\n-jsq\n
\n\n<\/a>\nFrom: Leigh Touchton\n
\nDate: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:04:48 -0400\n
\nSubject: Mr. Lofton once again misrepresents the facts\n
\nTo: wace-georgia@googlegroups.com\n
\nCc: blofton@industrialauthority.com, [and the VDT and some elected officials and other interested parties]\n\nDear WACE:\n
\n1. Mr. Lofton stated: “Despite what Mrs. Touchton stated, we’ve been in\ntouch with the Massachusetts and Florida EPD, and in no way, shape, or form\nis either state banning biomass facilities. In fact, there are 15 scheduled\nnow for New England, many in Mass, and a number in Florida. There have been\ndiscussions regarding the level of incentives (tax credits) allowed, but no\nmoratorium. We’ll be happy to share our contacts with you.”\n
\nI would like for Mr. Lofton to share his contacts with WACE. Because\npreviously his contacts at the Sierra Club were misrepresented by him.\nSierra Club does NOT endorse Biomass Incineration, neither does any other\nmajor environmental organization in America.\n
\nI would also like Mr. Lofton to share his private email list of stakeholders\nwith WACE, in particular the investors, because I would like to share some\ninformation with them. I expect transparency in our public officials and\nhis refusal to address my letter to the editor of the Valdosta Daily Times\nin the same newspaper in which it was published does not lead me to believe\nthat he is operating in good faith. I am very disturbed that any public\nofficial would state that they did not want to “energize a forum for\nmisinformation” regarding published concerns in the local newspaper. Mr.\nLofton has a duty to respond to all citizens’ concerns publicly. I am very\ndisturbed that he thought he could privately email a group about my\npublished letter to the editor and that the first I learned of it was nearly\na month after he did so. And no, I still don’t wish to have a private\ntelephone conversation with him or a private meeting with him, I’ve been\nreading all the public documents that have resulted from his supposed\nlengthy due diligence period. As I stated, the first I learned of this\nproposed biomass incinerator was when the EPD called for public comments.\nMr. Lofton and Councilman James Wright were both invited to the June Women\nin the NAACP meeting and neither man showed up so I don’t really care to\nengage in who didn’t return whose phone calls. Additionally he could have\nmade contact with the schools and churches in the area, or attended an SCLC\nor NAACP meeting but he did not. All our our meetings are open to the\npublic, unlike his private list of stakeholders.\n
\nHere’s one internet article on the moratorium<\/strong> in Massachusetts.\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n
\n\nhttp:\/\/www.allbusiness.com\/government\/government-bodies-offices\/13542770-1.html<\/a>\n
\nHere’s another article on the ban <\/strong>in Massachusetts.\nhttp:\/\/wihresourcegroup.wordpress.com\/2009\/12\/13\/state-of-massachusetts-to-keep-ban-on-new-incinerators-wih-resource-group\/<\/a>\n
\nHere’s another on the banning<\/strong> of new incinerators in Massachusetts that\nstarted 19 years ago.\nhttp:\/\/www.eastforestpark.us\/issues\/48-biomass-letter.html<\/a>\n\nWhat is going on today is that these same companies are trying the old\n“razzle-dazzle” approach to convince the public that these new plants are\nsafe and green when they are not, and they are currently trying to rewrite\nexisting legislation to have themselves accepted as something “new” when\nthey are just the same thing with a greener sounding name. They are also\ntaking advantage of the Obama adminstration’s tax incentives for this kind\nof incinerator, a presidential policy which environmentalists nationwide\noppose.\n
\nHere’s an article on the upcoming Massachusetts November elections at which\nthe current Biomass ban may become a permanent ban<\/strong>, courtesy of voter\nreferendum.\nhttp:\/\/www.climateimc.org\/en\/press-releases\/2009\/12\/02\/us-massachusetts-2010-ballot-may-limit-pollution-biomass-incinerators<\/a>\n
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\nWhat I said about Florida was that they had been blocked<\/strong>. There is a\ndifference in the definitions of the words<\/strong> blocked and banned<\/strong>. Here’s an\narticle on the Gretna, Florida, biomass incinerator that was blocked<\/strong>.\nhttp:\/\/www.nobiomassburn.org\/2010\/04\/florida-citizens-beat-adage\/<\/a>\n
\nHere’s an\narticle on the Gainesville Biomass plant that is currently in litigation and\ntemporarily blocked.<\/strong>\n(\n
\nHere’s a television\nnews story on the blocking<\/strong> of a biomass incinerator in Leon County,\nFlorida, and how the company moved it to Port St. Joe, Florida, and now a\nlawsuit is brewing over that one just like most of the others in Florida.\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pCHwoXqprJE<\/a>\n\n
\n2. Mr. Lofton stated: “We are not spending $110 million in taxpayer’s\nmoney to build this facility. The funding is private and financed by\nWiregrass Power, LLC. We’ve read this in circulated e-mails Mrs. Touchton\nhas authored. In fact, our facility is actually paying substantial dollars\nper year to the community.”\n
\nWhat I actually stated was this: “Over 40 of these kinds of plants are\ncurrently closed, after their respective communities paid millions of\ndollars to build them<\/strong>.\n(\nhttp:\/\/www.energyjustice.net\/map\/biomassproposed<\/a>). ” Mr.\nLofton can equivocate all he wants over “the funding is private” when all of\nus know that putative green energy (greenwashed technology) is currently\ngetting massive federal and state subsidies, and that is why under the Obama\nadministration these kinds of plants are cropping up all over the place, and\njust as quickly getting shut down all over the place. Government subsidies\nare not the same thing as “private funding”. It may well be that Valdosta\ncitizens’ local tax revenues do not directly go to the building of the\nWiregrass Power plant, but our federal and state taxes absolutely will\nbe used to fund it. Otherwise it wouldn’t be cheap enough to pursue. As a\ntaxpayer, I want my taxes to pay for schools, hospitals, and teachers, not\nsomething that is going to pollute the air my little girl breathes and\nendangers her health and her life.\n
\nA number of the over 45 Biomass Incinerators that have been closed down\nnationwide, after their communities had paid millions to build them, shut\ndown because the cost of wood became too high to make cheap electricity.\nUnlike solar fuel which is free, wood is a commodity on the international\nmarket and the price fluctuates with economic growth. When America and Asia\nstart building again, wood will increase in price. The same wood that Mr.\nLofton expects to fuel his Biomass Boondoggle will also be competitively\npriced for pulp mills and Langboard, or for other biomass plants currently\nin operation in the South or proposed to be in operation in the South.\nThere is no guarantee that wood (even supposed leftover wood) will always be\nplentiful and cheap, no to mention that when we experience the hottest\ndecade on record we ought to be worrying about maintaining forests instead\nof cutting them down. So when Georgia and the federal government grants\nsubsidies\/ tax rebates\/tax incentives to Wiregrass Power, LLC, to build this\nplant we are not even assured that the loss in state and federal revenue\nwill be offset economically by cheap electricity to local citizens.\n
\n3. Mr. Lofton stated: “I think the raw facts dispute any ongoing issues\nrelated to environmental racism.” Once again, I shall repeat what is\npatently obvious to anyone who drives around the proposed site, I believe I\nhave stated these facts at least 3 times now for his edification. There are\n7 black churches, 2 predominantly black elementary schools, 2 predominantly\nblack Head Start programs, a predominantly black assisted living facility,\nSands-Horizon, serving over 60 families, two large predominantly black\napartment complexes called Brittany Woods and Park Chase, and Valdosta’s\nmost upscale black residential community all located within 2 miles of the\nsite. In a one mile radius Mr. Lofton has repeatedly stated that the ratio\nof white-to-black is 7-to-1. As I have repeatedly stated, the black\nchurches and schools are located in the one mile radius and they do not\ncount as residences, but the children and church members will breathe the\nsame air as the residents there. As I have repeatedly stated, one-mile is\nan arbitrary demarcation designed to misrepresent the facts. Additionally,\nfrom what I can ascertain, he is using 2000 Census data. The 2010 Census\ndata is not out yet, to the best of my knowledge. Regardless, it is quite\nclear that the most populous group of residents living closest to the\nproposed plant are black people. The NAACP remains firm that this plant\nrepresents another example of Environmental Racism.\n
\nHere’s an article on the lawsuit that NAACP pursued against the Tallahassee\nbiomass incinerator alleging civil rights violations, ie, environmental\nracism. I would very much like to share this with the private email list of\nstakeholders that Mr. Lofton is currently maintaining.\nhttp:\/\/www.allbusiness.com\/government\/government-bodies-offices\/12191597-1.html<\/a>\nThe result of this lawsuit was that the Tallahassee biomass\nincinerator was blocked.<\/strong>\n
\n4. Mr. Lofton stated: “Dr. Carl Manning, an environmental professor at VSU\nwho has done significant research in biomass, agrees and completely supports\nour project.” Could someone please tell me what professional organizations\nDr. Carl Manning is president of? What groups does he speak for? I am not\nfamiliar with his publications on biomass and did not find anything that he\nhad published when I googled his name. Regardless of his supposed vast\nknowledge on biomass, most environmental organizations and medical\norganizations did not adopt his position and many such scientific and\nmedical groups promote policy that is contrary to his position. I run into\nscientific mavericks all the time and can’t quite understand why one VSU\nscientist is now the expert on this topic as far as Mr. Lofton is\nconcerned? I did not realize that he carries the same gravitas as the\nAmerican Cancer Society or the American Lung Association.\n
\nPerhaps Mr. Lofton meant VSU professor Dr. Tom Manning<\/strong>? If so, same point\napplies. Additionally, he is a professor of chemistry, not an environmental\nscientist. Additionally, there are far more scientists at Valdosta State\nUniversity and nationwide that disagree with him, as well as numerous\nscientific and professional organizations that disagree with him. I’m told\nhe receives grant money from the lumber industry so I would hardly consider\nhim to be an unbiased source of scientific information.\n