Letters to the Editor for Nov. 29, 2018

Thanks for ‘donate locally’ ideas

Great idea to donate locally to nonprofits you believe in. (“Donate to nonprofits in Camas, Washougal this holiday season” by Dawn Feldhaus, Camas-Washougal Post-Record, Nov. 15, 2018.) Thanks for the great ideas, my favorite is Gift the Gorge, such a wonderful experience for sixth-graders that, thanks to The Post-Record, I helped make possible. It feels right to help others.

With one in five children and one in seven seniors in our country living in poverty, there is plenty of work to do. Globally, millions of mothers and children still die of preventable causes every year. Sound like there is nothing we can do? Like connecting with Gift the Gorge, it just means picking up the phone or writing an email to those who represent us in Congress. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler could work to protect the SNAP program, America’s frontline defense against hunger, by supporting the Senate version of the Farm Bill. She could join the more than 200 other members of the House, including every member from our state, to cosponsor the bipartisan Reach Every Mother and Child Act. This bill focuses America’s work to help end these preventable deaths. Our calls and letters will let Congresswoman Herrera Beutler know that these issues are important. Taking these actions require only minutes, but can help change and save lives.

Willie Dickerson, Snohomish, Washington

Northwest Innovation Works is ‘fake news’

I live in Kalama, and I’m downright offended by the nerve of Northwest Innovation Works (NWIW). The supplemental environmental impact statement they commissioned paints a rosy picture of our future if we let them build their methanol refinery here. The attempt to pull the wool over our eyes is disgusting.

When coal was proposed in Longview, the company said it was “clean coal,” that would be good for the climate. When oil was proposed in Vancouver, the company said that an oil spill would be good for the economy because “oil spills create jobs.”

When are these fossil fuel companies going to learn that we aren’t stupid, and that their propaganda is easier to cut through than butter?

An important public comment period just opened for the proposed refinery and there is a public hearing from 6 to 9 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 13, at the county fairgrounds in Longview.

Linda Leonard, Kelso, Washington

Methanol plant would ‘devastate,’ pollute air, water and land

I am very concerned about the proposed methanol plant being considered for Kalama, Washington. This is a Chinese company that wants to rape our resources, pollute our air, water and land and ship the end product, the methanol, to them. From the dirty and devastating fracking of our land, then shipping that volatile oil to refining to methanol at the Northwest Innovation Works (NWIW) plant, to shipping this gas across the oceans is dangerous to us all, our land, waters and air. This company released an Environmental Impact Study that was terribly lacking about the pollution and health issues and impact to our environment. They now have been asked to produce a supplemental environmental impact study. This plant will pollute 1.2 million cars worth to our air with cancer-causing emissions.

Another alarm is the million gallons of Columbia River water that they will use daily in operating this plant. The plant will use more gas than all Pacific Northwest cities combined and need massive new fracked gas pipeline expansions. I am against this devastating action. I do not want this happening to me, and I don’t want this happening to my people or your people. Please help us in stopping the insanity.

Merna Baker Blagg, Vancouver