More Business as Usual at the Port!

Submitted by John Cox & Christine Armond

Port of Shelton Fringe Parking

Yes, the Port truck was still parked on the grass Tuesday!

Al, the maintenance supervisor at the Port, claimed responsibility for parking the truck across the street from the meeting room. Why? Because seeing the sign (now hidden behind the truck) hurt the feelings of the Port staff. He said the Commissioners had nothing to do with the truck being parked there and that the grassy area along the fence was part of the Port parking lot anyway.

Sounds good to us. We believe it all. It makes perfect sense.


For Official Cover Ups Only!

Peek-a-Boo again!

The sign that hurt the feelings of the Port staff...

Here's another sign!

Take back our Port!

Vote "Yes" on all 3 Port Ballot Issues!

Business as Usual at the Port of Shelton

Tuesday's Meeting, October 19th, 2010

"Would someone please turn up the lights?"
(request after slide presentation was finished)


"I got the floor here Mack!"
(response to request)


It's JACK! Not MACK! HUFF!

Photos and captions by Christine

Concerned Citizens of Mason County Legal Fund Benefit, Fri., Oct. 22, the Pavillion at Sentry Park

Cartoon for the Day

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Claude

The Wall Street Journal: (Bio)Mass Confusion

OCTOBER 18, 2010

(Bio)Mass Confusion

High costs and environmental concerns have pushed biomass power to the sidelines in the U.S.

By JIM CARLTON

CARSON CITY, Nev.—With all the plants and trees in the world, biomass energy would appear to have boundless potential.

Yet in the U.S., biomass power—generated mainly by burning wood and other plant debris—has run into roadblocks that have stymied its growth.

Here at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center, officials in 2007 built a $7.7 million biomass plant to meet all the power needs of the medium-security prison. But last month, two years after the plant opened, prison officials closed it, citing excessive costs.

"This was a project that was well intentioned, but not well implemented," says Jeff Mohlenkamp, deputy director of support services for the Nevada Department of Corrections.

Across the U.S., other biomass projects have met similar fates.

In Loyalton, Calif., Sierra Pacific Industries Inc. on Aug. 20 announced it would close a 16-megawatt plant, citing federal logging restrictions that made it more difficult to get wood from surrounding forests.

In Gunnison, Colo., Western State College of Colorado in July shelved plans to install a biomass boiler on its campus amid high costs for supply and operation. And in Snowflake, Ariz., a local utility, the Salt River Project, canceled a long-term power-buying contract with a 24-megawatt plant after the plant's operator filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July. Another operator has since taken over the facility.

Is It 'Green?'

Biomass power costs more to produce than power derived from fossil fuels, largely because it requires more labor to chip up wood and truck it to plants, industry executives say. They argue that unless the U.S. adopts a national renewable-energy policy requiring utilities to obtain a certain percentage of their power from renewable sources such as biomass, the industry will continue to struggle.

"As long as the biomass industry is forced to compete with coal and natural gas, we will not grow this industry," says Bob Cleaves, chief executive officer of the Biomass Power Association, a trade group based in Portland, Maine.

But also threatening the industry's growth are concerns that biomass power isn't as "green" as supporters say it is.

Backers say biomass power is a carbon-neutral form of energy: The trees that feed biomass plants sequester carbon when they are growing, offsetting the carbon that's released when they are burned for fuel. But some environmental groups have complained that biomass plants spew too much pollution into the air, while others worry that an expansion of biomass energy could lead to excessive logging, claims the industry denies.

Link below to view complete article:

WSJ (Bio)Mass Confusion article

It Worked for John Dobson and the WPA!

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Dj

In a recent message to the Washington Pilots Association, John Dobson, Executive Director of the Port of Shelton accused the Anti-Adage contingent of hijacking the process “with lies, intimidation and personal attacks...”

From where I sit, it is a couple of the Port Commissioners and Mr. Dobson who have attempted to promote their agenda, contrary to the wishes of the public, by using lies, intimidation and personal attacks.

Commissioner Jack Miles who opposes Adage has been told he’d better “watch his back”, and has been threatened with censure and physical violence. Peaceful observers at public Port meetings have been told that the Commission has the power to “clear the room”. Commissioner Hupp bangs his gavel to get his own way.

At a hearing about the Adage project, out-of-town thugs were paid to fill chairs in the Commission chambers during a hearing, forcing Port residents to be outside the chambers. Citizens were told they must follow preset ‘rules’ in their testimony if they wanted to be heard, but the members of the outside interest group didn’t have to follow the same rules. And instead of answering the scientific evidence against biomass, the proponents continue to circulate the same old tired lies they’ve been circulating since April.

I did some more research on the WPA website and I was thrilled to find their strategies for fighting the government. It seems the state Legislature was proposing a .5% Excise Tax on aircraft values, and the WPA didn’t like that idea. So they organized in opposition. The first thing they told the members to do was to contact their local representative and the Governor immediately and ask them to remove that portion of the bill, and tell them why the bill was a bad idea.

Quoting from the WPA website, “Also, stay on subject! Some of the chicanery (procedural tricks) while very frustrating are nothing more than a distraction. You risk your credibility if you stray. One subject at a time!” (emphasis theirs). And they were encouraged to show up! Contact their State Representatives and State Senators as soon as possible! Write them, call them, and if possible, visit their offices to tell them how this would affect them! Also attend the hearing even if they weren’t going to speak, because their presence would show their opposition. Then they were advised to “Throw the bums out...”

They united in large numbers and contacted their representatives, repeatedly, and they didn't stop until that legislation was defeated. This is what WE have all been doing in our battle against biomass. We have been hammering the facts, and letting our voices be heard.

So let's take heart that we are on the right track, and not grow weary. Let's avoid the distractions they try to throw in our way and stay on subject. Let's continue to show up and exert the pressure it is going to take to get our message across. And let's throw the bums out who won't listen to what the constituents want!

It worked for John Dobson and the WPA, and maybe he's worried that it will work for us...

Cartoon for the Day

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Claude

VOTE SMART! VOTE YES!

Submitted to Shelton Blog by John Cox & Christine Armond

Today, we received a flier sent out by the Washington Pilots Association, Shelton Chapter with: STOP RAHN REDMAN'S INITIATIVES in large red letters, saying Vote NO on Redman's Initiatives 1 & 2, and Vote YES on Port Proposition 1. (Hmmm, wasn't it was hundreds of we, the people, who signed a PETITION to get Initiatives 1 & 2 on the ballot?)

There are radio ads too. That's not cheap...

Why would a bunch of pilots care this much about the structure of the Port Commission? Well, to start with...guess WHO is the president of the Association? Surprise! Surprise! Why no other than the Port of Shelton, Executive Director John Dobson!

Here's an excerpt from the WPA newsletter comment written by John Dobson:

"The attorney for the Port of Shelton and I were discussing political challenges regarding misinformation in the media over a rather large project we are working on. The “anti” folk (NIMBY folk) have hijacked the process with lies, intimidation and personal attacks...tactics used in the 1960s by most anarchists."

Do the Pilots Association and the present Port management have some special plans for our future that they are afraid we "NIMBY folk" might object to, like the above mentioned "rather large project"? Are they worried that a little new blood on the Commission might stall their plans?

And by the way, the flier says it was paid for by the WPA, Shelton Chapter. Why doesn't the WPA website list a Shelton Chapter? So if there is no "Shelton Chapter", who paid for the flier? Inquiring NIMBY folk want to know! And maybe a few anarchists too!

Vote YES on Citizens' Initiatives 1 & 2 and YES on Prop 1

Burp!

Submitted to Shelton Blog by John Cox

Profits don't just materialize out of thin air. There are always costs of some kind.

In the case of biomass incineration, our health and our environment are the costs that Adage, Simpson, Nippon and the rest refuse to acknowledge.

I do not want any of us to pay those costs. I do not want these fleshing eating corporations feasting on our bones, and my only goal, for now, is to give them indigestion.

Pull Your Heads Out of the Sand!

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Dick Curtis

CREDIBILITY: A Lost Virtue of the Port of Shelton

BACKGROUND:

• Commissioner Hupp, on 7/20/10, stated that he would provide me with an email from Kettle Falls that was to attest to his presence there to observe the noise level. The copy of the email he sent did NOT confirm his visit to Kettle Falls. (Keep in mind that Kettle Falls is a water-cooled quieter system, not the air-cooled noisy boiler planned for Shelton.)

• Commissioner Hupp’s email copy to me stated “We have plenty of Hog Fuel.” Nowhere did it indicate the operational status of the plant during the likely times that Cmsr. Hupp could have been there observing a biomass plant in full operation.

• Kettle Falls owner, AVISTA, stated that biomass incineration costs more per kW hour than does their dam, coal or gas turbine plant. In fact, they stated that “we shut down 2 1/2 months in 2009 due primarily to the cost of fuel.”

• Neither AVISTA nor the Kettle Falls plant would confirm for me their operational status for the entire month of July 2010 when Cmsr. Hupp stated he was there enjoying the peace and quiet.

• A retired Simpson expert on wood product availability presented at a Port meeting that “ADAGE will not be able to adequately source their plant in Shelton.”

• Commissioner Hupp stated at one of the Port summer meetings that they "...would not allow anything that’s a 'Bad Fit' for this community.” That this statement was made, was verified by Port Executive Directer, John Dobson, on 10/12/10, at the first Port of Shelton Town Hall Meeting (initiated by Commissioner Jack Miles).
  

COMMISSIONERS (Hupp & Wallitner):

3,200 citizens signed a petition for the right to vote and tell you what they wanted for a "Good Fit.” You denied them that right with numerous, varying reasons.

You did not want to know what the citizens required of you...

Presentation of documented scientific facts and figures were denied their importance.

You didn’t want to know...

You wouldn’t listen to questions on noise issues. Research indicates that there are no air-cooled incinerators the size of the proposed ADAGE incinerator for Shelton located within the USA. The closest comparison plant is located in Lockerbie, Scotland. Like Kettle Falls, all the operational plants in America are water-cooled and much quieter. (I guess this community will be the “guinea pig” for finding out that it's a "Bad Fit.”)

Once again, you didn’t want to know...

COMMISSIONERS (Hupp & Wallitner):

Not wanting to know is like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand! I suggest you pull your heads out of the sand. Become knowledgeable as to what is really a “Good Fit” for this community, and NOT just good for your “Personal Fit”. This unique concept of a “Good Fit” for the community should apply to all actions taken by the Port of Shelton now and in the future.