PORT ANGELES — It’s the smallest particles that come out of biomass power plants that cause the greatest problems, said Kees Kolff, former mayor of Port Townsend and retired pediatrician, and he is worried they aren’t getting enough attention.
Kolff spoke to about 100 people concerned about health risks of biomass burning as a form of power generation at a Clallam County Healthy Air Coalition open house last Sunday in Port Angeles.
Expansions of biomass cogeneration are occurring at Nippon Paper Industries USA in Port Angeles and at Port Townsend Paper Corp. in Port Townsend.
Both will burn wood waste to generate electricity, for which the mills can sell renewable-energy credits.
April 2013 completion
Nippon’s $71 million project is set to be completed in April 2013.
Environmental groups have appealed the construction permit granted by the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency, or ORCAA, in court.
Nippon mill manager Harold Norlund has said the project was reviewed by several agencies, and it “exceeded the permit requirements of ORCAA and the state.”
Environmental groups also have appealed the Port Townsend Paper Corp.’s 25-megawatt biomass upgrade, which the mill says on its website is to be completed this year.
Nippon project opposition is based on an inadequate level of filtration proposed and because Nippon failed to submit a full-scale environmental assessment of the effects of the plant, said Bob Lynette, co-chairman of the North Olympic Group of the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club.
“They avoided a more serious process,” Lynette said.
Larger particulates, 10 microns or larger, typically cause irritated eyes and sinus passages but are caught by the body’s defense system and are not usually a serious health risk, Kolff said.
Kolff said those particulates are scrubbed from plant emissions, resulting in the removal of 90 percent of the mass of the emissions.
2.5 microns, smaller
It is the smaller particulates, 2.5 microns and smaller, that get past the body’s defenses to enter lungs and the blood stream and cause serious health effects.
“Long-term exposure to fine particulates can cause diabetes, obesity, cognitive impairments, premature deliveries, low birth rates and infant mortality,” he said.
Kolff said state regulations that require the biomass generator to scrub the air of a large portion of the exhaust particles uses outdated Environmental Protection Agency standards,.
“The standards are meaningless,” he argued.
The Healthy Air Coalition wants a moratorium on new biomass power plants until the technology exists to clean the exhaust of all particulates, he said.
Coalition’s position
Kolff added that the coalition’s position is that biomass plants should be shut down until there is sufficient technology to remove the dangerous particles, he said.
The dangers of fine particulates from biomass burning have been discussed at forums and meetings throughout the North Olympic Peninsula, including at Board of Health meetings in both Clallam and Jefferson counties.
The topic will come up again Tuesday at a Clallam County Board of Health meeting, when a health officer will report on the health effects and regulation of fine-particulate matter.
The meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Room 160 at the Clallam County Courthouse.
Last month, the Jefferson County Board of Health decided to ask ORCAA and the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill to add a second air-monitoring unit to increase surveillance of emissions from the plant.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
