STILL WAITING FOR RESPONSE FROM PATTY

POST ELECTION LETTER TO SENATOR PATTY MURRAY

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Connie Simpson

The Honorable Patty Murray
United States Senate
173 Russel Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4701

Dear Patty,

Changes are happening in our town and county which will have profound effects on me, my husband, our family, and our community. This is the proposed Adage Biomass Burner and the addition of a Simpson Biomass Burner for power and profit. Our air quality here is already unhealthy more than half of the time, per the Air Quality records. I feel these plants threaten our health immediately, and the health of our forests, and Puget Sound/Hood Canal, and the health of the planet in the long run.

I know many think anything is better than fossil fuels, but, in this case, I disagree. Washington State has an abundance of power-- these proposed biomass incinerator plants in no way benefit us. Adding power from burning biomass to the grid to make millions for giant corporations isn't high on my list of positive moves for the economy.

The Adage plant will employ 24 people.... probably not anyone from Shelton or Mason County. The jobs we will get will be for truck drivers, who are already working now. Many drivers from the Hoquium/Aberdeen area drive from there to get wood for the plant in Grays Harbor Co., so they would probably continue carrying wood, biomass, chips, slash, or trees, as they do now-- not Mason County job seekers.

Also, the Hoquium plant is worried that Adage and Simpson/Solomon will put them out of business with their deeper pockets to pay for biomass. I don't think it's right to lose jobs in G.H.County for a few in Mason County, especially as the profits from the plants don't stay here. (Duke and AREVA are not regional, and Simpson is now spread throughout the country). We get the pollution, truck traffic, acid rain, noise, and lower property values--- someone else gets the power and profits.

Local officials are not listening; a petition of 3, 200 signatures asking for a vote on the Adage plant has fallen on deaf ears. A letter signed by every Mason County doctor decrying the building of a biomass burner 1200 feet from the kids' playing fields, near the hospital and nursing homes, and schools was ignored. We tried to file a recall petition for the Port of Shelton Commissioner who has been working on bringing biomass incineration to Mason County, apparently since 2006, unbeknownst to citizens. Untouchable Tim Sheldon with his jobs in the state Senate, County Commission, and Energy Northwest, as well as his hundreds of acres of timber has been deaf and implacable to the many citizens who have tried to present their views.

Hundreds of ordinary citizens have worked hard in various ways to find out what biomass burning for power is really about...who wants it, who supports it, the pros and cons (with the cons winning). We established a legal fund for the purpose of defeating the so called "green rush" in our state, and to help defeat the elected officials who are not representing us, and who we'd like to replace.

It's a big task to take on corporations and the politicians who are supported by them. It's taxed those of us who feel we must try to cover all the bases that the corporations have anticipated, and always seem to be a few steps ahead of us. Yet, we persevere because we fervently believe our town is worth saving, our health is worth fighting for, and the planet is increasingly vulnerable to this kind of assault.

Taking on even one of the tasks we're facing would be hard going. My point is-- if we only had to campaign to get Sen. Sheldon unelected, we might have been able to do it. If we only had to prove that biomass burning was unhealthy, we might be able to reach enough citizens to stop the building of these plants. If we only had to prove that our area will not benefit financially in the long run, maybe we could. It's been a gargantuan task to proceed, one issue at a time, with our small groups, and disseminate what we've learned to the others in our community.

Please read the article below, and reconsider your support of woody biomass as green and sustainable power deserving of federal subsidies. And, please renounce efforts to lower EPA standards. Lives depend on those standards, which many (especially health care providers such as myself), feel are not strict enough to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Thanks for reading this, and thanks for your public service.

Connie Simpson, RN
Shelton, WA 98584

Surplus Wind And Hydro Power Have BPA Looking For Solutions
http://news.opb.org/article/17776-surplus-wind-and-hydro-power-have-bpa-looking-solutions/

SHELTON BLOG NOTE:
Mason County Progressive
CONTACT SENATOR PATTY MURRAY:
BY EMAIL: http://murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactMe
BY PHONE: 202-224-2621