about Bermuda's waste-burning plant, says Independent MP Mr. Stuart Hayward.

In the first environmental move by the incoming Clinton government, vice-president elect Mr. Al Gore announced plans to shut down a toxic chemical waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio.

The Ohio plant is operated by the Swiss company Von Roll, the supplier of Bermuda's proposed incinerator.

Mr. Gore wants burning halted at the Ohio plant until Congress checks its safety and finds out how it got approval.

Mr. Hayward, who is campaigning against Bermuda's incinerator plans, said this week that a number of hazardous chemicals are likely to be burned in the Tynes Bay plant now being built.

"If they're shutting down this technology designed for hazardous waste in Ohio, we ought to be very wary of even the idea of allowing hazardous waste to go into our incinerator,'' he said.

"We get our drinking water off the roof, and I doubt very much whether they do in Ohio.'' Chemicals that could be headed for Bermuda's incinerator included pesticides, drain cleaners, furniture oils and paint, he said. And Government had not ruled out burning waste oil, which is classified as hazardous waste in the US.

"Because of all these things that people put into their household waste, it may mean that our incinerator will be doubling up as a hazardous waste incinerator.

"Hazardous waste incinerators are operated under much more stringent controls. We're going to be putting some of the same types of substances, if not the same quantities, into an incinerator that is really designed for municipal waste.

"Sooner or later the message must get through that incineration of any sort is dangerous and expensive and that if we do have to have an incinerator it should be the least risky and it should have the best and latest pollution control equipment.'' He wanted to see priority given to other solutions to the garbage problem, like recycling, composting and waste reduction, eventually removing the need for an incinerator.

"At the moment incineration is getting the most funding, and Government can't even have two trash collections a week because they can't afford it.'' Mr. Gore said "serious questions'' remain on the safety of the Ohio plant before it can begin operating.

He said also that the incoming administration would not grant a final stage testing permit.

The $160 million incinerator on the Ohio River, near Ohio's borders with West Virginia and Pennsylvania, already has permission for a 720-hour experimental burn that could take place as early as next week, spokeswoman Janice Bircher said.

A trial burn of hazardous wastes would follow, she said. The plant does not yet have approval for that test, but Bircher said it could begin before Clinton and Gore take office Jan. 20.

Gore said matters relating to the legality of the plant's permit, ownership of the corporation involved, the health effects of lead and mercury emissions, construction standards and location of the plant "have consistently been downplayed or ignored by the Environmental Protection Agency.'' EPA officials have said their tests concluded the plant would be safe.

"For the safety and health of local residents rightfully concerned about the impact of this incinerator on their families and their future, a thorough investigation is urgently needed,'' Gore said.

The plant, the newest of its type in the United States, could burn as much as 60,000 tons of toxic waste a year.

Opponents point to the fact that the incinerator is 300 feet (70 meters) from the nearest neighborhood and 1,100 feet (280 meters) from an elementary school.

Mr. Stuart Hayward MP.