http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/Biomass_Health.mp3
When the board of Traverse City's electric utility voted to pursue a new wood burning biomass plant earlier this year, members admitted they didn't know much about the health effects. Since then Traverse City Light and Power hired an engineering firm to do a preliminary study of those effects. But opponents say biomass is the wrong way to go no matter what. They brought a national expert to town who says burning anything to produce electricity has serious health consequences and the effects are not yet well understood.
Dr. William Sammons is a pediatrician who got involved in the biomass controversy when a plant was proposed in his hometown in Massachusetts. Now he travels the country, meets with members of Congress and with researchers to track the latest information. He's especially concerned with very small particles that go into the air when things like wood or coal or diesel fuel are burned. Scientists are beginning to realize that even a small number of these particles, called particulate matter, may cause more serious health effects than previously thought.
"What's becoming clear is that the smaller particles when you breathe them in not only get into the lung but get absorbed into your body," says Sammons. "And there's now scary evidence that shows these particles have chemical effects on just about every regulatory system in the body."
Dr. Sammons says those with heart and lung problems are most at risk along with children whose bodies are still developing.
Science about particulate matter emerging
What researchers haven't sorted out is how much of these smaller particles are out there and how much of them come from various sources. Particulate matter is also emitted from diesel trucks, forest fires, industrial mills as well as wood stoves, backyard grills and lawnmowers. Sammons told city commissioners Monday night that biomass is dirtier than coal because it produces more of these small particles.
But city officials questioned whether the biomass plants used in Sammons' examples are a fair comparison. Some biomass facilities also burn old tires, construction debris and household trash. Light and Power is proposing a plant certified as renewable for burning wood to produce both electricity and steam heat. That type of plant would produce fewer emissions than either coal or natural gas, according to a new study out of Massachusetts.
Mayor Chris Bzdok pointed out that large downstate coal fired plants from which Traverse City buys its electricity produce hundreds of tons a year of these small particulates. Whereas the small Light and Power project would emit about eight tons. And Bzdok said if the health effects are so critical then the people who live near those large plants must be experiencing a lot of negative health effects.
"It would seem to me they'd be in pretty dire straits given your testimony today," Bzdok told Sammons at a city commission meeting.
Sammons emphasized that the amounts involved are not well understood so it may be unwise for elected officials to defend a biomass plant as relatively clean when nobody knows how much fine particulate in the air is too much. Sammons expects the information about health effects related to biomass to continue to change rapidly over the next few years. He urges Traverse City officials to slow down and be cautious.
Light and Power officials say they're facing crucial decisions over the next few years to locate new sources of energy.