Wake up and smell the smoke-filled air created by climate change. Look at our beautiful green forests being charred by uncontrollable and deadly wildfires. Pay attention to what is going on around you. Fossil fuel use has to stop.
California, the world’s fifth largest economy, is requiring the state's city-bus systems to have fully electric fleets by 2040. It will also put 300,000 zero-emission trucks on the road by 2035. Kalama, do you want to stick your head in the sand with your Methanol Plant, locking us in to another 70-80 years of poisoning the planet when there are better options than the one you are pursuing with the Kalama Methanol Plant?
Washington has always had a strong economy and been a technological leader because we had people who could look into the future and see what was coming next. In 1889, Thelma Foss in Tacoma recognized a business opportunity in the growing demand for water travel. She founded the largest, most modern fleet of tugboats on the West Coast. In 1916, William Boeing realized there was a need for air transportation. He established one of the world’s largest aerospace manufacturers. In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen started building computers. Almost every household in the world uses Microsoft and Apple today.
If the leaders in Kalama were smart, they’d start looking for ways to capitalize on the new technology coming down the road. The Europeans are busy building air cleaners that will take carbon out of the air and compress it into diamonds. Portland is building devices that will generate clean electricity by bobbing up and down in the ocean. Spokane is putting in an electric sports car factory that will generate 863-3,000 jobs.
Why is Kalama pursuing a dying industry that will put your people out of work in a few years? That is, if they survive the wildfires, droughts, storms, pandemics and food shortages being caused by exactly the kind of pollution you want to pump into our air? Why not pursue clean, sustainable jobs that will last long enough to not only employ today’s citizens, but also their children and grandchildren?
