Many days throughout the months of Sept through May the
woodsmoke from big outdoor woodstoves is so thick it looks like fog and we
cannot work or play outdoors in the Town of Colrain,
MA.
We already have so
much air pollution from burning brush and wood by neighbors trying to save
money to heat their homes, that the particulate air pollution is often higher
than in urban areas where wood burning is prohibited.
If regulations allow biomass incinerators, then all of MA
will experience increased air and noise pollution. The forested areas will have
increased use of noisy, gas powered chain saws and trucks cutting wood and
moving it to locations where it will be burned along with construction debris.
This type of wood buring is highly polluting and
releases massive amounts of CO2 due to the use of fossil fuels to cut and move
wood.
Even high temperature burning will quickly release huge
quantities of CO2 along with lots of smoke and particulates and it is extremely
tempting and very easy to add toxins from construction debris that can easily
be mixed in on a regular basis to make more money ofr
the comapnies running wood based biomass facilities.
If we cut down our forests they
will no longer be producing oxygen. Instead we will gradually destroy our
recreation areas, our hunting and fishing areas, our healthy watersheds that
feed our extremely valuable reservoirs of drinking water for all our cities and
thousands of wells.
There will be increased erosion problems and traffic
problems on our many bridges on country roads which still have not been
repaired after hurricane Irene.
We have huge potential for wind farms off the coast and
need to develop this first, along with developing a smart grid that maximizes
the use of solar and wind power.
We need to repair our gas leaks so that we use natural
gas much more efficiently.
Our farms can make biogas by mixing animal manure with
food processing wastes and create tons of valuable compost, too. This process
IS sustainable and cuts down on both methane and CO2 production.
Please consult with engineers and environmental
scientists and do not allow increases in the burning of wood. We already are
cutting down our forests fast enough!
Thank you,
Emma Stamas
5Gilbert Drive
COlrain, MA 01340