AIR POLLUTION AGENCY TO APPROVE HIGHLY POLLUTING INCINERATOR

Activists from 3 Counties Mass in Olympia on 9/1 to Protest

Submitted by Duff Badgley

August 30---A controversial biomass incinerator proposed for Mason County has been given preliminary approval by an Olympia-based air pollution agency. Activists from Thurston, Jefferson, and Mason Counties will mass in protest from 4-6pm on Sept.1 outside the Olympia offices of the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency (ORCAA) on Limited Lane off Harrison St. in West Olympia.

A transnational company called Adage has proposed a 65mw biomass incinerator just outside Shelton in Mason County. The proposal has sparked furious citizen resistance over claims the incinerator would emit pollution so toxic a single exposure could kill.

ORCAA lead engineer, Gordon Lance, told No Biomass Burn, a statewide group opposing biomass incinerators, that the Adage application to ORCAA “already complies” with state and federal regulations.

The Adage incinerator is one of five biomass incinerators proposed for the Olympic Peninsula, raising fears regional forests will be clear-cut to feed them. The Adage incinerator will burn a ton of forest wood every 53 seconds. Other biomass incinerators are proposed in Mason County by Simpson in Shelton, plus incinerators at Evergreen State College, at Port Townsend, and in Port Angeles. 

Activists expect ORCAA will soon issue its formal “Preliminary Decision to Approve/Disapprove” for the Adage air pollution permit.

Contact:

Duff Badgley
No Biomass Burn
206-283-0621
duff@nobiomassburn.org
www.nobiomassburn.org