PORT ANGELES — The League of Women Voters of Clallam County and Peninsula College will host a forum on biomass cogeneration Monday.
The free forum will be from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Peninsula College Theater, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles.
Speakers will address a variety of aspects of biomass. A question-and-answer session will follow their presentations.
Speakers are:
■ Thomas Swanson, area manager of Green Crow, who will speak on the impact of biomass on the forest.
■ John Calhoun, president of the Clallam County Economic Development Council and a Port of Port Angeles commissioner, who will speak on forest health. Calhoun is formerly of the Forks-based Olympic Natural Resources Center of the University of Washington.
■ Carrie Nyssen of the American Lung Association, who will speak on health implications.
■ Bob Lynette of Sequim, a retired conservation lobbyist and renewable-energy consultant who has served on the Protect Peninsula’s Future board, who will speak on environmental aspects.
Both Nippon Paper Industries USA in Port Angeles and Port Townsend Paper Corp. plan upgrades of their biomass boilers, burning forest waste, or slash, to produce steam and generate electricity, for which credits can be sold.
Nippon’s plans a $71 million upgrade of its biomass boiler to generate up to 20 megawatts of electrical power.
Port Townsend Paper Corp. plans a $55 million project to generate up to 24 megawatts of power.
Environmental groups have filed appeals of the projects, saying burning wood waste for industrial uses increases air and water pollution and threatens the sustainability of ecosystems.
An appeal filed with the state Pollution Control Hearings Board against the Port Townsend mill’s plans will be heard June 2-3. The pollution hearings board has 90 days after the last hearing to make a decision.
Environmental groups lost a state appeal of the shoreline substantial development permit that the city of Port Angeles gave Nippon.
The Olympic Regional Clean Air Agency — or ORCAA —which is charged with regulatory and enforcement authority for air-quality issues in Clallam County, has issued a preliminary conditional approval of the Nippon project. A public hearing is scheduled Tuesday.
In addition to Port Townsend AirWatchers, groups appealing the Nippon plant’s plans are Olympic Forest Coalition, Olympic Environmental Council, No Biomass Burn of Seattle, the Center for Environmental Law and Policy of Spokane, the World Temperate Rainforest Network and the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club.
The Center for Environmental Law and Policy of Spokane and the Cascade chapter of the Sierra Club did not join the appeal of the Port Townsend mill’s facility.