Mercury Hearing Comments
19/09/06/10:07
From Hilary
In fact the Board was so annoyed by all the phone calls that I was not allowed to make my comments at the hearing. Board Chairman Joe Russell said he had already had two days "wasted" by all the phone calls coming in and he wanted to finish the business on their agenda and go home for dinner, they already knew mercury was a poison. My message was not specifically about mercury being a poison, but I wasn't allowed to continue. My time is also precious and I could have been at home harvesting my produce in advance of this storm instead of "wasting" my time trying to give these people my honest comments. It was apparent to me that the rule being considered was not adequate, since it contained cap and trade provisions, the timelines were too long for compliance, there was no hard rule to even require compliance, and the burning of lignite coal was actually encouraged because of extremely limited emission limits. Anne must feel pretty badly about the way they have messed up the rule she proposed. When I heard the industry people praising the Board on producing a rule that was beginning to look like something they could live with, I wanted even more to give these people a piece of my mind. Bill Rossbach, Don Marble, Ms. Shropshire, and Mr. Russell did in fact engage in lots of discussion with the DEQ personnel to try to pin down the ins and outs of this unwieldy rule, and so I had hope they would not entirely buy into it. I was not prepared for the hostility I received from Mr. Russell and since I am not experienced with these things I was totally nonplussed and ineffective, and felt put down and embarrassed. I am guessing there is a great deal of pressure from the Governor's office, and if that is the case, I am afraid Mr. Schweitzer is a turncoat and I am very disappointed in him.
It would seem there is no hope for the right thing to be done short of litigation to tie things up until a change in administration and the makeup of the Legislature will make a more favorable environment for our issues. I am feeling very discouraged.
Hilary
In fact the Board was so annoyed by all the phone calls that I was not allowed to make my comments at the hearing. Board Chairman Joe Russell said he had already had two days "wasted" by all the phone calls coming in and he wanted to finish the business on their agenda and go home for dinner, they already knew mercury was a poison. My message was not specifically about mercury being a poison, but I wasn't allowed to continue. My time is also precious and I could have been at home harvesting my produce in advance of this storm instead of "wasting" my time trying to give these people my honest comments. It was apparent to me that the rule being considered was not adequate, since it contained cap and trade provisions, the timelines were too long for compliance, there was no hard rule to even require compliance, and the burning of lignite coal was actually encouraged because of extremely limited emission limits. Anne must feel pretty badly about the way they have messed up the rule she proposed. When I heard the industry people praising the Board on producing a rule that was beginning to look like something they could live with, I wanted even more to give these people a piece of my mind. Bill Rossbach, Don Marble, Ms. Shropshire, and Mr. Russell did in fact engage in lots of discussion with the DEQ personnel to try to pin down the ins and outs of this unwieldy rule, and so I had hope they would not entirely buy into it. I was not prepared for the hostility I received from Mr. Russell and since I am not experienced with these things I was totally nonplussed and ineffective, and felt put down and embarrassed. I am guessing there is a great deal of pressure from the Governor's office, and if that is the case, I am afraid Mr. Schweitzer is a turncoat and I am very disappointed in him.
It would seem there is no hope for the right thing to be done short of litigation to tie things up until a change in administration and the makeup of the Legislature will make a more favorable environment for our issues. I am feeling very discouraged.
Hilary
