PORT TOWNSEND — Five environmental groups are proceeding with their appeal against Port Townsend Paper Corp.’s ongoing biomass project before the state Court of Appeals.
No Biomass Burn, the Olympic Environmental Council, the Olympic Forest Coalition, the World Temperate Rainforest Network and PT AirWatchers will file their first supporting brief by mid-July in an effort to get Port Townsend Paper to prepare an environmental impact statement on the project, Gretchen Brewer of PT AirWatchers said Tuesday.
The groups, which filed the notice of appeal May 9, are challenging an order entered April 11 by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee that said further environmental review is unnecessary.
The $55 million project, expected to be completed next year, will expand the plant’s biomass facility to a 24-megawatt plant.
Brewer said in an earlier statement: “It is irresponsible to the community to allow the project to be built without a clear understanding of what it will do to our health, our forests, our roads, our waters.”
Brewer said the “ultra-fine” particulates that are produced by the burning of biomass — wood waste — for steam and electricity often lead to increased asthma, heart attacks and strokes.
“These are serious issues that need to be addressed,” she said.
Such particles are not specifically regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Chuck Madison, vice president of human resources for Port Townsend Paper, said Tuesday “there has been no recent progress” in the biomass project.
“There has not been any change in our position over the appeal,” he added, referring to mill President Roger Loney’s statements to the Peninsula Daily News after McPhee’s ruling.
Loney said then that the biomass project will reduce fuel oil consumption by 1.8 million gallons per year, cut particulate emissions by 70 percent and create 30 full-time jobs.
“We believe that the benefits of the project are pretty clear,” Loney said.
But Brewer said Tuesday that the Thurston County ruling was an example of “the sway corporations have” over regulatory agencies.
“It’s important that full environmental issues be looked at and that people’s health and impact on the environment be factored in as well as the economic considerations,” she said.
“These health and environmental considerations are being set aside.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
