Photo above: (Ieft-to-right) Dr. Frank Roethel; George Proios, Co-Executive Director of the Commission on Water Resource Needs of Long Island; myself, and Jerry Shubel, Director of the Marine Sciences Research Center, showing an architect’s drawing of the proposed boathouse to be constructed with resource recovery incinerator ash blocks.
From Special Report from Senator Caesar Trunzo, 1980s
Senator Caesar Trunzo
An advisory board created by the Legislature to recommend an environmentally suitable location for disposing of the ash residue from resource recovery plants by 1990 has recommended a 230-acre regional site in Yaphank. I met recently with a group that included several Brookhaven town officials who presented me with evidence which questions whether the Yaphank location is environmentally acceptable. This data indicated that the proposed site lies within a critical deepflow recharge zone. These are the most environmentally sensitive areas on Long Island in terms of water preservation. I have written to the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to bring this to his attention, and I will be meeting with him in the near future to present this evidence directly. At the same time I also delivered this message to Governor Cuomo explaining that time is needed to reassess the environmental acceptability of the Yaphank site. No final decision should be made until his new evidence is thoroughly examined.
As this process continues, I have been involved in simultaneous research that has uncovered potential uses for ash. If further investigation of these preliminary findings is successful, the need to permanently bury great amounts of this ash in a large regional site could be avoided. I feel very strongly that we should continue to investigate and increase research funding into alternatives to burying this material. Outlined in this special report are some of the projects being worked on by my Commission and the scientists at Stony Brook’s Marine Sciences Research Center.
Protecting Long Island’s Water Supply
The source of all our water for drinking, cooking, washing, manufacturing,fire fighting and agricultural use is our underground aquifers. Formed over a million years ago by the glaciers, Long Island’s geologic
formations have trapped the rain falling for thousands of years to create three major storage areas beneath the land we live on.
As the Senate Chairman of the New York State Legislative Commission on Water Resource Needs of Long Island, I have been actively involved in a wide array of activities to safeguard Long Island’s most precious natural resource. Through ongoing research my Commission has documented the many ways by which our water supply has become contaminated and has developed ways of protecting it.
One such cause of contamination is toxic waste materials produced by untreated garbage in municipal landfills. To prevent further damage to our water supply I secured passage of legislation in 1983 to phase out the landfilling of raw garbage by the year 1990, and I have been urging townships on Long Island to move ahead towards resource recovery. A comprehensive resource recovery plan, including source separation and recycling, would not only protect our water supply, but also eliminate the generation of dangerous methane gas and provide much needed energy through the burning of garbage. As a preliminary step in that direction I was able to secure state aid in last year’s budget to help localities offset the cost of switching to source separation.
Exploring Alternative Uses For Municipal Ash
While visiting with Professor Frank Roethel of the Marine Sciences Research Center, I examined several of the cement blocks manufactured with municipal ash.
For the past seven years, scientists at Stony Brook University’s Marine Sciences Research Center have been monitoring an artificial fishing reef made out of blocks consisting primarily of coal ash. Their studies indicate that when coal ash is chemically combined with cement it no longer poses environmental problems. Tests conducted on the blocks and on marine organisms that have colonized the artificial reef have shown that materials such as heavy metals become chemically bound in these blocks preventing them from leaching out into the environment.
Believing that a similar potential existed for the use of municipal ash, I was successful in securing $136,000 in the State Budget to allow such a study to be undertaken by the Marine Sciences Research Center. Their findings to date have been extremely promising. They indicate that incinerator ash can be formed into
stable concrete blocks to be used at sea. This research has also opened up many additional avenues of use for this product. The need to continue investigation of these alternate uses becomes crucial when you consider the fact that if all thirteen towns on Long Island construct resource recovery plants, over two-million tons
of ash will be produced annually.
Note: A video cassette recording has been prepared that documents the construction of this fishing reef. I have obtained copies of this informative presentation, and if you are aware of any schools or civic groups which may be interested in viewing it, have them contact my District office staff to arrange a convenient time for them to view it.
Boat House To Be Constructed Using Ash Blocks
Another project that I am supporting entails the use of ash blocks to construct a cement boat house and to study its structural integrity over time, including any potential leaching of materials into the adjoining soils. A number of state agencies conducting similar studies will be working with the Marine Sciences Research Center to study and evaluate this structure. This study will determine what effects the environment has on such a structure, and in turn will prove whether such blocks can be used in commercial construction work. These ash blocks have achieved strengths of up to 1600 psi. This strength capacity is far greater than that of any previously manufactured ash blocks. I believe that as the 1990 date required by state law for closing our landfills on Long Island looms ever closer it is imperative that researchers are given the opportunity to coordinate past and present research efforts relating to this topic. Without the efforts of my Commission and the Marine Sciences Research Center these crucial alternative uses for ash may never be implemented.
Legislation Introduced to Utilize Ash In State Road Construction
One use for ash that has already been implemented successfully in other parts of the country, as well as in Europe, is as a road bedding material. I have introduced legislation that would require the State Department of Transportation to require as part of their bidding specifications that contractors use a specific amount of ash in any contracts awarded by the State for road construction. This legislation does not limit the use of ash to only being used as a road bedding, rather my intent is to uncover all such road construction uses.
Consumers Will Benefit from Products Using Municipal Ash
There are many other potential uses for this product that I am extremely excited about. There is a large consumer market for patio blocks and other decorative concrete forms that are used to line gardens, walkways, decks and in other landscaping projects. Using this readily available material should reduce the cost in making such items, and helps to eliminate the need to bury this ash.
The ready mix cement industry utilizes many tons of sand and other materials daily in the New York Metropolitan area, and initial research indicates that municipal ash can be easily substituted for such aggregate. With further research the commercial uses for municipal ash appear to be unlimited.
Fishing Reef To be Built Using Incinerator Ash Blocks
We are now at the point where we can earnestly pursue these alternatives. The University has requested, and I have expressed my complete support for Phase II of this project. I am presently seeking funding for this next phase which will entail renting a cement manufacturing-plant in Islip for the express purpose of manufacturing approximately 5,000 of these ash blocks to be used in a variety of experiments. During the manufacturing phase of the project an analysis will be conducted into the cost effectiveness of private industry mass producing such blocks.
Some blocks will be utilized to construct an artificial fishing reef off the coast of Fire Island. Such a use not only eliminates the need to bury this ash, but also enhances the environment by creating an area where marine organisms can multiply. The blocks we have been making this past year with municipal ash have proven to be equally suitable and, in some cases, are even stronger than the ones produced using coal ash. In January of this year the first blocks were placed into the Marine Environment, a research study area used by SUNY at Flax Pond. If this research uncovers no adverse impacts, I plan to seek additional funding to create a full-scale reef in the Atlantic Ocean south of Fire Island. A reef of such size could utilize a significant amount of ash in its construction and would attract countless species of sea life to the coast of Long Island.
The problems surrounding the disposal of municipal ash anticipated from our resource recovery plants is not due to a lack of available sites for landfilling it, but rather due to a lack of imagination. Our throw-away society has been conditioned with the philosophy that once a product is used it should be discarded, usually by burying it above our precious water supply. Instead if we look at products as having multiple uses, and keep in mind that resources are becoming increasingly scarce, then the need for discarding these products becomes unnecessary. If we can put incinerator ash to productive use the need to bury it in an ashfill is greatly reduced perhaps even eliminated.
As your State Senator I am continuing to use all the resources at my disposal to ensure that all possible practical uses for municipal incinerator ash are being explored. I am confident that support for projects such as the ones I have highlighted in this report will make the goal of true resource recovery a reality. As always I would be eager to hear your thoughts, comments, or suggestions on these proposals, and as these projects progress I will continue to keep you updated and informed.
