PORT TOWNSEND — Five environmental groups are taking their case against Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill’s biomass cogeneration project to Thurston County Superior Court.
Port Townsend AirWatchers and four other groups filed June 8 a petition for review by the court of the state Pollution Control Hearings Board’s May ruling that favored the Port Townsend mill’s $55 million biomass expansion project, said Port Townsend AirWatchers spokeswoman Gretchen Brewer.
The other four groups are No Biomass Burn, Olympic Environmental Council, Western Temperate Rainforest Network and Olympic Forest Coalition.
No date has been set for the hearing, which will be a closed-record hearing, Brewer said.
“So no one can introduce new material,” she said. “It will all be material from the original appeal to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board.”
The state pollution control board effectively denied in May an appeal of a permit issued by the state Department of Ecology in October for the upgrade of the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill’s biomass facility, paving the way for construction to begin later this year.
The state board issued rulings on motions for summary judgement, with most rulings in favor of motions filed by Port Townsend Paper Corp. and Ecology.
The groups are asking the court to set aside the state board’s rulings and declare that an environmental impact statement is needed for the mill’s project.
They said Ecology’s approval of the 25-megawatt project does not properly account for its environmental impacts, including carbon dioxide emissions and effects on the forests and human health.
“This ruling by PCHB completely overlooks the long-term damage to health and debt to the environment that the project necessary entails,” Brewer said in a statement issued Wednesday.
“A key issue for the groups is that Ecology failed to require a thorough study of the project’s environment impacts before allowing the biomass project to go forward,” she said.
The statement referred to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board’s ruling as being “curious” and narrow in scope.
“We hope that this appeal will result in an accurate and responsible ruling on the biomass project that will make [Ecology] do its job to protect people and the environment,” Brewer wrote.
Mill managers have a policy of not commenting to the news media.
Both the Port Townsend Paper mill and Nippon Paper Industries USA in Port Angeles plan to expand their biomass facilities, using the wood-burning to produce steam and generate electricity, for which credits can be sold.
Both have been opposed by environmental groups.
Nippon’s biomass project in Port Angeles, which would create up to 20 megawatts of power, is going ahead after the company received a permit from Olympic Region Clean Air Agency last month.
It is expected to be finished in late 2013.
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
