THURSTON COUNTY GIVES RED LIGHT TO EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE INCINERATOR

THURSTON COUNTY IMPOSES BIOMASS MORATORIUM

LIKELY FIRST IN COUNTRY

December 21, 2010--Thurston County, Washington has imposed a 12-month moratorium on permitting biomass facilities because of “environmental concerns” raised by the biomass gasification plant proposed for the campus of Evergreen State College. The moratorium is effective immediately.

Thurston County is likely the first jurisdiction in the country to impose a moratorium on biomass incinerators of all kinds.

The moratorium, signed today by Thurston County Commissioners Cathy Wolfe and Sandra Romero, cites “environmental concerns surrounding bio-mass facilities, including the source of bio-mass material, the release of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, solid waste, and other airborne emissions…”

The moratorium also cites the “environmental and siting” impacts four other biomass incinerators proposed for the Olympic Peninsula in the northwest region of Washington State: (1) Adage, 65MW in Shelton, Mason County; (2) Simpson, 31MW in Shelton, Mason County; (3) Port Townsend Paper, 36MW near Port Townsend, Jefferson County; and (4) Nippon, 25MW in Port Angeles, Clallam County.

If all five proposed biomass incinerators are built to join the six other biomass plants operating on or approved for the Olympic Peninsula, an estimated 2,750,000 tons of forest wood would be burned annually. These 11 incinerators would also emit almost three million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Source for calculations: public documents from Adage Mason, LLC.

Thurston County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the moratorium within 60 days.

A potential loophole could be exploited by Evergreen State College administrators trying to skirt the moratorium.

If the Washington legislature approves the $14M for the project in its session beginning on Jan. 10, 2011, and if the proposed Evergreen gasification plant could be classified as an “essential public facility”, the Thurston County moratorium would not apply to the Evergreen biomass project. “Essential public facilities” usually applies to government facilities like prisons.

Biomass activists in Thurston County are vowing to close the loophole by lobbying the state legislature to deny funding for the Evergreen plant, and to deny classifying the plant as an essential public facility.

Evergreen proposes to convert its existing natural gas-fired boiler used to heat campus buildings to a biomass gasification plant. Evergreen claims the plant would help achieve its goal of being carbon neutral by 2020. Peer-reviewed, published science documents that the Evergreen gasification plant would release twice as much carbon dioxide as its current gas boiler.

Contacts:

1. Duff Badgley, No Biomass Burn, Seattle, WA. 206-283-0621, duff@nobiomassburn.org, www.nobiomassburn.org.
2. Scott Clark, Director of Thurston County Planning Department. 360-754-3355, x. 3005; clarks@co.thurston.wa.us.
3. Scott Morgan, Evergreen State College. 360-867-6913; morgans@evergreen.edu
4. Richard Davis, Evergreen State College. 360-867-6136; davisr@evergreen.edu

LINK to related article in the Olympian:
http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/22/1482547/tesc-energy-project-halted.html
www.masoncountyprogressive.net Mason County Progressive