PORT TOWNSEND — A national opponent of biomass generation told more than 200 people earlier this week that a project to expand the use of wood waste at the Port Townsend Paper mill will cause a severe health hazard if it is allowed to proceed.
“People once thought this is clean energy,” said Dr. Bill Sammons on Wednesday night. “But it is very dirty, expensive power that poses an environmental health hazard.”
Sammons, a Massachusetts pediatrician who has testified to congressional committees against the use of wood waste combustion, spoke at the Port Townsend Recreation Center in a free lecture sponsored by PT AirWatchers, the North Olympic Group of the Sierra Club, the Olympic Environmental Council and the Olympic Forest Coalition.
The environmental groups are among those that protest Port Townsend Paper mill’s $55 million biomass expansion project and Nippon Paper Industries USA Inc.’s $71 million cogeneration expansion project.
Both will burn wood waste from logging sites and sawmills.
In response to a question from the Peninsula Daily News, Port Townsend mill spokesman Chuck Madison said the mill “is continuing its position of no comment about biomass.”
The Port Townsend project will create up to 25 megawatts of electrical power for which credits could be sold.
The Nippon boiler expansion, which is expected to be completed in early 2013, will produce up to 20 megawatts of electricity. The company could then sell credits for the electrical power.
Won’t benefit area
Sammons said the power generated by biomass projects would not benefit the local area.
“The power will be put on the grid; it will not be sold to the community,” he said.
“If there weren’t energy credits and tax incentives, it would not be sustainable, and they would not be making any money,” Sammons said.
Said Nippon mill manager Harold Norlund, who did not attend the lecture: “You could say that about any green energy project.”
There are environmental challenges for wind farms and solar energy, Norlund said.
“But as a nation, we’ve decided we want a portion of our energy to come from something other than fossil fuels.”
Pollution source
Sammons said burning wood is a greater source of pollution than coal or any other energy and that pollution levels can increase if the generator burns items other than wood.
Some generators burn garbage or construction waste, which increases those levels, he said.
Wood waste in the Pacific Northwest also has a high moisture content and requires more energy to burn, which decreases plant efficiency, he said.
It’s not true that burning wood waste is more polluting than coal, Norlund said.
“That’s been refuted many times,” he said. “The Environmental Protection Agency has ruled on that many times.”
Sammons urged the group to stop the generator’s construction by making its preferences known to public officials.
“Tell your City Council members, your county commissioners that you don’t want this,” he said. “If they don’t listen to you, then vote them out.”
Sammons said legislative bodies can craft ordinances that require certain safety levels, to which the corporation can comply or, in most cases, withdraw their permit requests.
Sammons said such action has stopped more than 20 biomass generators throughout the country.
Elected officials attending were county Commissioner John Austin, Mayor Michelle Sandoval and City Councilwoman Catharine Robinson.
Aside from the fact that the mill is not in the city limits, Sandoval said, the city’s role is limited.
“It seems to me that the state should be asking more questions about this,” she said. “But it’s not up to us as a city to recommend or restrict this project.”
“If people are concerned, they need to lobby the Department of Ecology and the Department of Health.”
Austin said he was not convinced by Sammons’ presentation and said any energy source has a tradeoff.
“There is a lot of conflicting science,” said state Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Sequim, on Thursday.
Tharinger — who represents the 24th District, which covers Jefferson and Clallam counties as well as part of Grays Harbor County — did not attend the lecture.
“Right now, I tend to support this,” Tharinger said, “as it represents a source of renewable energy.”
More research
While saying he needed to do more research, Tharinger said he knew of technology that scrubs particulates from biomass generators.
Sammons said such processes do not work, and “there is no way that you can make this safe.”
“Health care costs are driving the country into the ground, and these particulates will cost us $20 billion in costs to fight lung disease,” Sammons said.
Garin Schrieve, a manager for the state Department of Ecology, which approved the mill’s permits — and who also did not attend the lecture — said the permits are awarded as to whether the application falls within objective standards.
“If people are going to argue with these standards, there needs to be a discussion on the federal level,” he said.
Explored impact
When biomass projects began springing up across the nation, Sammons, a board-certified pediatrician specializing in the behavior and development of children, began exploring the effects of biomass burning on his young patients and others.
For the past two years, Sammons has traveled around the country supporting citizen groups in more than 20 states in their fight against biomass incinerators, PT AirWatchers said, adding that he is presently involved in efforts in 14 states.
Sammons did not collect a fee for his appearance, but his expenses were paid by PT AirWatchers, according to its president, Gretchen Brewer.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
