A lot of misinformation was thrown about at the meeting to discuss the proposed Biomass Plant at Port St Joe last night. Starting with the presentation by BG&E representatives and culminating in the opinions of a number of local supporters of the plant, the proposed project was consistently portrayed as “being A Green project” & having little, if not beneficial, effects on the environment.

While I do not claim to be an expert by any means, I was quite taken aback by the persistent claims of BG&E representatives to portray the plant as “Green” and environmentally benign. The plant was described as cleaner than coal, and no attention was paid to the generating of greenhouse gases by those proposing the plant.

The last time I heard such glowing support for such an obviously wonderful idea was just before the United States invaded Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction!

There were numerous residents of Tallahassee who had driven all the way to Port St Joe to present their experiences with BG&E officials when BG&E tried unsuccessfully to build a plant in Hosford in Leon County.

The local residents are understandably concerned about the economic issues facing the people of Gulf County since the closure of the paper mill a number of years ago, and with the recent announcement of the impending closure of the Arizona Chemical plant in may of this year. However, the long term future would be much better if they could bring in jobs that are more environmentally friendly than a biomass plant which produces tons of greenhouse gases and particulate pollution that will affect the people of that county for many years to come.

I was able to get in a few words but many of the comments by me and by others were quickly dismissed by locals hungry for some positive economic news.

To read a good editorial on the problems with biomass plants, click here.