Evil Power Facilities
03 February 2009 | By dillon-kgmi in Local PoliticsRemember all the controversy over an environment-killing and neighborhood-destroying co-gen facility at BP Cherry Point?
Remember the brouhaha over the SE-2 proposal that would have undoubtedly sent many to their graves by spewing thick clouds of acrid toxins into the local airshed?
I remember, and yesterday I learned something about Whatcom County (I pride myself in knowing what’s going on around here).
I found out that the evil, greedy power companies have been running a similar power generation facility near Birch Bay - SINCE 1974!!!
I’m guessing most of you, like myself, never knew a twin-turbine, natural gas-fired, 74-megawatt power plant existed there.
In fact, that’s probably the last thing you’re thinking about on those nice summer days when you bring the kids out to Birch Bay for a big picnic and bonfire.
It really calls into question the over-the-top rhetoric we’ve heard around here for years, every time a power plant is proposed. Just as people seem to be ignorant of where their food comes from, a lot of people also seem to be unable to make the connection between power plants and their daily lives. People don’t realize where electricity comes from.
I’m all for incentives to reduce power consumption and the pollution it unfortunately takes to produce power. But we’ve got to be realistic about where power comes from, and how much we rely on it.
Now that I know that know about PSE’s Whitehorn Facility near Birch Bay, I’ve got to ask: how many people are really bothered by the power plant in our ‘backyard’?
How much horrible environmental destruction has been wrought by the sinister turbines running near Whatcom County’s shores?
And, to reference the scare tactics of the NO SE2 people in the late ’90s, exactly how many people have died because of the generation facility’s emissions?
The bottom line is, no one has died. Birch Bay is still gorgeous. And very few local residents even realize there’s a power plant that’s been there for 35 years.
For those who have been asking — there’s some ‘good’ news for you.
16 February 2009 | Dan McShane Said:
Good post! If you remember, I sat through the many hours of hearings as a member of EFSEC on both SE2 proposals and the BP proposal. It was a remarkable process to be stuck in the middle of.
As for power plants, there is also a gas turbine plant on Bellingham’s waterfront. That power plant runs much more frequently than the the plant at Birch Bay (it actually is well within the Cherry Point industrial area). The Birch Bay plant is a peak facility - it fires up only during periods of high demand. In regards to the waterfront, PSE commented in the draft EIS that they had no intention of moving from the waterfront and wondered why all the renditions that the Port had of the future of the waterfront were missing the power plant.
First time I have looked at KGMI’s web page in well over a year. Hope all is well with you and the station.
Regards
Dan McShane
18 February 2009 | dillon-kgmi Said:
Good to hear from you, Dan! And, thanks for the good comments. Life is busy here at the station, but things are going well.
I’m glad you checked out our website. I’m actually pretty proud of the improvements we’ve been making, and we’re happy to be able to do so much with our site.
- Dillon