Updater To The Updater...

Trying to be even more balanced, The Tazer now presents the SF Chronicle's take on the cremation situation: (Credit Carolyn Jones, SF Chron)
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BAY AREA Neighbors fight crematorium plan Neptune Society's proposal to move from gentrifying Emeryville to semi-industrial area of Richmond has neighbors crying foul

Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 7, 2006

When the Neptune Society opened its Apollo crematorium in Emeryville in the early 1980s, the town was an expanse of warehouses, factories and smokestacks. A crematorium that burns thousands of bodies a year fit right in.

But the little city at the eastern foot of the Bay Bridge has morphed into a thriving mix of condominiums, big-box retail shops, restaurants and high-tech offices. The unmarked, corrugated metal building at 4080 Horton St. now shares the neighborhood with Pixar Animation Studios, Chiron, Home Depot and a proliferation of condos, lofts and apartments.
That's why the Neptune Society wants to relocate one of the busiest crematoriums in the state to a semi-industrial area of Richmond. The City Planning Commission approved a zoning change last month that would allow the crematorium to open at 1151 Hensley St., and the City Council will look at the issue Tuesday.

But that neighborhood, near unincorporated North Richmond in Contra Costa County, is no more deserving of a crematorium than gentrified Emeryville, neighbors say. Like Emeryville, northern Richmond is a mix of factories, homes, parks and warehouses.

The Richmond neighbors say they've had enough industrial development. And they especially don't want a crematorium, which emits mercury from the dental fillings of burning bodies -- in this case, about 3 pounds of mercury a year from 3,000 to 4,000 bodies.

"We don't want dead bodies spewing over our community. What goes up must come down, and we don't want to be breathing it in," said Henry Clark, a North Richmond resident and member of the West County Toxics Coalition. "It's unacceptable, period."

Mercury is a highly toxic metal that, when burned, gets into the air and eventually settles in waterways, where fish ingest it. When people eat poisoned fish, they can suffer from nausea, shortness of breath, fever and muscle aches.

The heavy metal is particularly toxic for babies, pregnant women and nursing mothers, where it can permanently impair an infant's brain development, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Crematories emit about 238 pounds of mercury a year, or less than 1 percent of the total in the United States, according to the EPA.

But even a little mercury is too much, environmentalists say.

"A teaspoon could poison a reasonably sized lake," said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch in Washington. "It's not surprising that there's some local antsiness about a crematorium moving in -- mercury is an incredibly toxic pollutant."

Crematoriums also emit trace amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, sulfur dioxide and dioxins. But the Apollo crematorium has never been cited for pollution or been the subject of public complaints, local government officials say.

"No one asked them to leave. No one even knows they're there," said Emeryville City Manager John Flores. "We never had any complaints about them. They just didn't want to have a big public presence."

The crematorium has a clean record with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The new crematorium would be expected to comply with state and federal standards for noncarcinogenic emissions, said Darrell Waller, a spokesman for the district.

"We comply with all emissions and safety regulations," said Neptune Society President Bill Farrar. "We've served families in the Bay Area for over 30 years. We're here to help families, certainly not harm them."

The new crematorium probably will be cleaner than the old one, Farrar said. Equipped with modern incinerators and more advanced technology, it's expected to emit less mercury than the Emeryville plant.

And mercury levels are falling, too, as fewer people get their cavities filled with silver amalgam. A few decades ago, 90 percent of the U.S. population had mercury-laden fillings when they died, but the number has dropped by 38 percent in the past 10 years as more people prefer a composite in their fillings that is safer and matches the color of their teeth, according to the Cremation Association of North America.

"It's hard to argue with people who are emotional about this, but the reality is that mercury has been proven to be a nonissue," said Jack Springer, executive director of the cremation association. "You're exposed to more mercury in a dentist's office than at a crematory."

The new crematorium, if approved, will be a busy place. The average U.S. crematorium burns 374 bodies a year -- one-tenth of what the Apollo site cremates. By 2010, more than 65 percent of dead Californians will be cremated, a jump of about 10 percent from this year, according to the association.

Once taboo in the United States, cremation is gaining popularity because it's generally cheaper and a simpler procedure than embalmment and burial. It's also common in Buddhism, Hinduism and Catholicism, and as immigration increases, the practice has become increasingly accepted.
But that's of little solace to neighbors in Richmond, who say they're already overwhelmed with pollution from a refinery, a dump, a wastewater treatment plant, the General Chemical factory and a Superfund site.

"We're going to stop this, believe me. We are really mad," said Johnny White, president of the Shields-Reid Neighborhood Council in North Richmond. "Everyone in this community is up in arms, and we're going to overwhelm them with opposition."

Several Bay Area cities have at least one crematorium. Many are located at cemeteries or funeral homes, while others stand alone in industrial areas. But proposals for new crematoriums have sparked neighborhood protests in recent years.

In San Leandro, opponents stopped a new crematorium in 2004, when All Faiths Crematory wanted to open on Timothy Drive within 1,000 feet of elementary and middle schools. More than 2,000 people signed a petition to block it, and hundreds showed up at City Council meetings to fight the permit application. The city put the issue on hold -- and finally the crematory gave up.

San Rafael residents were so vociferously opposed to a crematorium at Keaton Mortuaries in 2003 that the City Council put a 45-day moratorium on the issue before approving it.
Richmond residents say they do not want polluting industries in their neighborhood. The area may be zoned industrial and commercial, but it also has hundreds of homes, a recreation center, a child care center, a county health clinic, a park, a job-skills center for young people, and a new affordable-housing development.

"Too many people call this area a dumping ground," said Richmond City Councilwoman Gayle McLaughlin. "This community has already borne the brunt of poor decisions. We have years of environmental injustice in Richmond we need to turn around."

E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.