Want to learn more about the proposal to build the world’s largest methanol plant in Tacoma, but don’t have time to dig through the facts? You’re in luck! Last month, Sightline policy director Eric de Place gave a presentation on methanol in Tacoma and the entirety of his presentation was recorded below. Enjoy the video and please share it with someone unfamiliar with this topic. This video is courtesy of the University of Washington Tacoma.
Highlights
- 53:48, Eric points out all of the fracked fuel and petrochemical projects proposed in the Northwest
- 55:40, Eric evaluates the veracity of Northwest Innovation Works’ environmental claims
- 1:03:45, Eric examines how natural gas emissions are worse than they look
- The Q&A session starts at 1:10:00
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Meanwhile, US Oil breathes a sigh of relief as we lose our minds over methanol. US Oil (just one of many examples to choose from) is currently on a state contaminated sites list, is not being cleaned up, uses aged infrastructure and handles gasoline – much more dangerous to human health and the environment than methanol production. US Oil is just one of many sites with legacy contamination in the Port, doing little to remediate but enjoying the ‘cover’ provided by the methanol controversy. I’m not for or against… yet… but the Port is zoned industrial, has regulatory limits for discharging facilities (PSCAA, Ecology, EPA, Tacoma Source Control) and the methanol plant would be but one of many facilities subject to these rules (albeit one handling great quantities but quantities of chemical less hazardous than many others in the Port). The EIS will yield many facts about the methanol proposal, and we’ll learn more along the way. Lets not entrench ourselves in one position or another until actual facts can be looked over.