ADAGE: Fatal Flaw in Plans?

Here are my key questions regarding the proposed construction of ADAGE:

• what will happen to our air quality both from the incinerator and the increased truck traffic?
• where will the funds for road improvements and maintenance come from and will they identified and available prior to operation of the incinerator?
• what is the water supply source within the city now that the water line is being paid for by PUD3 rate payers?
• how is the 100 degree (F) waste water being disposed of and what will that do to our marine environment?
• do we have a sustainable supply of woody bio mass in a 50 mile radius to feed this 24/7 operation?
• will the energy produced be at a low enough cost that others will want to purchase?

Tim Sheldon says he is an "unabashed, 100 per cent supporter of it (ADAGE) and what the company wants to do locally." (Mason County Daily News, "The Green File: Local Legislators Report on Current Session", April 9, 2010)

Are there fatal flaws to the courting of ADAGE that our elected officials have apparently engaged in?

If this plan is solid and there are no fatal flaws, then why wouldn't they hold a meeting in a public setting to answer our questions?

Amazing that the Chair of the Mason County Board of County Commissioners (Ross Gallagher) isn't holding a public meeting. Isn't he up for reelection this year?

ADAGE: Road Improvement Funding

For background see my January 13, 2010 blog posting, "Connecting the Dots".

At the legislative planning meeting (Jan 6, 2010) Norm Dicks and Patty Murray's staff representatives were clear that federal road money to connect State Route 3 (at John's Prairie Road) and Highway 101 would be difficult to get funded. The city estimated $20 million for Wallace Kneeland improvements while the county's estimate to get SR3/John's Prairie Road intersection fixed was estimated at $18 million. State legislators Tim Sheldon and Fred Finn were at this meeting also but did not give hope that the state will fund these essential road improvements.

So where is this bundle of money coming from to fix these roads prior to ADAGE construction being approved? Or will our elected officials simply add additional diesel heavy trucks to the hazardous conditions that already exist?

BOCC Meeting - April 13

All three commissioners were in attendance. Just one issue to cover this week from the Board meeting.

Accrued Leave Fund: Our county commissioners are treating this fund the same way the Federal government balances its budget: pushing what's owed to the future. I refer to this as the "Scarlett O'Hara approach" to public policy.

On yesterday's agenda the commissioners approved the revision of the county personnel policy by discontinuing the payment of unused sick leave for employees who are going off the rolls. This policy change will not apply to current employees but will apply to non-union employees hired after April 13. At this time non-union employees account for less than 25% of total county staffing. The cows are out of the barn and our commissioners are swatting at flies by just revising the county's personnel policy.

Lynda Ring Erickson did not want to allow my questions about how the BOCC is ignoring Mason County Resolution 70-04 which established a target schedule for fully funding this liability which for Dec 31, 2009 came to $3.3M of which $2.3M is for Current Expense or General Fund employees. Since Dec 2008 this unfunded liability has increased by $800K. We're heading in the wrong direction.

The target schedule which the commissioners continue to ignore requires 2010 Accrued Leave Fund to be funded at 75% of what we owed employees at the end of 2008. Instead of the mere $355K provided by the commissioners in the 2010 budget, the target schedule would have this account funded at $1.2M. Quite a difference there.

At the end of March with one fourth of the year lapsed, we'd already spent more than one third of the money set aside for 2010. It appears that just looking at this on a straight line basis, the $355K amount budgeted will not be enough to cover money owed to terminated employees for this year.

It's not hard to figure out why Lynda Ring Erickson didn't want to talk about this problem yesterday. That's what Scarlett O'Hara would have done also.

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.

ADAGE: ORCAA Meetings

Yesterday (April 12) a small group visited ORCAA (Olympic Regional Clean Air Agency). I was not there but would love to hear what happened. Can anyone post as a comment or send me an email so that all of us can hear about this meeting? I understand Lynda Ring Erickson is an ORCAA board member and that she sat in on yesterday's meeting which included 12 private citizens.

Also heads up. There is another meeting with ORCAA again today (April 13) at 2PM with Gordon Lance. Today's visit will include a physician from Massachusetts, Dr Sammons who has expertise on respiratory disease and particulate matter. I understand the setting is relaxed and a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about the proposed ADAGE incinerator.

I urge everyone to refer to the ADAGE facility as an incinerator. The ADAGE President (Reed Wills) hates that noun or title. He likes to refer to their facility as a "boiler". But let's all stay focused on what's going to be happening in Mason County. ADAGE will be burning 600,000 tons of woody biomass.

Ross Gallagher told me on Saturday that this facility will be able to burn all our Christmas trees there. Just think of this Christmas Tree City will be burning it's Christmas trees so that we can produce electricity for California. Does this make sense?

Yes, for your elected officials - it makes sense. In this same conversation with Ross he practically was walking on clouds when he shared with me that ADAGE will produce $20M dollars in sales tax. But what Ross didn't say was the lion's share of the $20M will go to help the State of Washington balance the books at that level. Check me on this - 6.5% of $250M goes to the state which comes to $16M on my calculator. Then the governor and the state legislators can decide how that will be spent.

That should help all of us understand why our State Senator Tim Sheldon, who often appears as our County Commissioner, now says he's 100% behind ADAGE.

Pesky citizens are not necessarily disrespectful or rude when we ask questions. In fact, I believe it is my job to ask questions and attempt to be informed. I want to understand what the costs and benefits are as the decision is made to allow the ADAGE incinerator to burn adjacent to the MCRA ball fields.

Hope to hear from all of you soon.

Briefings - Apr 12

Tim was absent today for the briefings.

• ADAGE was never mentioned in more than two hours of briefings. Amazing that Community Development, Utilities, Public Health, and Public Works were all briefing Ross and Lynda at some point but ADAGE never came up. Go figure.
• Mark your calendars. A joint meeting of Port, City, PUD3 and the County will be held on Apr 28 at 10 am. Maybe ADAGE will come up at this meeting.
• The budget was briefed by the Auditor's office. Lynda stated that budget was sound except for outstanding union contract negotiations. Ross says Tim is going to be proven wrong - the glass is in fact half full. To which Lynda added there will be no double dip recession as predicted by (my words follow) the absent commissioner who has a degree in economics.
• Public Works (Charlie Butros) briefed that he and his fellow department heads are recommending the county phase in the implications of marine recovery area as defined by state law. Instead Mason County will identify marine "sensitive" areas which will be less restrictive giving the county greater flexibility. And then out of the blue, Ross asked the key question: does this meet state muster? To which Charlie Butros replied: yes the state understands. Say what, Charlie?
• Utilities (Emmett Dobey) told the commissioners that there has been some hysteria in Belfair regarding dirty water disposition by the BWWTF contractor. The public unnecessarily got Department of Ecology involved. Names of these citizens were called out at this briefing today in response to the request of the commissioners. I won't repeat the pesky citizens' names here. But if your ears are ever burning on Monday mornings, it could be someone is talking about you especially if you have spoken up about something that you think is wrong. Go you, pesky citizens!
• Emmett deserves a direct quote in my blog posting today. Belfair Waste Water Treatment Facility construction is "on budget". We'll be keeping an eye on this for you, Mason County.
• The Landfill/Transfer Station has seen an increase in revenue somewhere around $20K Emmett reported with a note of optimism. Ross then says: so can we increase the hours the facilities are open? To which Emmett replies: don't recommend increasing the hours and we may want to cut hours even further. That optimistic note sure wore off quickly.

That's all Mason County. You gotta love it.

BOCC Meeting - April 6

With all the ADAGE coverage, I failed to recap last week's public board meeting. All three commissioners were there for the entire meeting.

• Belfair Waste Water Treatment Facility: The BOCC approved the contract with EnviroIssues to provide "Side Sewer Communications Coordination and Construction Outreach Support" at a cost of $221K. The cost per contract hour comes to $93.52. Not bad wages in a county with such high unemployment. The budget line continues to be "clear as mud", a phrase that you'll find used frequently as we discuss whatever is happening in the county commissioner chambers. Tom Moore couldn't answer what was remaining of the contingency funds set aside for a $40M dollar construction effort fraught with uncertainty and risks in every step of this project. Kudos to Tim for having read the contract and for sharing with the public what deliverables are included in this contract. But when are our commissioners going to get it? With more than a quarter of the year lapsed, we do not have a complete budget description of what one third of the county's 2010 budget is being spent on. Here is a fact - not even one full page of the 2010 budget document is devoted to the BWWTF while over 160 pages are spent on the balance of the revenue and expenditures. This does not make sense to me.

• Storm Water Management Advisory Task Force: The BOCC approved this 28 member task force that includes five members who do not live in this county but will provide such essential expertise that they must be voting members of the task force. This task force will help to "craft financial options to fund storm water improvement activities". First of all when was the last time 28 people were able to get anything done in a timely manner? Secondly since when is it okay for someone who lives in Thurston County to come to Mason County and help us figure out how we want to be taxed? I was not surprised that all three commissioners felt this was honky dory. Am I a minority voice on this? Mason County, I think we may all want to keep an eye on this before we see it appear on our property tax statements. Then it may be too late.

• Corrections and Support Staff Bargaining Unit (IAM&AW Local Lodge W38): The BOCC approved the agreement between the county and this bargaining unit. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Monty Cobb couldn't tell us what the budget impact was exactly but he could tell us that for this 42 member unit the increase is somewhere between 1% and 6.5% and that for every one percent increase it will cost the county an extra $15K in 2010. The way I figure it's somewhere between $15K and $97.5K. Clear as mud, right? One bargaining unit down and 11 more to go. The big one is the Deputies Guild. Be watching here for more on this.

• KMAS sent a letter to the county protesting the use of the Shelton Mason Journal as the official newspaper for county official notices. This agenda action was tabled for further review.

• BOCC approved changing the HR/Budget Director position back to HR duties only. They couldn't tell us what budget duties are being omitted but could tell us that they'll contract out this work. Nor could they tell us how much they are saving. Clear as mud, right?

• Public Works announced that the county's annual chip seal contract was awarded. The County Roads account saved $20K because the awarded contract was less than the engineer's estimate. Another reason why a levy shift from Roads to Current Expense/General Fund are in order for 2011. And this is as clear as fresh spring water.

Hope to hear from you soon.