Excerpt from: Three demonstrators arrested at Seneca plant
By Jack Moran
By Jack Moran
Lane County sheriff’s deputies arrested three protesters Thursday morning during a demonstration outside the new Seneca Sustainable Energy wood-burning power plant off Highway 99.
One of the suspects — identified as 22-year-old Johannes Pedersen — had wrapped a heavy, U-shaped bike lock around his neck, then locked himself to the underside of a running car occupied by a person who had arrived at the biomass cogeneration plant for a guided tour of the facility, sheriff’s Capt. Bill Thompson said.
A crew from Lane Rural Fire/Rescue arrived and used a hydraulic extrication tool to cut the lock, which allowed deputies to take Pedersen into custody. The tool is typically used to help firefighters remove people from mangled vehicles involved in traffic crashes.
Thursday’s response to the Seneca plant was “not our every day kind of call,” Lane Rural Fire Chief Dale Borland said.
Two other people were arrested for allegedly blocking that same car — giving Pedersen an opportunity to climb underneath it — as it tried to enter the Seneca plant. They are identified as Emmalyn Garrett, 26, and Zachary Waddell, 24.
Pedersen, Garrett and Waddell were booked into the Lane County Jail and charged with second-degree disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.
After making the arrests, sheriff’s deputies helped private security guards staff several entrances to the plant while a group of about 15 demonstrators stood alongside East Enid Road, just off the Seneca property, protesting the company’s practices.
Most of the protesters held signs and chanted “Save our forests, save our lungs” in unison when tour groups on the other side of the plant’s fence walked to within earshot.
Tour participants included Lane County Commissioner Sid Leiken and Springfield City Councilor Dave Ralston, both of whom appeared amused by the demonstration and snapped photographs of protesters before completing the tour. Seneca invited about 200 people who had supported the biomass plant project to get an up-close look at the facility on Thursday.
The $50 million plant opened in February. It sells the power to the Eugene Water & Electric Board.
The plant boasts an $11 million exhaust system that Lane Regional Air Protection Agency officials say is the cleanest in the state. But clean-air and environmental activists have criticized the operation, saying that burning wood debris releases particulates into the air and should not be considered a renewable or sustainable practice.
Seneca “shouldn’t get to have that image” of operating a biomass plant that produces clean energy “because it’s just not true,” said protester Erin Grady, a Cascadia Forest Defenders member. Seneca’s general manager, Richard Re, defended the plant’s opening as “a positive thing” and said company officials “just kind of dismissed” Thursday’s protest.
The federal government and a number of states have provided financial subsidies to encourage the construction of biomass plants instead of those that burn fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. However, burning wood waste does release greenhouse gases, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is uncertain about whether to classify it as renewable.
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Yes, the EPA is "uncertain" if biomass fuel should be classified as renewable. Kind of like people.
ReplyDelete"Tour participants included Lane County Commissioner Sid Leiken and Springfield City Councilor Dave Ralston, both of whom appeared amused by the demonstration and snapped photographs of protesters before completing the tour."
ReplyDeleteSounds a lot like Mason County leadership; amused by our demonstrations, but unaffected by them -- at least until they come up for re-election.
When our "leaders" come up for re-election, what song can they possibly sing that will make the citizens of Mason County overlook their obvious disdain for the citizen and vote for them?