It bothers me that the Center for American Progress is taking money from Covanta incinerator corporation to promote garbage incineration on their blog…

Puerto Ricans will soon be turning their trash into renewable energy. On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced its final approval of an air permit for a 77 megawatt EfW plant, owned by Energy Answers International, a first for the U.S. island territory.The $650 million facility, which will be built in three years in the town of Arecibo, will create thousands of direct and indirect induced jobs, and turn more than 2,100 tons of garbage a day into renewable electricity for more than 76,000 homes on the island.

Creating domestic renewable energy is a major necessity since Puerto Rico’s electricity is overwhelmingly derived from imported petroleum, natural gas, and coal.Six public hearing sessions were held since May 2012, and over 3,000 public comments had been reviewed by the EPA. And while the comment period is open for this issued permit, Energy Answers has gone through a long and rigorous review process and there should be no objections that delay the project from moving forward.Here are five reasons why energy from waste is a great opportunity for Puerto Rico and the rest of the United States.

Here is an article explaining why many environmentalists think this is a terrible idea…

Environmental, community and medical group leaders charged Tuesday that actions by the Fortuño administration demonstrate that incineration is the official public policy for solid waste, rather than working toward a goal of “zero garbage.”

The government has orders to shut down the island’s landfills within the next 36 months, and proposals to build incinerators in Arecibo and Barceloneta, Sierra Club members said during a press conference at the Puerto Rico Bar Association, in Miramar, Tuesday.

“Incinerating our trash is not the solution, because a third of each ton of trash that is set on fire becomes highly toxic ashes, and winds up in landfills,” Biaggi said, adding government’s goal should be to reduce, reuse and recycle our solid waste.

According to Biaggi, Puerto Rico should be able to take care of 67 percent of its solid waste, while supposedly generating thousands of related jobs.

The reality is most progressive cities are able to recycle upwards of 90% of their waste through convenient recycling programs, that don’t lock up recycling bins or make them hard to access. Likewise, progressive cities ban styrofoam from vendors, and have separate bins soiled paper, food scraps, and yard waste for composting.

Many cities on the west coast have adopted Zero Waste policies and have seen dramatic reductions in the amount of waste going to landfills, by diverting technical materials like plastic and glass to recycling, and organics to composting facilities. Unfortunately, many of the east coast cities have fallen behind on their material recovery efforts.

More about Zero Waste.