To the Editor:

The front page of the Oct. 22 edition of the Northampton Press reported that the Northampton Generating Company is test burning SpecFuel in its boilers. I would like to inform residents in our 40-plus-mile radius what SpecFuel really is - simply put, it is Philadelphia’s trash.

This is turning normal boilers into trash incinerators. Trash incineration is far dirtier than coal on every measure. This is just refuse-derived fuel (RDF) under a fancy new name.

Waste Management must have great lobbyists and deep pockets to enable them to change what trash is called. I’m waiting for them to turn water into wine. This is just another example showing we have the best government money can buy and the lack of concern that our local, state and national officials have for the health of everyday working folks.

Sadly, this fuel made from Philadelphia’s trash will probably get the OK from our rubber-stamping DEP, and even though the Borough of Northampton has an ordinance that does not allow trash burning in boilers, it still won’t be enough, as [Northampton Generating will] likely get away with state and federal redefinition of waste as a “fuel.” The DEP has happily gone along with EPA’s “nonhazardous” definition.

Under a secondary materials rule, a magic wand is waved over Philadelphia’s trash, so now we are to pretend waste isn’t waste anymore - because we’re now calling it fuel. This is just another loophole; Waste Management’s SpecFuel has been approved under this loophole.

Tom Sedor Sr.

Northampton