Jack Krouse



http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kR0-4NgjyrA/TMnwmYrt5CI/AAAAAAAABKk/dXIthZ_iKnw/s1600/img_4440.jpg  Jack Krouse is sitting to the left of Steve (clampirate) Bloomfield.  That is to Steve's left.

Here is Jack Krouse, picture not taken by me.

Economic Stimulus Trumps Environmental Laws

Economic Stimulus Trumps Environmental Laws

WASHINGTON - November 29 - In the name of job creation and clean
energy, the Obama administration has doled out billions of dollars in
stimulus money to some of the nation's most egregious polluters and
granted them sweeping exemptions from the most basic form of
environmental oversight, a new Center for Public Integrity
investigation finds.

The administration has awarded more than 179,000 "categorical
exclusions" to stimulus projects funded by federal agencies, freeing
those projects from review under the National Environmental Policy
Act, or NEPA. Coal-burning utilities like Westar Energy and Duke
Energy, chemical manufacturer DuPont, and ethanol maker Didion Milling
are among the firms with histories of serious environmental violations
that have won blanket NEPA exemptions.

Documents obtained by the Center show the administration has devised a
speedy review process that relies on voluntary disclosures by
companies to determine whether stimulus projects pose environmental
harm. Corporate polluters often omitted mention of health, safety, and
environmental violations from their applications. In fact,
administration officials told the Center they chose to ignore
companies' environmental compliance records in making grant decisions
and issuing NEPA exemptions, saying they considered such information
irrelevant.

This approach to stimulus projects has left the Obama administration
at odds with its usual allies in the green movement. Some
environmental advocates told the Center the goals of creating a clean
energy economy and more jobs don't outweigh the risks of giving money
to and foregoing supervision of repeat violators of anti-pollution laws.

Top-level administration officials who granted the exclusions under
NEPA defend their decisions. They argue that the exemptions were
essential to accelerate more than $30 billion in stimulus-funded clean
energy projects, allocated by the Energy Department, which they say
have already created 35,000 jobs.


###
The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit organization dedicated
to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues
of public concern. The Center is non-partisan and non-advocacy. We are
committed to transparent and comprehensive reporting both in the
United States and around the world.

The Simpson Incinerator is Back On

http://www.orcaa.org/air-quality/current-air-quality/   Watch the charts and see if they pollution numbers go up.  The charts run an hour or two behind.  The incinerator was running at 8am and I'm guessing they fired it up at about 6:30 because the first train woke us up at 6:30.  Keep an eye on the charts and let us know if the numbers start to shoot up.

Hmmm it's off again already... never mind..

Tonight's air

The big smoke stack is not smoking but Olympic Panel Products is smoking away and some it of is blowing into town.   There also seem to be a lot of smoke coming from the area near John's Prairie Road or thereabouts

More smoke on the other side of the Valley, unknown source

What if the monitor was downtown?

Wood smoke on Cota Street at 5-pm Today

WAQA Index  at the same time

Incinerator shut down since Thanksgiving

Will this change when they  fire up  the Simpson biomassacre incinerator?
Air quality was in the Orange before they shut it down.

Good air for now

Our air quality is pretty good today, but what will  happen when Simpson stokes up its incinerator?  The incinerator is not belching out pollution at the moment.  Lots of folks are home for the Holiday weekend and the smell of residential woodsmoke is in the air,  but our WAQA index number is going down.    Let's see what happens to the index number when they stoke it back up.

Simpson incinerator not belching pollution

Current WAQA index number

Simpson aka Solomon has Awarded a Construction Contract for a Biomess Incinerator

Please sign the petition against the 200MW woodwaste biomass plant in Leith

"The Community of Leith in Edinburgh is threatened by plans for a huge biomass power station - burning millions of tonnes of imported wood 24/7 to generate electricity - situated just 200 metres from local housing, with a 120m high chimney, emitting toxins, and generating increased lorry traffic."


Please help the residents of  Edinburgh say no to the  proposed 200 MW Biomass Power Station in Leith.  This massive incinerator would use wood waste shipped in from the North America.  Sign this online petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/39477.html

Lieth is a tourist town in Scotland.  Here is the home page for their fight: http://www.noleithbiomass.org.uk/

This is what a 14MW Biomess Incinerator Looks Like - biomass Simpson Shelton

If they get their way, the 14MW Simpson incinerator will be permitted to run alongside a 30MW Solomon Incinerator




Simpson Lumber current emissions Total Particulate 136 tons per year (tpy)

PM10                                                 61 tpy
PM2.5                                                48 tpy
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)                      60 tpy
Volatile Organic Cmpds (VOC)          14 tpy
Acetaldehyde                                      16.5 tpy
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)                       106,000 tpy
Hydrogen Chloride (HCl)                    12.6 tpy
Carbon Monoxide (CO)                      258 tpy
Total Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP)  28.7 tpy

Olympic Panel Products

Total Particulate                            103 tpy
PM10                                            45 tpy
PM2.5                                           23 tpy
Volatile Organic Cmpds (VOC)     23 tpy
Propane                                         91 tpy

This does not include all of the current diesel truck traffic

Our air has been clean enough to breath for only 20% of the last 24 hours

Could this be why the air is cleaner today?

Simpson Incinerator shut down on Thanksgiving

Simpson Fouling the air on Halloween

Five Enviromental Groups Appeal Port Townsend Paper Incinerator Permit

For Immediate Release
Contact: Gretchen Brewer
360-774-2115 ptairwatchers@mailhaven.com

FIVE ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS APPEAL PORT TOWNSEND PAPER INCINERATOR PERMIT

Nov. 23, 2010—Legal action was filed on Monday, November 22, 2010 to 
stop toxic pollution from a second biomass incinerator project 
proposed for the Northern Olympic Peninsula—this one in Port Townsend.
The appeal was filed in response to the WA Department of Ecology’s 
permitting of a biomass electrical co-generation expansion proposed 
at Port Townsend Paper Corporation, in Port Townsend WA, and 
Ecology’s decision to waive full environmental review of the project.
These five groups are also part of the coalition that is appealing 
the approval of a similar biomass project proposed by Nippon in Port 
Angeles.

In granting the Notice of Construction, Ecology incorrectly bypasses 
a full environmental review, or Environmental Impact Statement, which 
is required by law to ensure that the project will not impact the 
health and welfare of the people and the air, water and soil of 
Jefferson County and the surrounding area.

This appeal is in support of hundreds of residents who filed comments 
asking Ecology to conduct this review and provide critical oversight.
The coalition appealing the permit—Port Townsend Air Watchers, No 
Biomass Burn, World Temperate Rainforest Network, Olympic 
Environmental Council, and Olympic Forest Coalition—claims the PTPC 
biomass project would:

1.      Significantly increase pollutants including nitrogen oxides, 
carbon monoxide, Particulate Matter, Particulate Matter-2.5, and 
carbon dioxide. There is no known safe level for fine particulates.

2.      Mercury would be released from the project and cause harm to 
human health and to the environment.

3.      Dioxin-like compounds would be released from the project and 
cause harm to human health and to the environment. Dioxins are among 
the most carcinogenic chemicals. There is no known safe level of 
dioxins.

The appeal also claims the Ecology permitting process failed to 
consider the impact on regional forests of removing large amounts of 
forest wood to feed the PTPC incinerator.

The PTPC biomass incinerator project is one of 11 biomass 
incinerators existing or proposed for the Olympic Peninsula. If all 
are approved and built, over 2,750,000 tons of wood will be removed 
from regional forests each year.

If you want to live, don't breath

Shelton has twice as much PM 2.5 as ANY other city in the State this morning

Shelton has twice as much PM 2.5 as ANY other city in the State this morning.  There is no traffic to blame this on at 6am and I could not see any wood smoke coming out of houses.  People are sleeping and not stoking up their fires at this hour.   There is some steam coming out of buildings that might be heating with natural gas.   Evergreen Elementary school (closed for the day) and the red church on 7th and Franklin are two examples.  I think that this level of PM at this hour of the day can only be explained by the filth coming out of Simpson Investment Company.   The wind is blowing from the east so all the industrial filth is blowing right into town.  Normally it blows out over the water.

Last night when we were wandering downtown marvelling at the snow we noticed the smell of cat poop.  But no cat poop could be found.  As we continued our walk towards Front Street and Simpson, we realized the smell was Simpson.  It us in gusts with the wind.  A couple of times a gust of wind brought me a smell that took me right back to when I worked in the Port of Tacoma; Tacoma is an official dirty air city.   Once we realized how bad the air was we headed back home.  Buy the time we made it home my daughter had a sore throat and my lungs were hurting.

I've always avoided walking down front street during rush hour because it smells bad and I thought the smell was from auto exhaust but now I know that most the smell is from Simpson.

The next dirtiest city today  in the state is Darrington and it appears that Darrington has a  20MW biomass plant and a 7MW capable biomass plant.  It certainly had a HUGE sawmill, check it out in google earth.   I'm not buying the claims that this pollution is mostly caused by home fireplaces.

Darrington is second with 33

The numbers changed slightly but Shelton still has alomost twice the PM 2.5 of any other city

Children, a Crucifix and a Simpson Smokestack

Simpson Filth is Blowing Into Town Tonight

Today's Dose of Filth from Simpson Investment Company

Beauty and the BEAST

This is a big image, click to enlarge

At 5am (now) Shelton has the third highest level of measured PM 2.5 in the State

Only Darrington and Port Angeles are  registering more PM 2.5 than Shelton

Want Clean air? Move to Tacoma.

.

Everyone knows that Tacoma has dirty air and has had dirty air for many years. The aroma of Tacoma had gotten better over the years, but lately it seems to be getting worse. Last October the EPA made it official, by labeling Tacoma as one of the 31 most polluted cities in the country.

We all know that we should avoid living or working in Tacoma, but what about Shelton?  Shelton seems to be a dirty little secret.   Sure, everyone knows that Shelton is a butt-ugly depressed lumber town thanks Simpson and friends, but does everyone know this morning at 4am Tacoma had cleaner air than Shelton??

That's right, according the state air monitoring data and maps, this morning Shelton's air was worse than Tacoma's air.  I don't know where the Tacoma air is measured.  Is it measured down in the filthy Port of Tacoma, or is it measured up on the hill top?   We know that Shelton's air is quality is not measured near the filthy Simpson incinerator or stinky highway 3,  but is instead is measured up on the hill on the roof of the hospital.

Tacoma has massive amounts of traffic compared to Shelton and yet last night Tacoma had cleaner air, that is less 2.5 particulate matter.   How can that be?   I'll be watching closely and see just how often the air is cleaner in Tacoma than it is in Shelton.  

BY ROB CARSON; The News TribuneLast updated: October 9th, 2009 02:35 AM (PDT)
The Tacoma area on Thursday officially received a dirty air designation from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which branded it as one of 31 most polluted places in the country. The formal federal designation as a “non-attainment area” is new, but the data behind it are not. The EPA listing is based on air quality monitoring from 2006 to 2008.
http://woodsmokenuisance.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/2009-oct-8-wa-tacoma-on-epa-non-attainment-for-particle-pollution-24-hour/

This Weeks Port of Hupp Meeting

Submitted by Tom Davis

Yesterday’s Port of Shelton meeting held some surprises

Hupp grinning and plotting

First, Commissioner Jay Hupp made a formal request to be reimbursed for legal fees incurred while defending him against the recent, failed, recall attempt brought by a group of Concerned Citizens.  

According to the Port’s attorney, Skip Houser, there is a statue under which Mr. Hupp is entitled to be reimbursed, using Port (public) funds.

I'll leave the legal details to those who care; I am more interested in the level of hubris it takes for a local official to relieve himself of financial responsibility resulting from a situation of his own making.

Clearly, Mr. Hupp doesn’t ft get it. And probably never will.

In any case Commissioner Jack Miles strongly objected to both the manner and the timing of the request, and of the subsequent motion (brought by Commissioner Tom Wallitner), to facilitate Mr. Hupp being reimbursed.

Additionally, Mr. Miles correctly stated that Mr. Hupp had not specified the amount of money he is requesting be reimbursed.

Skip Houser

Enter, the ever-oily Port attorney, Mr. Houser, who stated that the motion on the table was merely to authorize the unspecified amount to be reimbursed, not to actually reimburse the unspecified amount. (Hence the ever-oily characterization.)

The rhetoric at the Commissioner’s table went back and forth until Mr. Hupp decided it was time to second his own motion (Mr. Oily said it was legal for him to do so) and the gavel came down, once again, in a two to one decision favoring Mr. Hupp.

But there was a point I found interesting. It was when Commissioner Wallitner stated that he made the motion to reimburse my friend, Jay because he (Jay) had been attacked.  And by attacked h he (Tom) was referring to the recall action brought by citizens exercising their civil rights.

Tom Wallitner

Let me stop here for a minute because I want to say that I like Tom Wallitner. I try not to, but I just can ft help it. To me, Tom is like a bunny with a machine gun. He didn't go out and buy it, and he sure doesn’t  know how to use it, but, damn, he's just so much fun to watch-firing away into the air.

The meeting continued along, peacefully, for about, oh, I'd say thirty seconds, until it came time for the public comment portion, and Matt Matayashi, the Port 's rising star and current Executive Director of Mason County Economic Development Council (EDC), got up to speak.



Now Matt is a kid I don't really care for. He’s young, bright and well spoken, but he gives you no reason to believe there's a heart hidden under his ambitions. Matt is a wannabe political heavy hitter, with every right to think he'll get his chance at bat. But he's lacking the one thing he'll need to have a successful life. So let's all watch as Matt grows up and discovers what that one thing is. 

 

Anyway, right away, Matt runs into a barrage of objections from Commissioner Miles. Now here’s the part where it gets a little dicey.



Matt grins after Steve threatens Jack



Apparently, the Port of Shelton pays Matt's salary (that's a little over simplified, but close enough for government work). And Commissioner Miles is of the mind that, that makes Matt an employee of the Port, and thereby he should reserve his comments for the Staff Comments portion of the meeting, and not use up the small amount of time allotted for the Public to comment.

Commissioner Miles then launched into a tale of concentric narrative that nearly put old Tom Wallitner back into the hospital (Tom recently underwent quadruple bypass surgery). In fact, I started looking around for a defibrillator, just in case.

And Mr. Hupp was fairing little better. I was beginning to think we might have to call in eLife Flight for an emergency evac.

But suddenly- and prematurely- Commissioner Hupp brought down his gavel and announced that we were adjourned.

But both Commissioners Hupp and Wallitner remained in their seats for a full ten minutes after we were adjourned, apparently engaged in some sort of deep breathing exercises.

And that is why I think Mr. Hupp doesn’t ft have a clue as to what is going on.

If you find this little narrative somewhat amusing, good. But keep in mind what we are up against is a high stakes game of health versus money. And nothing could be more serious than that.

Tom Davis

29.5 MW Biomess Plant in VT Will Lower Property Values

Click on link to hear the full audio

Pownal Biomass Proposal Meets Interstate Concern

Charlie Deitz (2010-11-16)

POWNAL, VT (WAMC) - A proposed 29.5 Megawatt biomass plant in Pownal, Vermont is drawing a cross-border response with residents of Southern Vermont and Berkshire County, Massachusetts working together to block the plant's construction. WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief Charlie Deitz has the report © Copyright 2010 Click on link to hear the full audio





Studies show that older forests capture carbon at a higher rate than younger forests.

Honey Mushrooms Growing on "Woody Boimass"

Old forests capture plenty of carbon

Planting a new tree may be a less effective way to sequester carbon than saving an old tree from the axe.

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080910/full/news.2008.1092.html

Well duh!   Funny how we need scientific studies to tell us this kind of thing that we all know.  Even a toddler knows that a clear-cut forest is just plain wrong.   But we adults need a scientific study to tell us that cutting down trees is not carbon nuetral.  So there ya go..

"Adults are the children's children, captured and taught what to believe"

 -John Trudell

URGENT! Submit Your Comments on the Adage Environmental Impact Statement NOW!

URGENT! Submit Your Comments on the Adage Environmental Impact Statement Before November 19th!

An Environmental Impact Statement is being prepared to assess potential effects of the ADAGE LLC Biomass Incinerator Plant that is currently under consideration for our community. Comments are being accepted until November 19th, 2010.

This is one of the best opportunites yet to make known your concerns about this project!

    Please follow this link to Incineratorfreemasoncounty.org, this will only take a minute of your time.

Pacific Northwest forests act as massive carbon banks

The thick, wet forests of the Pacific Northwest are the carbon storage powerhouses of the U.S. -- in fact, they store more than 1-1/2 times as much carbon as the entire amount of carbon dioxide burned in fossil fuels throughout the country each year, a new study shows.

I have no doubt that Olympic National Forest would be number one if Simpson, and its many  friends like Pope and Talbot, had not cut so much of it.  Duke energy (aka ADAGE) coming to burn our number two carbon sink is in no way carbon nuetral.   I wonder what lies they tell to make mountain top mining sound "green"?

Port of Shelton to Reimburse Hupp for Legal Fees?

Port of Shelton to Reimburse Hupp for Legal Fees
Written by Dedrick Allan
Wednesday, 17 November 2010 07:40

The Port of Shelton will reimburse Jay Hupp legal fees for the recall case.
http://masoncountydailynews.net/news/news/3828-port-of-shelton-to-reimburse-hupp-for-legal-fees

More habitat lost this week

The old forest and trail system at what used to be Potlatch State Park
 (the State Park does not own this land anymore)

Roughly the area that was logged is in red and the black may have been logged too, but
It is hard to tell how far back the logging goes.  The streets are where tribal housing
is going to be built.  The blue pushpin was one of my best mushroom hunting spots




I'm so sad and angry at the same time.  Some of my favorite second growth trees have been cut down and one of my best mushroom hunting spots is now gone.    The forest and trail system next to Potlatch State Park, is gone forever.  They logged it all the way down to within 20 feet of the road and 40 feet of the Hood Canal.  Why is that legal to log nearly to the edge of the southern Hood Canal, with all of its oxygen problems?

These woods are now gone forever

My oldest daughter crawling under the brush and trees (that are now gone) to collect Chanterelles

This Chanterelle mycelium will  never fruit again, with its host tree gone

We did not pick this edible and rare "hawks wing"  mushroom because it was so pretty

This deadly but beautiful aminita will never fruit again with its host tree gone

I'm so glad that we made it out there this year before they destroyed it.   Keep enjoying what is left of nature, before it is all gone.

White ones are Mason's Favorite?

Can I get a Lawyer?

Can I get a Lawyer?
Submitted by Katherine Price

There were four lawyers against one at the hearing yesterday, and it looked a little lopsided.

The Shiny Shoe Brigade

The first attorney to speak identified himself as an attorney for the
Port, Micheel S. Schechter of Foster Pepper, Seattle. He is identified on Foster Pepper's website as practicing in the fields of land use,
environmental and municipal government. A hired gun to protect the Port
because their own attorney, Skip Houser, who had the "4th seat" on the Port side, was apparently not competent to speak to these matters: Land use, environmental and municipal government.

Wait a minute, if Skip Houser is not competent to speak to these matters
why is he the attorney for the Port? These seem like areas of practice
that an attorney for the Port ought to be competent in. I hope that
someone posed that question today at the Port's budget meeting: "How much are you going to budget for attorneys fees, now that the Port has two attorneys; and one comes from Seattle?"

Inquiring minds want to know how much the Port paid to have Seattle lawyer do the talking and Skip Houser sit there.

But what this inquiring mind really wants to know is what the strategy of
the attorney for Citizens was, and why there were two attorneys seated at
the Port's table during the hearing who identified themselves as
representing Adage?

Why did the attorney who brought the lawsuit on behalf of Concerned
Citizens include Adage as a party to the lawsuit?
If the wrongful party was the Port, which is how some of us have viewed
these events, why was Adage included as a defendant. Including Adage as a defendant gave them a seat at the table yesterday -- and they took two.

Maybe there is a strategic reason for including Adage as a defendant...

Maybe there is a legal reason...

I hope that there is a good reason for making them a party to the lawsuit, for giving them "standing" in yesterday's hearing as well as two seats at the table.

Biomass Opponents Criticize EPA Greenhouse Gas Rules

Biomass Opponents Criticize EPA Greenhouse Gas Rules
Groups say EPA’s Clean Air Act rules should
prohibit burning forests for “green” energy

For Immediate Release

www.energyjustice.net

CONTACT:
Attorney Meg Sheehan, 800-729-1363 meg@ecolaw.biz
Dr. William Sammons, 781-799-0014 drsammons@aol.com
Cheryl Johncox, 866-648-7337 Cheryl@buckeyeforestcouncil.org
Denny Haldeman, 423 332 0414 dennyh@bellsouth.net>

A national network of health, social justice, community well-being, and forest protection organizations opposed to burning trees and trash for so-called “clean and green” energy, today vowed to challenge U.S. EPA’s November 10, 2010 Clean Air Act guidance as it relates to “biomass.” The group also voiced sharp disagreement with Secretary Vilsack’s support for burning America’s forests for electricity, expressed in a USDA Press Release November 10.

In Massachusetts, Meg Sheehan of Biomass Accountability Project said, “We applaud EPA for moving forward on greenhouse gas regulation despite industry criticism, but the agency’s claim that burning “biomass” could qualify as “best available control technology” for greenhouse gas emissions is contrary to established science. Burning wood biomass for electricity emits 50% more greenhouse gases per unit of energy than coal and is horribly inefficient. The Clean Air Act is supposed to ensure that all Americans have healthy air to breathe. Burning biomass is contrary to that goal,” Sheehan added.

According to pediatrician William Sammons, biomass burning emits the most toxic chemicals known to science, including deadly dioxin, mercury, fine particulate matter, and others. “These emissions cause asthma, heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses in children as well as adults, and should never qualify as the “cleanest” technology under our Clean Air Act,” Sammons said. Over 77,000 doctors, the American Lung Association, Massachusetts Medical Society, North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians and others oppose burning wood biomass on health grounds.

In Ohio, plans to convert coal plants to burning trees threaten both forests and public health, according to Buckeye Forest Council Executive Director Cheryl Johncox. “Ten coal fired power plants in Ohio plan to burn over 25 million tons of wood a year to generate energy – that’s one in ten of our trees which would result in the clearing of Ohio’s forests in a decade,” she said. “Cutting down forests, which absorb greenhouse gases, is not a climate solution but a climate disaster, and it’s happening now, not in the future,” she said. “We urge EPA to ensure that biomass burning is not allowed to be implemented as “best available control technology” for greenhouse gases,” Johncox added.

"It is unconscionable for the USDA and Secretary Vilsack to promote economic and environmental subsidies for an industry which will result in the release of “a carbon bomb” that will last for decades,” said Denny Haldeman, a spokesperson for the Anti- Biomass Incineration Forest Protection Campaign. “The biomass incineration industry is carbon intensive, unsustainable, and dirty, and it cannot exist without massive tax-payer subsidies,” he added. “The “best available control technology” for clean air and reduced carbon emissions is more forests and less burning, not biomass incineration," said Haldeman.

Protests Against Duke Energy, What can we learn from them?

Maybe we could get in touch with some of the many folks back East who have been fighting the Duke energy monstrosity for years. Perhaps they have some advice for us. Our struggle is their struggle, considering that Duke many use carbon credits to continue removing mountains and burning coal back east.







to see more just to to Youtube and google "Duke Energy protest".  Another interesting thing to google is "duke energy fined" and "Areva fined"

Four Against One at ADAGE Option to Lease Hearing

The Shiny Shoe Brigade

  It was four against one today with four lawyers for every one of Concerned Citizen's of Mason County (CCMC) lawyers.   Unfortunately,  we can't make any David and Goliath jokes today.     The port had two fancy lawyers from Seattle, their very own Skip Houser and another attorney from ADAGE.   CCMC had one very articulate and very well researched lawyer.   Here are some pictures:

Shelton  Lawyer,  Rick Hoss for the Port

Adage attorney Mr.  Lasher

Port's regular lawyer Skip Houser with EDC's Matt Matayoshi

Fancy Seattle lawyer,  Mr.  Schechter, from Foster Pepper

Concerned Citizens of Mason County and their Lawyer( to the right of Beth)

Disappointed Citizens Console Each Other Outside