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您好！首先，请您接受我们这群普通美国公民送上的诚挚问候和祝福！

由于我们有一些鉴别德梅尔里斯教授种种言论的经验，并饱受卡万塔公司在美国运营的垃圾焚烧厂污染危害之苦，所以很想在您做出和这些人或公司建立合作关系并提议在广州建设许多座垃圾焚烧厂之前，将我们的种种关切与您分享。

我们熟悉的卡万塔公司和它的污染记录

卡万塔曾是美国密歇根州底特律垃圾焚烧厂的运营者和小股东，并通过它与市政部门签订的20年合约盈利。此合约要求底特律市政部门定量给它运送垃圾并支付事先约定好的处理费用。迄今为止，这一焚烧厂给底特律公民带来了12亿美元的财政负担，并加重了该城市的空气污染水平——底特律的空气质量持续超出美国国家环境空气质量标准，并最终导致当地人民哮喘发病率居高不下。2009年，底特律人民因哮喘就医的可能性三倍于密歇根其他地区，而居住在卡万塔垃圾焚烧厂周边的儿童因哮喘就医的比率也特别的高。2010年，在此焚烧厂短暂关闭后，卡万塔将其出售。虽然这座焚烧厂在转移所有权后又重新启用，但最关键的事实的是，该厂给底特律人民带来的只有污染和债务，并严重抑制了该地区建立垃圾循环利用和堆肥体系的努力。

而在新泽西，2010年10月，公民团体Ironbound Community Corporation和GreenFaith也在法律行动中，迫使卡万塔能源在其焚烧厂安装新的污染控制设备，改善其运行程序，并为纽瓦克Ironbound社区的社区发展计划支付87.5万美元。其原因就是该公司数百次触犯了《美国联邦清洁空气法》中关于二氧化硫、一氧化碳及细微颗粒物排放限值的规定。此外，卡万塔公司纽瓦克垃圾焚烧厂是新泽西州最大的垃圾焚烧厂，其大气汞排放量比该州其他任何一座焚烧厂都多。而我们非常清楚，汞是一种作用很强的神经毒素。（相关报道参见:http://greenfaith.org/media/press-releases/ironbound-community-corporation-and-greenfaith-announce-settlement）

事实上，汞排放问题在去年卡万塔公司向纽约州政府申请将其焚烧厂列为可再生能源项目时，也成为了争论的焦点。在公众及州司法部长的强烈反对下，卡万塔于2011年末收回了它们的申请。与此同时，由纽约州环境保护部向该州公共服务委员会提供的意见表明，若以每千瓦小时发电量计，纽约州城市生活垃圾焚烧厂的汞排放量是燃煤火电厂的14倍，因此构成了严重的公共健康风险。

最后，根据美国联邦环保署的数据，若以每千瓦小时发电量计，焚烧厂会比燃煤火电厂排放更多的温室气体。如果您想了解这一方面的信息，我们愿意为您提供详细的图表以作说明。

扩大循环利用与兴建新焚烧厂无法和谐共存

如报道中所提到的，您在会晤德梅尔里斯教授和焚烧企业代表的过程中，曾坚定地表示要致力于提升广州市垃圾循环利用和堆肥处理的规模和水平。对此，我们深感鼓舞。我们也非常清楚，在美国，有不少城市会因此欢迎您适时造访，并向您介绍它们如何实现高循环回收率和高堆肥水平的经验。例如，旧金山市最近已经在没有任何焚烧厂存在的情况下，成功地通过循环利用和堆肥技术将78%的垃圾从填埋场转移。我们相信，该市的官员将会热烈欢迎广州——这座美丽的中国城市的访问团，并为广州人民提供帮助，以实现垃圾减量和循环利用的各项目标。

我们同时对德梅尔里斯教授的某些言论深感忧虑，他向您宣称一个城市可以在大量投资新垃圾焚烧厂建设的同时，显著提高循环利用率和堆肥水平。而据我们的经验和观察，凡是那些在焚烧垃圾上花了大价钱的城市都没有能力在更优的垃圾管理实践上进行投入。我们都知道，新焚烧厂大部分的花费都被用来支付其昂贵的污染控制系统。所以，如果有人向您推销便宜的焚烧设施，那么结果很可能就是这些设施的污染排放会出现问题。如果您感兴趣，我们乐意向您提供关于卡万塔公司在美国运营焚烧厂的经济数据。

垃圾管理企业称，中国目前对焚烧技术的热衷与美国形成了鲜明的对比。在美国，要建造一座焚烧厂是很困难的。“从政策面来看，中国太棒了，”卡万塔能源（一家在中国部分拥有四座垃圾焚烧发电厂的跨国企业）首席财务官Sanjiv Khattri说，“他们（中国）已经对可再生能源的发展确立了目标，包括要建设多少座垃圾焚烧发电厂以及这些厂能获得多少补贴。”

事实上，在过去超过十年的时间里，美国一直没有新的达到商业运营规模的城市生活垃圾焚烧厂得以建设，这正是为什么我们相信卡万塔能源及其在地球工程中心的支持者对在中国扩张其业务感到无比兴奋。作为美国公民和人民，我们对此行径感到不齿。这也是为什么今天我们冒昧地给您写这封信的原因。

感谢您对此事的关注。如您有任何问题，或有意接受我们的邀请，再次访问美国并与更多其他积极推动资源回收利用并真正关心中国人民福祉的人士会晤的话，请随时和我们联系。

此致

敬礼！

Ahmina Maxey

东密歇根环境行动委员会

（East Michigan Environmental Action Council）

中华环保联合会

中华环境保护基金会

中国环境文化促进会

自然之友

公众环境研究中心

污染受害者法律帮助中心

达尔问自然求知社

北京地球村环境教育中心

中国垃圾信息工作网络

美国自然资源保护委员会（NRDC）北京办公室

【英文原文】

June 5, 2012

Mayor Chen Jianhua

Guangzhou

Municipality

People’s Republic of

China

Dear Mayor Chen,

Greetings and well wishes from the

We have experience in addressing Professor Themelis’ claims in the past, and have suffered from the pollution of a Covanta incinerator in the United States, and so wanted to take a moment to share our concerns with you before you make a decision to cooperate with these individuals, and move forward with the construction of so many incinerators in Guangzhou.

Our Experience with Covanta and Pollution

Covanta used to be the operator and minority owner of the Detroit incinerator in

Michigan, and benefitted from a 20 year contract that required the city to send a certain amount of waste to its facility at a set price.  This incinerator cost the citizens of

Detroit more than $1.2 billion, and has contributed to air pollution levels in the city that persistently exceed National Ambient Air Quality standards, and consequently contribute to the rising rates of asthma. In 2009 Detroiters were three times as likely to be hospitalized for asthma compared to

Michigan as a whole, and the hospitalization rates for asthma in children who live near the incinerator were particularly high. Covanta sold the incinerator in 2010 after it was briefly closed, and it has reopened under new ownership, but the bottom line is that this facility has only brought pollution and debt the people of

Detroit, while undermining efforts to establish recycling and composting programs.

Covanta Energy has also caused a great deal of pollution at its other US incinerators, and has needed to pay significant fines to both the people of New Jersey and the state of

Connecticut for excessive emissions at several of its plants.  Most recently, in July 2011 the State of

Connecticut reached a settlement in a lawsuit for dioxin emission violations that resulted in a fine of $400,000. These dioxin pollution violations also caused the company to shut down one of its three units in

In New Jersey, in October 2010, the Ironbound Community Corporation and GreenFaith participated in a settlement in which Covanta Energy to install new pollution control equipment, change their procedures, and pay $875,000 for community development projects in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark, due to the company’s repeated violations of United States federal Clean Air Act pollution limits of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and fine particulate matter on hundreds of occasions. The Newark incinerator is the largest garbage incinerator in New Jersey, and emits more mercury, a potent neurotoxin, than any other

New Jersey incinerator. See article at: http://greenfaith.org/media/press-releases/ironbound-community-corporation-and-greenfaith-announce-settlement.

Mercury emissions, in fact, were an issue in

New York

State when Covanta applied last year to count incineration as renewable energy. After strong public opposition and opposition by the state Attorney General, Covanta withdrew their application in late 2011. At the time, comments prepared by the New York Department of Conservation for the state Public Service Commission showed that municipal waste incinerators in

New York emit more than 14 times the amount of mercury per megawatt hour as coal-fired power plants, thus creating a serious public health risk.

Finally, incinerators emit more greenhouse gases per kilowatt hour than coal-fired power plants, according to United States Environmental Protection Agency data. We could provide charts showing this data if you would be interested in seeing these.

Expanding Recycling is Not Compatible with Building New Incinerators

We also wanted to note that we were happy to see your commitment in the report to increase recycling and composting in

Guangzhou.  This is very positive, and we know that there are

United States cities that would be happy to host you in the case that you are interested in learning more about how to achieve very high recycling and composting levels.

San Francisco, for example, recently reached a 78% waste diversion rate through recycling and composting without incineration, and we believe that city officials would welcome a delegation from your beautiful city in order to help you think and learn about how to achieve your goals.

We are concerned that Professor Themelis claimed to you that it is possible to increase recycling and composting rates significantly and also spend a great deal of money on new incinerators.  In our experience, cities that spend a lot of money on burning their garbage are not able to also invest in the best waste management practices.  Most of the cost of a new incinerator goes to covering the expense of its pollution control system, so if you are promised inexpensive facilities you will find that you have trouble with emissions.  We would be very happy to send you more cost data from the experience of Covanta’s incinerators in the

U.S., if you would like this.

The Lack of

Independence of Professor Themelis

The Center for Earth Engineering at

Columbia

University, and the WTERT Council, are both sponsored by waste industry companies that have an express interest in making profit by building incinerators in

As was written in a recent April 9 Financial Times article titled “China Faces Rubbish Problem,”

Waste management companies say that China’s enthusiasm for incineration stands in sharp contrast to the US, where approval for new plants is hard to get. “From a policy point of view China is great,” said Sanjiv Khattri, chief financial officer for Covanta Energy, a global company that partially owns four waste-to-energy plants in China. “They [China] have targets for renewable energy, for how much waste to energy they want to develop and you get subsidies for waste to energy plants.”

In fact, no new commercial scale municipal solid waste incinerator has been built in the United States for more than a decade, and this is why we believe that Covanta Energy and its supporters at the Center for Earth Engineering are so enthusiastic about expanding their business in China.  As citizens and people of the United States, we are not proud of this behavior, and this is why we chose to take the liberty of writing you today.

Thank you very much for your consideration, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like to accept our invitation to visit the United States and meet with others who have much more positive intentions around resource recovery and the welfare of China’s citizens.

Respectfully,

Ahmina Maxey

East Michigan Environmental Action Council

cc. All

China Environment Federation

cc.

China Environmental Protection Foundation

cc.

China Environment Culture Promotion Association

cc. Friends of Nature

cc.

Institute of

Public and Environmental Affairs

cc.

Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims

cc. Green Beagle

cc. Global Village of

Beijing

cc.

China Waste Information Network

cc.

Beijing Office, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)