"We've read this a hundred times, and we understand it perfectly."

Sunday correspondence between Leigh Touchton and Brad Lofton about Sierra Club support for the biomass plant. They copied the VDT and the same people as the previous messages.

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From: Leigh Touchton
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 15:50:57 -0400
To: [email protected]

Sierra Club: [quotes Sierra Club passage from Brad Lofton's previous message.]

I wish someone on the Industrial Authority would actually read the entire Sierra Club position statement instead of cherry picking snippets they think supports their incinerator.
http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/biomass.aspx

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From: "Brad Lofton"
To: "Leigh Touchton"
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:08:46 +0000

We've read it ma'am and appreciate their support.
BL

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Verizon

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From: Leigh Touchton
To: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:36:50 -0400

If you read it then you didn't comprehend it.

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From: "Brad Lofton"
To: "Leigh Touchton"
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:58:04 +0000

Leigh!

Thank you for actually addressing a public official. You made my day!!

:) No kidding...

We've read this a hundred times, and we understand it perfectly. The document is clear that the Club does not support "whole log" biomass plants due to issues of sustain ability. For the record, we stipulated that Wiregrass may not use whole logs, and their EPD permit prohibits it. Review a previous e-mail to John Quarterman for further reasons that include federal taxation credits. The Sierra Club does, however, in the section we quoted previously, not only support, but fully recommend wood waste (or agricultural stubble) plants. You can't argue what is stated in black and white on their very own web page. We appreciate you drawing attention to their support for our project. I hope it doesn't surprise you that they support a renewable energy project.

Now that you've acknowledged me in an e-mail, perhaps you would agree to meet with my team as we have requested at least 20 times now??!!

BL

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Verizon

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From: Leigh Touchton
To: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:40:21 -0400

Mr. Lofton,

I have written you about 4 times, you can go back and see the emails you have received from me, and the very first one was addressed "Mr. Lofton". Please address me as Ms. Touchton or President Touchton instead of Leigh, thank you. No, you did not request a meeting with me 20 times. I requested that you attend the June Women in the NAACP meeting and you were a no-show. May we proceed?

You are ignoring entire paragraphs in the Sierra Club position statement, you are cherry picking an isolated snippet out of context and using it, falsely, as a beacon of support. "Existing Sierra Club policy on siting energy facilities requires that we oppose facilities which do not fully protect air and water quality." That sentence alone disqualifies the Wiregrass Power biomass incinerator from Sierra Club support, and there's more, and it has nothing to do with "whole log" vs. "wood waste".

Read the entire position statement, the Wiregrass Power LLC plant does not meet the biomass criteria set forth by the national Sierra Club.

Furthermore, the medical associations that oppose biomass incinerators include the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society and many more, and their opposition to biomass incinerators does not revolve around whole-log or wood waste, their opposition is because biomass incinerators cause death and disease, particularly for elderly, children, and people with respiratory illness.

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From: "Brad Lofton"
To: "Leigh Touchton"
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 21:59:59 +0000

The June meeting of Women in the NAACP Ms. Touchton? Surely you jest. I'm curious how this invitation was delivered. Along with the Sierra Club, a number of other environmental groups, and every level of government, we've got ample support we need to move forward, and we look forward to doing so. For the sake of the minority community and all of us, I hope you will join us in the future as we try to bring jobs to Valdosta-Lowndes County. We sure need them. I will not continue this senseless back and forth with you from this point on. I'd be happy to meet with you in person if and when you decide to engage with public officials.
Regards,
BL

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Verizon

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From there the discussion continued about communications methods, but little was added about the biomass plant, so I omit it here.

-jsq

Comments

[Leigh Touchton]

Apparently he wants me and me alone to sit down with him and he's unaware that about a dozen NAACP members have already sat down with him, several NAACP Executive Committee members, and none of them were convinced of the advisability of this plant. Tonight he said he requested a meeting with me 6 times. Yesterday he said he requested a meeting with me 20 times. What a silly thing for him to argue about.

NAACP position is clear: the siting of the plant is in a black community and the people most affected by it are black people.