Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
Using the Term 'Waste' Is Misleading
RECEIVED Sat., Aug. 23, 2008
Dear Editor,
I am very alarmed about this new wood "waste" -burning plant being suddenly sprung on Austin [“Biomass: A Question of Wood, Not Could,” News, Aug. 22]. Alternative energy is supposed to be wind or solar or, even more effectively, growing food close to home instead of in the Midwest or China.
Not burning wood "waste.”
There is no wood waste. Wood mulch is an extremely valuable and rare commodity. Look at the farm fields, and see that the ground is not covered. We need that sawdust and wood shavings to cover the ground and prevent loss of water and nutrients.
There is so little mulch in modern soils that agriculture campuses instruct farmers to put 10 times as much nitrogen on the ground as the plants need, because 90% will run off. This is the major cause of the death of the oceans worldwide, according to the major environmental organizations (www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/14/dead.zones.ap). Why aren't we supporting small-scale solar and insulation and local agriculture?
Why do we have to have a large plant answer, and why does this drastically new concept have to be decided before it can be vetted?
I am very alarmed about this new wood "waste" -burning plant being suddenly sprung on Austin [“Biomass: A Question of Wood, Not Could,” News, Aug. 22]. Alternative energy is supposed to be wind or solar or, even more effectively, growing food close to home instead of in the Midwest or China.
Not burning wood "waste.”
There is no wood waste. Wood mulch is an extremely valuable and rare commodity. Look at the farm fields, and see that the ground is not covered. We need that sawdust and wood shavings to cover the ground and prevent loss of water and nutrients.
There is so little mulch in modern soils that agriculture campuses instruct farmers to put 10 times as much nitrogen on the ground as the plants need, because 90% will run off. This is the major cause of the death of the oceans worldwide, according to the major environmental organizations (www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/14/dead.zones.ap). Why aren't we supporting small-scale solar and insulation and local agriculture?
Why do we have to have a large plant answer, and why does this drastically new concept have to be decided before it can be vetted?
Janet Gilles
