Snoqualmie Councilman has short-sighted vision of future
Published 12:12 am Friday, October 3, 2008
I’m concerned about Jeff MacNichols, Snoqualmie City Councilman, who declared in the Snoqualmie Valley Record on March 8, 2005, that he was against further discussion of the idea of a waste-to-energy plant being located on the Weyerhaeuser mill site.
MacNichols was quoted as saying, “I can’t look any resident in the face and say we’re bringing every piece of solid waste in King County here for whatever reason.”
Here are my concerns:
1. Jeff, you sound like a short-sighted politician whose only concern is his own re-election. Your task is not just to say things that people will like hearing. It is to be a leader and help determine what is best for our precious Valley. How can you know what is best for the community without spending some time researching an issue. Do you really want to be known for snap judgments without due diligence?
2. Garbage. It is not an issue that most people want to think about. We would like to have it hauled away on a weekly basis and never have to think about it again. However, from the article, I read that our Cedar Hills landfill is closing soon. So, we do have an issue. Are you willing to be a leader and address it, or do you think we should simply pretend it doesn’t exist?
3. Snoqualmie’s history as a resource extractor. Our founding fathers here in the Valley were implementing transportation systems and logging enterprises that were a catalyst for Puget Sound’s economic development. When someone comes to the table with an idea to evolve our industrial base with a progressive 21st century resource extraction technology, isn’t that worth looking at? It is very fitting, actually.
4. Dreams. The article states that the two men proposing the new technology are doing this on their own time. They are doing it out of a passion for making a difference in our world, and for our children. In my eyes, they are the leaders and the heroes in our society that we should embrace and encourage. We should hold them in high regard and tell our children stories about them. Instead, you want to put a gag order on them. What are you teaching our children?
5. Vision. What if it turned out that the waste-to-energy technology was absolutely phenomenal and the plant became a world leader? What if we attracted conferences on energy technologies that were hosted at the Salish each year? I think you have this vision of ugly, dirty, loud exhaust-spewing trucks driving down the Snoqualmie Parkway all day long. Why not flip that idea on its head and instead view a procession of beautiful, clean, shiny, quiet, natural gas-powered trucks delivering the fuel for our newly energy-independent Valley. We could have parades for the trucks and their drivers, field trips to the plant for the school kids and we could even park a few of the old garbage trucks near the trains to show people how we our helping our society evolve.
6. Business development. From what I can tell, the Ridge business park is pretty sparse at the moment. Can you imagine it filling up with energy technology firms? Why not? We have hydroelectric at the Falls, we could soon have waste-to-energy and I’m sure that a wind turbine or two might do well up on the Ridge. I think that encouraging natural resource technologies could be one of the smartest business development initiatives ever for our area, and for the future employment of our children. Do you want your kids assembling GameBoys in North Bend or designing the latest technologies that help solve critical environmental problems facing our society?
7. My personal feeling is that we have been given a tremendous gift to live in such a beautiful setting here in the Valley. I think it would be appropriate if, as a community, we took leadership steps to preserve and protect the beauty and health of our natural environment. Exploring waste-to-energy technologies is a way of giving thanks for our blessings. Putting our heads in the sand and continuing to ship our garbage to someone else’s backyard without exploring other alternative is a sad testament to our individualistic, irresponsible society.
8. Safety. If it turns out that the technology isn’t safe, causes health issues, or isn’t proven, then fine, you don’t proceed with the idea. That’s obvious, right? But at this point, all the facts point to the exact opposite situation. There can’t be any harm in further exploration of the idea.
Our politicians in the Valley have an opportunity to set the course for the next 100 years though their land planning and business development efforts. I think we need to give the big ideas, such as waste-to-energy technologies, more than 30 minutes before rejecting them out of hand.
Can you imagine a city leader 50 years ago saying, “Sorry, we can’t be having logging trucks driving through our town for whatever reason?”
Ross Kilburn is a resident of North Bend
