ADAGE: ORCAA Meeting April 13

The second ORCAA meeting (April 13) went well with Gordon Lance answering the questions of 20 to 25 citizens for about an hour and a half. I'll list what I learned and then I encourage others who were there to chime in with their comments.

• The process provided in my April 5 blog post ("ORCAA Process for ADAGE Permit") tracks well with what Gordon described yesterday.
• He added a bit more info on two levels to the appeal process. Appeals to the ORCAA decision following the public hearing will be before the Pollution Control Hearing Board (PCHB). This board's ruling could then be appealed in Thurston County Superior Court.
• In the case of faulty application of the laws or faulty data, the federal Environmental Protection Agency will provide the final review. To appeal to EPA you'll need a lawyer and you must be a stakeholder who has spoken out at the ORCAA public hearing.
• Only those who are on record at the ORCAA public hearing stating that they have a problem with the construction of this facility will be allowed to appeal a decision in favor of the ADAGE construction.
• Because ADAGE submitted it's application first, the Simpson bio mass burning facility could be denied simply because ADAGE will have already tipped the air quality nearer to an unsafe level.
• ORCAA (Gordon Lance) will issue his decision. Assuming the ORCAA decision is okay with the ADAGE construction, ORCAA must wait for the Mason County SEPA process approval before issuing the ORCAA permit to ADAGE.
• ORCAA will only be looking at the emissions from trucks inside the ADAGE fence only. Those diesel trucks driving down Railroad Avenue or Highway 3 will not be factored into the possible degradation of our air quality. However, emissions from these diesel trucks should be included in the SEPA.

That's what I caught. Please add your comments to the blog, if you were there. For that matter, I welcome comments and corrections from everyone.

Thanks for reading my blog.