Biomass Health Care Costs
- by Dick Stokes, August 16, 2013. Source: Gainesville Sun
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"110","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 200px; height: 200px; float: left; margin: 7px;"}}]]Physicians warned Gainesville officials for years about the increased health risks and health-care costs from biomass-burning emissions.
There's nothing green, clean or healthy about hauling over 22 counties' worth of wood on diesel-belching trucks every day to burn in our backyard.
Dioxins, fine particles, volatile organic compounds and others spewing from the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center smokestack will be odorless and invisible. People won't notice they're being damaged until increased rates of asthma, heart disease, stroke and cancer are apparent.
When that happens, citizens will know the blame falls squarely on the Gainesville commissioners who voted for the biomass boondoggle and those who later failed to take remedial action when it was still possible: Pegeen Hanrahan, Susan Bottcher, Yvonne Hinson-Rawls, Randy Wells, Lauren Poe, Thomas Hawkins, Jack Donovan, Jeanna Mastrodicasa, Craig Lowe and Scherwin Henry.
Visit www.energyjustice.net/biomass/health for information on the health risks and costs of biomass incineration.