Governor Praises Biomass

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Katherine Price

During the course of the City of Shelton Simpson informational meeting on Thursday, September 23, Dave McEntee, Vice President, Operational Services for Simpson Lumber Company, LLC, proudly read a portion of a letter from Washington State's Governor to the EPA, dated late August. The portion of the letter he shared with the citizens present praised biomass incineration.

I know that the Governor probably does not personally see 1% of the letters from her constituents, but I was still deeply disappointed that our Governor appears to be among the politicians in this state already bought and paid for by the industry that is proposing to build these burners across our state.

I wrote to the Governor in April, on the 28th, after immersing myself in the science and medicine in connection with biomass incinerators from the 1st of April until that day, and afterwards concluding that, as Theresa Jacobson says: "This is caveman technology."

My April 28 letter begged (literally) for the Governor to look into this matter and asked her to advocate for the citizens of Mason County. I told her we were feeling railroaded, sold out, and discounted completely in the conversation about how our air and water would and could be polluted, especially by local elected officials, some of whom had been working on this "under the radar," as Jay Hupp likes to say, for five or more years.

I wrote the Governor again on August 4, 2010, and forwarded her copies of the Mason County Physicians' letters to the Port of Shelton and the Board of County Commissioners. I again pleaded with her to look further into this issue, after reading the doctors' letters. Shortly after that, the Governor sent her letter to the EPA praising biomass incineration; and this after having been provided with the letters from the local physicians.

Did the Governor's staff member who helped with the letter to the EPA know that some other staff member had opened a letter from me, containing those letters, and begging her not to let these people kill my granddaughter? Maybe not. Did the Governor write the letter to the EPA herself? Probably not. Am I going to vote for this Governor again? Absolutely not!

Even if the Governor has not seen either of my letters, or the doctors' letters, she has a television set; she has a staff; she has heard about the objections citizens are raising about these plants, and she signed a letter to the EPA praising biomass. She signed the death warrant for the vulnerable in our community, the elderly, the young, those who already suffer from breathing ailments, and those healthy ones who just happen to inhale some of those dioxins.

Our community stands the chance of dying as a result of these proposed incinerators. We have already been advised that the houses around the one in Grays Harbor are all empty and for sale or for rent. Nobody wants to live near one of these things, and nobody should; they are dangerous.

I live up the hill from the existing biomass incinerator currently being operated by Simpson, and up the hill from the proposed biomass incinerator to be owned and operated by Solomon Renewable Energy Company. I love my home. My husband and I have spent ten years lovingly upgrading a 50 (now 60) year old house. We are ten years into our twenty year plan, and we had
every intention of living out our lives in this house. We do not want to sell, and we probably could not sell, given the proximity of the existing incinerator. Nor were we advised when we bought the house that there was such a thing as a biomass incinerator in the harbor.

So, selling is not an option for most of us; who is going to buy our houses?

We have businesses and employers who are not poisonous in nature, promising to leave town, if ADAGE goes online. Fungi Perfecti comes to mind, and Paul will take his jobs with him.

It seems that the only option we have is to keep fighting for our community.

In that fight, let's remember that the City of Shelton needs public comment by October 7, 2010. I recommend sending your comments to Jason Dose at the City, via email or snail mail, email Jason at: jasond@ci.shelton.wa.us, and reference "Simpson/Solomon" so there can be no confusion!

Then, make your list of questions about the two biomass incinerators that will be operating in the Port, if we are not successful, and address them to:

Dave McEntee
Vide President Operations Services and External Affairs
SIMPSON LUMBER COMPANY, LLC
917 E 11th Street
Tacoma, WA 98421-3039

Send him letters; call him at 253-779-6405; fax him at 253-280-9048; and email him at: dmcente@simpson.com.

This man needs to address our questions; if he does not have the answer, then he needs to get it, find it, and give it to us.

I am going to fax him a copy of the physicians' letters...a fat lot of good that will do, in light of how it moved the Governor to write to the EPA and praise the biomass incinerators, but I am going to fax them to him anyway. I may fax them to him everyday. I think I will.

Theresa Jacobson got the doctors' letters into the record of the City of Shelton last night. When you write, call or email Jason Dose at the City of Shelton, reference those letters as well.

The Port, the County, and the City are all opening themselves up to significant liability if they permit these plants, and the doctors who warned them start seeing greater numbers of respiratory disease in our community. Those entities, the Port, County and City, will be on the hook for more money than they do not have for the liability they assumed when they chose to disregard the warnings of the medical community, and go with the promises of riches.

Let's keep the pressure on, day and night. We cannot leave, and we will not be able to breathe if we stay and they win, so losing, for us, is not an option.

Keep it light,

Katherine Price