Friday, September 15, 2000

Canadians join Americans in pollution worries about pollutions

PETE KENDALL HERALD PHOTOS

SIGNS OF CONCERN: Americans and Canadians stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposition to Sumas Energy 2 during a rally at the international boundary just north of Sumas Thursday morning. Dan Johns (left) of Sumas and Doris Slewidge and Evelyn Callahan of Abbotsford, B.C., cheer on one of several speakers during the event that drew hundreds from both sides of the border.

Hundreds rally against proposed Sumas plant

Ericka Pizzillo, The Bellingham Herald

ON THE MARCH: Patti Mullin of Bellingham wears an air mask as she marches toward the U.S.-Canadian border with other Americans Thursday in Sumas. Sumas Mayor Don Peterson is among those who have backed the proposed SE2 project.

SUMAS -- Several hundred residents of Sumas and Abbotsford, B.C., met Thursday morning at the border that divides them to agree that a proposed 660-megawatt power plant should not be built in this Whatcom County city.

Some of the ralliers wore gas masks to protest emissions from the natural gas-burning plant, which they say will worsen an already polluted region.

Concerns about the project run deep in the Lower Fraser River Valley, where citizens said their already industrial polluted air is trapped in a valley. The Sumas Energy 2 Inc. plant will only worsen the air quality they're attempting to clean up, they said.

"You can literally see and taste the air in Abbotsford," said Linda Harder, an Abbotsford resident at the rally.

Despite the groundswell of opposition in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, B.C., the Canadian Ministry of Environment has not formally opposed the project, angering residents and local legislators.

"This is the single biggest federal issue here in years," said Chuck Strahl, a member of the B.C. Parliament who represents the Fraser Valley.

Some Whatcom County residents oppose the project for a variety of reasons, including the pollution and the large draw of water from the shared Sumas-Abbotsford watershed.

Sumas-area raspberry grower Darryl Ehlers said he was concerned about how the plant's use of 940,000 gallons of water a day would affect underground wells used by farmers.

Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce President Doug Mac-Adams, who spoke at the rally, encouraged Canadians to continue to go to public hearings and meetings about the project, but asked U.S. citizens to make their opposition heard, too.

"We are depending on you to take our shared concern to decision-makers in the U.S.," MacAdams said.

The Kirkland-based National Energy Systems Co.'s controversial project will provide 24 long-term jobs in the so-called merchant plant, which would sell its electricity on the open market.

About 60 Whatcom County residents marched to the border rally down Cherry Street with signs that had a line through SE2.

Speakers at the rally who spoke out against the project included local and provincial legislators from British Columbia as well as Whatcom County Council member Connie Hoag, who lives in the Sumas area.

Hoag's young son, Casey, was at the rally and held up a sign on which he'd written "Killing people for a few bucks a day is just not right."

Cindy Shields, an Abbotsford resident, brought her six-month-old daughter Alyssa to the rally. For the past three months, Alyssa has used a steroid inhaler to help her breathe because of a severe bronchial ailment, a result Shields said that her doctor told her was directly related to the air quality in Abbotsford. She said SE2 will only worsen her daughter's condition.

Public hearing on Sept. 27

State regulators are reconvening a public hearing held in July about a proposed 660-megawatt power plant in Sumas. The event will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 27 at Nooksack Valley High School, 3326 E. Badger Road. Priority will be given to the last 38 members of the public who signed up to speak at the July 27 public hearing in Whatcom County but did not address regulators before the meeting ended.

"We've talked about moving from the valley because of the air quality," Shields said.

There is not a clear consensus of opposition in Sumas and the surrounding area in Whatcom County. Even on the Highway 9 corridor that leads into Sumas signs both supported and opposed the project. The project has also been endorsed by the Sumas Chamber of Commerce and the chamber put up large signs in support of SE2 at the entrance to the city limits Thursday.

Sumas Mayor Don Peterson, who has endorsed the project because of the ppotential economic benefits to the city, said he has not seen proven evidence that lives are at risk from the project and said the technology in the plant will be top quality.

"Until someone can show me that it (the plant) is a health threat, we will support the project," Peterson said.

Peterson said the Abbotsford air pollution problems are mostly created in B.C.'s own backyard. He referred to a power plant recently approved by the provincial government along the Campbell River which would have six times SE2's air emissions.

Peterson watched the rally from a distance on Cherry Street.

Bo Bumford, a Sumas-area resident and organizer of Generations Affected by Senseless Power, said he plans to take his concerns about the project to the grange halls and Rotary Clubs throughout the county. He said he also plans to deliver information about the health risks to Peterson.

Written comments along with public testimony made during the hearing will be limited to the draft permit.

Reach Ericka Pizzillo at epizzill@bellingh.gannett.com or call 715-2266.