Submitted to Shelton Blog by John Cox Mason County Progressive
Dear Neighbor,
I've heard you mention that you thought the new Simpson/Solomon/Green Diamond incinerator was a good thing overall. I've been wanting to say something to you about this.
As best as any of us can tell, the old Simpson Lumber incinerator would continue to operate as usual to produce steam for Simpson's local operations. These operations are not constant, tend to last only a few days, and then the incinerator is shut down again. For example, this past month, the incinerator does not seem to have been in operation much at all.
Yes, the old incinerator does produce more pollution than the new one would, but because the old one is operated only intermittently, the overall output of pollution would be less. The new Solomon incinerator would run 24/7/365, and if you add it all up, the old one, alone, is better for the planet and local air-breathers.
Our community would be better off if Simpson keeps the old incinerator and runs it as usual. I think any biomass incinerator is an environmental disaster, but the operation of the current incinerator is needed for Simpson's local work and the jobs it creates. It is accepted by most of our community for that reason.
The new proposed Solomon incinerator, however, is a different beast. It was very clearly stated by the Simpson representative at their info meeting last September, that the purpose of the new Solomon incinerator would be solely to make money selling the electricity generated to the highest bidder for profit. This has very little to do with keeping or creating jobs in Shelton (and at Solomon's own admission, the new incinerator would only provide an additional 2 to 3 jobs for our community).
To produce this electricity, the proposed Solomon incinerator would produce many additional tons of pollution (the numbers are all on the ORCAA website in Solomon's permit application). This additional pollution will most definitely increase the health hazards for everyone in our community, but without any meaningful positive benefits of any kind for our community.
Solomon's new incinerator would trade our health for its profit$. That's the real bottom line.
More later...
John
Your letter to the editor published 5-12-11, resonding to Hager's nasty-gram of 5-5-11, was simply perfect.
ReplyDeleteYour letter showed such class; as opposed to Hager's hate-mail, which was devoid of all class.
If Simpson/Solomon is going to rely on flunkies to send their letters to the editor, perhaps they should pick from a slightly higher reading group?
Maybe someone who won't deny the facts without familiarzing themselves with the facts??