Dear Editor:

On Oct. 22, despite the lively and well-informed testimony of some 60 citizens against it, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division approved the air permit for “Greenway Renewable” biomass plant. When citizens appeared before LaGrange City Council on Aug. 25 they were told they could ask questions about the plant but no answers would be forthcoming at that time. Mayor Jeff Lukken stated on Aug. 28 in a news report that ”our community leaders have not yet finished gathering all the relevant information about the project.”

Have they gathered it? When will the community leaders let us know the answers to our questions? The “state of the art” pollution-control equipment was still not specified on Greenway’s final application to the EPD. How can they know what effect it will have on emissions? Will the toxic ash trapped in the baghouse be sold? Will it be like the coal flyash sold to build a golf course in Commonwealth, Va.? It has polluted the water, devastated the town and greenskeepers must now wear protective suits. (CBS’s “Sixty Minutes”). Will the plant produce acid rain? Ozone? What will be the effect on our health of the more than 50 pounds of pollutants an hour emitted from the plant?

Who is going to make a “killing” on the 50 percent match guaranteed to the tree farmers as they sell their output to the biomass plant? This is part of an $11 billion federal boondoggle-entitled Biomass Assistance Program. There are hundreds of these facilities permitted or waiting to be permitted - five in Georgia - all with a voracious appetite for wood. As farmland is turned into treefarms, what will this do to food prices?

How does the medical community feel this plant would effect the health of our community? A statement from them could possibly help preserve our air. What about our eminent educators? There are five schools within a four-mile radius of the Old Hutchinson Mill Road site.

But the biggest question is will City Council move forward with it? Will the LaGrange Development Authority be able to sell the industrial revenue bonds in this financial market? If it is built and all does not go well with Greenway, how will LDA handle the collapsed equipment which will become their responsibility?

If I have made great errors in trying to inform your readers, I beg the mayor to enlighten me and all who will breathe this polluted air.

Edna Foster

LaGrange