Monday a week ago Dr. William Sammons, a pediatrician who has studied biomass plants nationwide, called them “a medical atrocity.” His slides from that talk are now available on the LAKE web pages.

For example, he demonstrated that burning wood is dirtier than burning coal:

This slide shows data taken from biomass plant permits. Also notice it compares woody biomass plants to coal and natural gas plants according to the amount of electricity produced. This is the same comparison I repeatedly asked the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) to do, with no results. Well, except this:

We’re moving forward with permits in hand. Have a nice day.

The due diligence the VLCIA refused to do, Dr. Sammons did do. For another example, the VLCIA has produced no information about emissions except what was required to get an air quaity permit. Dr. Sammons dug deeper:

Regarding particulate matter (PM), there is as near as studies can determine no lower limit below which there is no health risk. This is according to the American Heart Association. Note that Dr. Sammons provides citations for peer-reviewed source for his information. The gist is simple: biomass incineration is dirtier than coal and the profit to a very few people is not worth the danger to our health.

OK, so what can we do?

We can do real clean energy: solar, efficiency, and conservation, plus wind off the coast. Actually, we’ve already started, right here in Hahira.

There’s much more in Dr. Sammons’ slides. You can go see for yourself.

-jsq

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