feb. 2, in front of the Santa Cruz County Governmental Center,  
701 Ocean Street in Santa Cruz.     
 
     At the protest, Greenpeace will call for the county to  
reject Lonestar's permit application, and will call for a full  
Environmental Impact Report to be conducted before any permit  
decision is made.  Greenpeace will also present to the County  
Planning Department letters signed by over 1,000 Santa Cruz-area 
residents who oppose the Lonestar proposal and want to be  
notified of upcoming public hearings on the controversial issue.  
 
     "Lonestar's plan to burn tires is a phony recycling scam  
that will poison our environment and communities," said Bradley  
Angel, a Greenpeace toxics campaigner.  "The facts are  
clear: When you burn tires you put highly toxic chemicals and  
heavy metals into the air, the ocean and our lungs." 
 
     Lonestar Cement has applied to Santa Cruz County for permits  
to begin burning tires as fuel in their cement kiln, and the  
project is currently being reviewed by the Monterey Bay Unified  
Air Pollution Control District.  Greenpeace and other  
environmental and community groups are alarmed at a growing  
trend of burning tires and hazardous waste in cement kilns,  
particularly due to concerns over the increased emissions of  
highly toxic chemicals into the environment. 
 
     According to Lonestar Cement's own test data, burning tires  
as a supplemental fuel will result in an overall increase of 
toxic emissions, including increased emissions of hexavalent 
chromium, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), toxic 
polycyclic aromatic compounds, nickel, benzene and iron.  Dioxins 
and furans will also be emitted from burning tires.