Mark Goodin, ORCAA Engineer, giving presentation:Permit is that they're a major source of pollutants."
FOR SIMPSON AIR OPERATING PERMIT
TO BE RENEWED FOR ONE YEAR ONLY
Submitted to Shelton Blog by Christine Armond Mason County Progressive
September 27, 2011
Mark Goodin
ORCAA
2940-B Limited Lane NW
Olympia, WA 98502
In October of last year, a national study lead by researchers from the Children's Hospital Boston reported that for every increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5) in the air, there was a 1% increase in the incidence of diabetes.
This is just an one example of some the recent studies and information that the EPA, and, therefore, ORCAA does not take into consideration. As we all know, government agency rules and regulations tend to be years behind current science (unless it’s for the military). Cigarettes and second hand smoke issues are a good example of this phenomenon.
Organizations like the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, and most of our local physicians recognize this dilemma.
ORCAA bases its decisions to permit or not, on available pollution background measurements over a long period of time.
Until recently, the measurements for Shelton were taken on the Mason County Hospital roof, and not in the downtown area, where the largest pollution sources are located in Shelton. Thankfully, due to the prompting of local activists, ORCAA installed a much appreciated air pollution monitor in downtown Shelton this past April 21st.
However, we may ask, how can ORCAA truly know the situation here in downtown Shelton with the Simpson incinerator and Olympic Panel, both of which are major sources of air pollution in this county, without gathering relevant data for at least one year?
Not to mention the fact that the Simpson incinerator has not been running as usual since the air monitor was put in place last spring. One can't help but wonder if Simpson is just waiting for its air operating permit to be renewed before resuming normal operations now that the air monitor is situated nearby.
Therefore, I suggest that the only prudent thing to do is for ORCAA to renew the Simpson Air Operating Permit for one year only, to allow time for background pollution data to be collected with the new downtown air monitor.
In this way, ORCAA would have relevant and legitimate data to base a decision upon...data which accurately reflects the actual situation.
In this way, appropriate upgrading of Simpson's regulatory measures can be installed if needed, before the air permit is renewed for the full five years.
Thank you,
Christine Armond
Shelton, WA
Photo by Christine
Isn't it amazing that we who monitor the burning believe it was not burning as normal this summer, yet Simpson's spokesman and their engineer tell us another story at the hearing and afterward.
ReplyDeleteWe are still waiting for the study results Simpson said they had, and that they would provide, comparing days burning versus our air monitor results.
Perhaps Simpson will post them here.