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Appendix A - Washington State Department of Ecology

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Brimmer: Okay.<br />

Jerry: Yeah, go ahead.<br />

Final December 2010<br />

Brimmer: Hi, I’m Jeanette Brimmer. I’m with Earth Justice. As I stated<br />

previously I’m here on behalf <strong>of</strong> the Sierra Club Special Parks<br />

Preservation Association in the Northwest Environmental Defense<br />

Center.<br />

I want to begin by noting that we will provide detailed written<br />

comments within the comment period which will include an – a<br />

report. We’ve engaged the services <strong>of</strong> Dr. Sabo to help us with<br />

that. I will note, as stated in an e-mail earlier today that<br />

constrained access to the documents, the fact that we’re having<br />

trouble getting documents because <strong>of</strong> claimed mediation privileges<br />

and confidentiality has hampered that review and I hope that we<br />

can work toward getting access to those in a timely fashion so that<br />

we can, in fact, complete our review.<br />

I’d like to echo Superintendent King that testified earlier that<br />

<strong>Washington</strong> is home to some pretty astounding resources. In fact I<br />

think our natural resources in many ways define this state. It’s a<br />

hugely critical part <strong>of</strong> the region’s economy from subsistence<br />

fishing to commercial fishing, tourism, agriculture and forestry,<br />

and I’m sure that the <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Ecology</strong> doesn’t need to be<br />

told that.<br />

Mercury and nitrogen oxides emissions among others, global<br />

warming has been raised here tonight, CO2 emissions, are harming<br />

those industries, harming our resources, harming the industries that<br />

rely on them as well as public health, and TransAlta is the number<br />

one source <strong>of</strong> all <strong>of</strong> those harmful pollutants, and yet I have the<br />

feeling that we’re not treating it like the number one source and not<br />

doing what we need to.<br />

We are encouraging <strong>Washington</strong> to lead on these important issues,<br />

encouraging the governor to do so but we feel – we feel that this<br />

agreement and consent decree fail to demonstrate that leadership.<br />

They will simply perpetuate current haze conditions in particular<br />

and may do the same relative to mercury.<br />

We also see that the <strong>State</strong>, the <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Ecology</strong> appears to<br />

be tying its own hands in this agreement. We have a lot <strong>of</strong><br />

concerns about some <strong>of</strong> the enforceability clause and some <strong>of</strong> the<br />

clauses with respect to promises about working with TransAlta in<br />

www.verbalink.com<br />

L - 502<br />

Page 25 <strong>of</strong> 32

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