Open letter to Goddard College

I am actually glad that Tim Maker referenced the Feb. 1 article about Goddard College’s proposed biomass incinerator. By the way, it would be nice if Mr. Maker could explain why they elected to put the plant within 200 feet of nearby homes, instead of one of the other sites that were considered on the 100-acre campus.

Faith Brown, chief financial and administrative officer, erroneously stated that the fine particulate matter has been resolved by the electrostatic precipitator (ESP), and Mr. Maker makes the same claim. However, ESPs do not remove nanoparticles, and it is high time that people stop pretending that these plants are safe.

There are well-documented fire and explosion risks, along with numerous deadly diseases and ailments — including asthma and cancer — that are brought on by exposure to the emissions from these plants. There is no safe level that has been set for exposure to ultrafine particles and no way of measuring them.

Why don’t the people who are pushing for more polluting biomass energy in this state start taking accountability for the damage to the environment and to people’s health?

For Goddard College to have kept the entire town of Plainfield uninformed throughout the whole permitting process is an outrage. Vermont has the highest asthma rate in the country, we have more biomass in this state than almost anywhere else, and there are more of these damn plants in Washington County than anywhere in the state — enough already.

Karen Bouffard

Plainfield