A boat regatta to inform the public of a planned incinerator at Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge will be held Saturday, according to a spokesperson for Southern Coalition on Protecting the Environment.

The Boat Regatta is slated for noon tomorrow. The group will be assembling in the parking lot across from the Pirates Cove Marina at Crab Orchard Lake, said Rose Rowell, Coalition member.

The regatta will consist of different kinds of boats floating on Crab Orchard Lake, which are rallying against the incinerator, Rowell said.

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Rowell said the rally is hosted by five environmental groups:the Southern Coalition on Protecting the Environment, Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists, Lawyer’s Guild of SIUC, Student Environmental Center of SIUC and Concerned Citizens of Williamson County.

We want to encourage people to speak out, Rowell said. All it takes for a dioxin emitting incinerator to come into the community is for people to remain silent.

Kathleen Tracy of the Student Environmental Center said the groups are holding the regatta to increase the awareness of the planned incinerator.

Tracy said the SEC are opposed to the incinerator as it will cause the water to be polluted with dioxins which are harmful to the health of animals and people, Tracy said.

Environmentalists said the incinerator will emit dioxins, a cancer-causing agent.

We’re trying to get people to understand the seriousness of this, Rowell said. The key is prevention.

During the regatta, boats will be on the lake and people will be standing shoreside watching.

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Those interested may rent canoes and go out onto the lake to show support, Rowell said.

This is where we fish, where our family camps, where our children go swimming. We don’t want a dioxin producing incinerator in our community, Rowell said.