Environmentalists march in protest of Detroit incinerator

Close to a thousand of Detroit residents as well as local and national environmental advocates assembled this morning for a peaceful march near Detroit's incinerator to urge city leaders to put an end to "dirty energy" and go green.

Attendees rallied at the Detroit Public Library on Woodward Avenue and headed out with banners and gigantic wooden sunflowers emblazoned with the message "clean air." The route is about two miles to Pack Park across from the incinerator plant and ends at an old recycling center around noon

Speakers will talk at each stop in the neighborhood around the incinerator that event organizers say is plagued by odor issues and air pollution.

"We are focusing on the opportunity that a clean, green economy can bring to Detroit," said Ahmina Maxey, of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council, a nonprofit that works to protect land, air and water.

"Despite all of the pollution going on in the city, Detroiters are surviving through it and coming up with their own solutions and alternatives to dirty energy," Maxey said. "The message is: clean air, good jobs and justice."

Detroit resident Roberta Walker, 38, who lives near the incinerator, joined the march, bringing her 2-year-old daughter in a stroller.

"I believe in what they stand for: clean air and good jobs," said Walker, who has lived in the neighborhood for 10 years.

Maxey, who also is part of the Zero Waste Detroit Coalition, said her groups and other green energy supporters are urging Detroit leaders to cut out incineration and heavy diesel traffic and become a leading city for green industry.

Incineration was expected to end in Detroit last summer. But the majority owner of Detroit's incinerator, Energy Investors Fund of Boston, extended an agreement with the city to continue sending track to the facility until the end of June 2010.

"We are asking (city leaders) to stop incineration fully and create a new plan for waste disposal," Maxey said.

Maxey is urging Mayor Dave Bing to extend curbside recycling to the entire city. Currently, it's running only in a couple areas as a pilot program. In turn, she said, it will create more green jobs for the city.

U.S. Social Forum member Avree Koffman, 17, from New Mexico, also came in support of the cause.

"We are protesting incineration and want recycling projects instead," she said. "People live here and have to breathe this."