Friday, April 18, 2008

The Mayor’s Office says

the Midtown Burner Project will go forward

Rybak says he’s not heard enough “public outrage”

to convince him that the Burner is a problem

This is what community members were toldin a meeting with staff from the Mayor's officeon Friday, April 10, 2008.

So, if you thought the Burner was “dead,” think again!!

If Kandiyohi Development Partners (the Midtown Burner projectowners) are able to negotiate a purchase agreement with Xcel Energy(or any other qualified power company) by Monday June 9, 2008,THE BURNER PROJECT WILL GO FORWARD.KDP has been working for some time to negotiate a power purchaseagreement, and now they have only a few weeks left to pull it off.

Don’t you think they will call on their fr

iends with money and influenceto put pressure on Xcel to sign on?

Mayor RT Rybak still supports the Burner.

And his staff are saying that it will be built!

Read on to find out what the Mayor’s staff are saying,

and what you can do to educate the Mayor and otherson what you think about the Burner

Staff at the Mayor's office claim that neighborhood opposition to the Burner is weak --despite the fact that more than 700 residents have signed statements in opposition tothe project, which have been delivered to the Mayor's office.

Some residents have sent e-mails to the Mayor and, instead of receiving a response from the Mayor, they got a reply fromKim Havey at Kandiyohi Development Partners. Do you think this is a coincidence?

Staff at the Mayor's office also claim that emissions from the Burner will be no moreproblematic than exhaust emissions from 24 cars over the course of a year. This is a

myth, and it’s a great example of how people can mistake a "sound byte" for the truth.

the Mayor’s staff di

g deeper, they will find that while the Burner emissions and exhaust from 24cars may be comparable by weight, the content is decidedly different.

A deeper analysis of the “24 cars” argument shows that:

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In addition to nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water (the major components of typical carexhaust), the Burner will also be adding alarming amounts of sulfur, lead, benzene,chlorine, hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, manganese, styrene, toluene, arsenic,cadmium and mercury in addition to extremely fine particulate matter (nanoparticles,

also known as “soot”) to the air that we all breathe.

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Carbon dioxide, while not harmful to breathe and naturally occurring in our air, is a

“greenhouse gas.” The total carbon dioxide emissions from the Midtown Burner will be

equivalent to that produced by over 30,000 cars!

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Cars also create toxic fumes including carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, andnitrous oxides --

but the amount is less than 1% of a car’s emissions. The Burner

willcreate all of these three "volatile organic compounds" (are similar to the unburned

hydrocarbons from cars), but they make up a much larger proportion of the Burner’s

emissions. A calculation adjusting for the proportion of these emissions shows that:

carbon monoxide:

Burner emissions = 3,400 cars/year

volatile organic compounds:

Burner emissions = 7,800 cars/year

nitrous oxide:

Burner emissions = 29,000 cars/year

The Mayor claims he hasn’t heard enough

public outrage about the Burner.Has he heard

your

opinion?

Are you outraged that you may be forced to breathe more sulfur, lead, benzene, chlorine,hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, manganese, styrene, toluene, arsenic, cadmium, mercury,carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, nitrous oxide, and nano particles (soot)?Are you outraged that the Mayor seems to be ignoring the messages from more than 700people in the community?Are you outraged by the fact that elected officials who should be looking out for

your

interestsare still supporting the Midtown Burner?