Biomass Plant Propaganda Misleads .. Some FACTS you should know.

Biomass incinerators are rarely, if ever, factually represented by the many sales pitches we see issued by the energy industry sector that promotes them. To the point, biomass incineration is not clean and green, sustainable and renewable, carbon neutral and cost effective, or environmentally friendly and ecologically sound. It is quite the opposite of these beautiful and alluring marketing slogans. Biomass incineration is in reality quite polluting, unsustainable to the extreme and, in some cases, less environmentally friendly than coal burning plants.

Remember the old-fashioned hospital incinerator that nobody ever wanted to live downwind from. Who would want mercury vapors, and the many other highly toxic aerosols, wafting through their neighborhood? Well, then, why would a community want a biomass incinerator sited within winds’ reach of their schools, subdivisions and businesses. The post incineration output of these biomass plants can be much worse than a hospital’s depending on what is being incinerated.

Let’s not forget the golden rule of energy production: “Garbage in; garbage out.” Ultimately the permitting process for these incinerators often allows for the burning of various types of refuse and other feedstock, which will necessarily degrade air quality. A close look at any state air permit application for these biomass plants will reveal the mix of carcinogens, toxins, pollutants, contaminants and poisons that is really quite alarming.

As we have evaluated the emission estimates of various pollutants, which have been submitted by the very biomass companies themselves, we wonder how they make the leap across the chasm to such environmentally attractive sound bites. Let’s be clear about the assortment and type of contaminants which will inevitably show up in the surrounding air of these biomass plants. As follows:

(1) Dioxins and Furans

(2) Particulate Matter – 10.0, 2.5 and 1.0 microns

(3) Hydrogen Chloride

(4) Nitrogen Dioxide

(5) Carbon Monoxide

(6) Hydrogen Sulfide

(7) Sulfur Dioxide

(8) Sulfuric Acid (H2SO4)

(9) Mercury, Lead and Arsenic

(10) Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) such as benzene, toluene and naphthalene

One can only imagine the harmful effects to human and animal life that these pollutants will cause in those unfortunate cities, towns and counties that have succumbed to energy industry forces, which routinely foist these schemes on an uninformed public all in order to reap the benefits of the many government subsidies they'll receive. Money always talks sweetly.

What follows is a quote from a group of  healthcare professionals concerned about the lasting effects emissions from these plants has on the general public. They are referring to an existing Biomass plant in Florida; but the same goes for all Biomass plants all over the country. Be very wary of what you're not being told.

“As you know full well, biomass incinerators of this type will produce extraordinary amounts of air pollution to include dioxin, one of the most toxic and carcinogenic organic chemicals released into the environment by industry. In addition, this incinerator will be 0.3 tons (according to the ADAGE permit application submitted to DEP) shy of being a major source of a particular hazardous air pollutant (hydrogen chloride) according to the FL DEP’s own regulatory guidance concerning the 10 ton threshold for any single air pollutant. This incinerator will also significantly contribute to the total particulate matter volume which already plagues much of North Florida. We are compelled to point out that particulate matter (PM) concentration directly correlates with a whole host of upper respiratory ailments to include sinusitis, rhinitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, as well as the common cold. More serious respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, emphysema, pneumonia, tuberculosis, pulmonary edema, sarcoidosis, pleurisy and adult respiratory distress syndrome are all greatly aggravated by the various pollutants emitted from biomass plants. Chronic respiratory conditions such as COPD, CREST, asthma, bronchitis, reactive airway disease, as well as numerous inhalant allergies will likewise see an increase wherever these irritants exist above certain thresholds. Likewise, illnesses such as influenza and its many seasonal variants will always be exacerbated when the ambient air is fouled by these particulates and chemical emissions.”

The profound medical repercussions and health impacts of this form of incineration and crude energy production cannot be understated. Medical organizations from around the country have been weighing in on this matter for as long as biomass marketeers have been submitting their sales literature to the many small, economically depressed communities that are vulnerable to such ill-conceived proposals. The twenty to thirty long-term jobs, which are created by these biomass propositions, will be taken by many who will inevitably experience dangerous levels of exposure to the aforementioned chemicals. Therefore, they will suffer adverse health conditions, which will then contribute to the local medical burden, as well as significantly increase the health care costs associated with lifelong remediation.

In an age when the nation is moving toward more enlightened energy platforms concerning production, dissemination and utilization, it is quite anachronistic that some would have us go back to the Stone Age. Burning trees and the like is, after all, what was done before there was solar, wind, oil and gas, coal, nuclear, and hydroelectric power. Why in the world, with a global population approaching 7 billion, would we want to go back to energy sources that are as primitive as they are downright dirty?

  

Also think about this, the vast quantities of  "waste heat" generated from burning a ton-a-minute of wood will be disposed of by a process called "wet cooling" which will essentially boil off and evaporate water into the local ground-level air. The facility will need many thousands of gallons of water every day, and close to a million gallons of water will be used daily during the hot summer months.Most of the water being vaporized into our air will come from installing a new pipeline and pumping partially-treated sewage wastewater through the town from Winchester's Waste Water Treatment Control Plant. The sewage treatment process is considered to provide "partial treatment" because it only removes gross contaminants (called secondary biological treatment) and is not designed to, nor able to remove most toxic chemicals, especially over-the-
counter drugs, personal care products, and synthetic pollutants like pesticides. Many of the pharmaceuticals used daily by citizens in Winchester,( antibiotics,  heart medications, artificial sweeteners, etc.) and most of the other compounds on an EPA list of over 87,000 suspected Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) can pass right through the sewage treatment process. In fact, the town is not even required to monitor for these dangerous pollutants. EDCs have been shown by extensive scientific research to cause biological abnormalities in aquatic life, such as birth defects, chromosomal damage, reproductive abnormalities, inter-sex development (females with sperm, males with eggs), and a host of other unnatural and unpleasant anomalies.
Instead of discharging this contaminated sewage effluent to the Ashuelot River, where it is likely having an adverse impact on aquatic life, Winchester will be giving approval to the developer to pump this toxic stew through the center of town to be boiled away in his super-inefficient power plant. Estimates of close to 3/4 of a million gallons of contaminated sewage water will be entering the ground-level air of Winchester and surrounding towns every day! Anything and everything dumped down a drain or flushed down a toilet will potentially be aerosolized for the population to inhale. No studies were done to determine how much of the toxic chemicals in the sewage water will be deposited on the citizens who breathe the air. No testing was
done for EDCs to calculate how much exposure the local population will be subjected to. Modern pharmaceuticals are developed and designed to have important biological effects at extremely low doses. Many Endocrine Disrupters have documented biological effects at concentrations as low as a few parts per trillion. None of the thousands of suspect compounds have been studied to determine what damage they cause in various combinations, so-called synergistic effects. It is important to understand that this contaminant plume will not be dispersed through a 250 foot high incinerator smoke stack, but will instead be spewed out
essentially at ground level. Do you really want your children or yourself for that matter, breathing in this toxic concoction every day for the rest of your lives?

In order to meet state water re-use standards, the partially-treated sewage water will have to receive additional treatment at the incinerator to reduce the "food value" (called biochemical oxygen demand or BOD) of the leftover sewage particles (referred to as total suspended solids or TSS). However, this additional treatment process is not designed to, and will not remove the synthetic chemicals, drugs, personal care product residues, pharmaceuticals, and other EDCs in the sewage water. Additional chemicals will then be added to the cooling water such as slime-control chemicals, chlorine disinfectants, corrosion inhibitors, and process control chemicals. Extensive monitoring of existing cooling towers at other power plants have shown that they can cause bacteria and other micro-organisms, dissolved minerals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chlorination by-products, chemical residues used for water treatment, slime control chemicals, corrosion inhibitor residues, volatile process control lubricants, and many other toxic materials to be
discharged to the local ground-level air. A certain percentage of this discharge is composed of small droplets called "drift" that can contain concentrated toxin levels (chemical fog) which will either be inhaled or deposited in a fall-out zone close to the facility. You can bet that none of this will be disclosed to the public by the applicant during the permitting process.

Along with the impacts on our forests and water and on our neighbors to the North, East, South and West, is Biomass a good thing for our town? We're still studying up on this stuff and just thought we'd pass along the information we have so that the good citizens of Winchester can form their own opinions and make their own decisions on whether this is a good thing for Winchester or for just those few who will benefit the most from putting this plant in our town..