Owens Corning Backs Out of Town
Maria Thi Mai
For more than a decade, Portland has worked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Even with rapid economic and population growth, fortunately, emissions in Multnomah County are now only slightly above 1990 levels. This is the result of continued, combined efforts and deliberate decisions to help maintain the ecological and environmental integrity of our community.
On May 8, Owens Corning stepped up as a responsible community member, choosing to forgo production methods that would spew large amounts of toxins into the atmosphere. I would like to thank Owens Corning for making the essential decision to use production alternatives that keep the prosperity of the ecologic system in mind.
Though I am indeed grateful for their decision, this announcement comes after weeks of discussions revolving around Owens Corning’s request for a permit which would have excused the insulation producer from current EPA standards placed on manufacturing industries.
Last summer, Owens Corning filed a permit request that would allow the company to release substantial volumes of hydro chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC-142b) at its proposed production facility in Gresham. This was very alarming, considering HCFC-142b is recognized as a greenhouse gas, and known to erode the ozone layer.
News of this permit request quickly caught my and others’ attention. Thus, I sent a letter to the Department of Environmental Quality, urging that the permit not be warranted, and thus requiring Owens Corning to minimize the environmental impacts of its proposed Gresham plant.
Owens Corning did withdraw its permit request May 8. Given Owens Corning’s withdrawal of its permit request, I still strongly urge Owens Corning to report and to make public statistics on their facility’s greenhouse gas emissions, specifically pertaining to estimates of HCFC-142b emissions from the plant.
As the world moves forward to address global warming, Oregon cannot turn its back on climate protection. We must be part of the solution; that means being cleaner, more efficient, and more profitable.
Again, I thank Owens Corning for withdrawing its permit request. This decision not only helps to ease concerns of its production standards, but also aids to ensure the prosperity of the environment.
We must all invest in the maintenance and welfare of our communities.
Download OwensCorningpermitAQwithdrawal.pdf
Posted by Maria Thi Mai on May 15, 2006
(11) Comments | Permalink | TrackBack (1)
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Posted by: anon | May 16, 2006 9:52:08 PM
Right on, mmmmarvel! After all, what could organzations as specious as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science possibly know about climate change that Monte Hieb (an uncredentialled mountain-top removal coal mining advocate) can't refute with one hand tied behind his back?
Posted by: Clay Fouts | May 17, 2006 12:01:42 PM
Wow mmmmarvel....
You sure have me convinced. Until today I was listening to the 99.9 percent of scientists that *know* global warming is happening.
But now, with Monte's info, I'm sure that its all okay. Let's pollute as much as possible and clear cut all of our trees! After all, jesus is coming back. Right?
Posted by: nathan | May 22, 2006 7:40:32 AM
Wow mmmmarvel....
You sure have me convinced. Until today I was listening to the 99.9 percent of scientists that *know* global warming is happening.
But now, with Monte's info, I'm sure that its all okay. Let's pollute as much as possible and clear cut all of our trees! After all, jesus is coming back. Right?
Posted by: nathan | May 22, 2006 7:40:50 AM
Nathan and Clay -
Did you bother to go to the website I sited? I went to the one Clay sited, what I saw was some very bias studies.
Do either of you have an explanation as to why in the 70's they (the scientific community) was screaming about the upcoming ice age? Or maybe we went through it (and I missed it) so now we're headed towards global warming.
Look at the research that even your bias websites show, how MUCH will OUR efforts pay off? Even if the Kyoto tready was put into effect our efforts would only slow the 'warming' by less than 1 degree in the next 50 to 100 years.
But, no reason to let facts get in the way - hug a tree, eat some trash and sit in the rain and cold - er, I mean sweat in the heat.
Posted by: mmmarvel | May 24, 2006 1:42:00 AM
Mmmarvel....
So everyone gets to make up their own mind. That's cool.
But your "facts" aren't gonna convince me that somehow global warming and climate change don't exist.
In addition to the overwhelming scientific evidence, I see the effects of climate change first hand. Erratic weather, altered ocean currents, etc are all plainly visible throughout the world. Of course, each region is effected differently. Parts of europe may indeed experience a much colder climate in the near future. However, in oregon and northern california the climate will become wetter and even more mild.
At this point we're along for the ride. Kyoto, as u say, can't change the decades of environmental destruction. But at least its an acknowledgement of our errors.
Posted by: nathan | May 24, 2006 4:34:31 AM
Marv, I'm totally with you. These scientist busybodies need put in their place. Just look at some of the crazy stuff they're publishing.
Be forewarned: These articles do display a strong bias. Indeed, many of the authors and publishers have the temerity to pride themselves on their use of "facts" gleaned through repeated and rigorous use of measuring instruments and by application of the scientific method. This stands in strong contrast to the superior "faith-based" policy of trying to determine how the world works.
The AAAS has published a survey article collating the conclusions of climate change research. Shockingly, they discovered that 100% of articles published in peer-reviewed, scientific journals come to the same conclusion: Human activity substantially and measurably contributes to global warming. Can you believe the breadth of this conspiracy? 100%!
Some of these environmental wackos have gotten together to publish a blog of their crankery. I bet these guys figure out how many teeth a horse has by looking in its mouth, too.
And here's some joker trying to refute that climate change genius, Monte Hieb. Of course he resorts to supporting his assertions by citing articles published in that peer-reviewed journal conspiracy.
Posted by: Clay Fouts | May 24, 2006 9:12:09 AM
Mmmarvel, you're way off track here - first you imply that "less than 1 degree" is no big deal, when in fact it would be a HUGE deal in terms of global climate change.
Second, you wonder how much our efforts will pay off in regards to preventing global warming. I challenge you to answer this: even IF global warming turns out to be some huge scientific hoax, will we be sorry that we invested time and money into researching alternative fuel sources, ways to cut down on air-polluting emissions, and generally take better care of our earth? I posit that the answer is no, we won't be sorry. If nothing else, we've come away with a way to keep powering our society beyond the disappearance of fossil fuels. Anybody that says we would be sorry is simply mired in their own self-indulgence, and can't look past their pride that they're not the ones who are "crying wolf".
Posted by: Stephen | May 24, 2006 9:53:43 AM
Folks, you really ought to read everything that I write in my comments before you attempt to attack me. I agreed that global warming IS happening, two points:
1) I disagree that it's the fault of humans - WAY too much evidence that the earth goes through the warming/ice age cycles on it's own.
2) Amazing that no one wants to talk about how our scientific community was screaming about the 'upcoming ice age' a mere 30 years ago - man was supposedly accountable for that too.
Like I said, never let facts get in the way of a good hysteria.
Posted by: mmmarvel | May 27, 2006 9:17:19 AM
You nailed it again, Marv! Even if the mean temperature is rising 1000% faster than EVER experienced from the fastest historical cycles, there's no reason whatsoever, no how, no way, no sirree that we should suppose that it has anything to do with the billions of tons of heat-trapping, sequestered carbon that humans dump into the atmosphere every single day. NO WAY. That's crazy talk. What we're experiencing is just Mother Nature blow drying her hair. It's just this time she's got the dryer on the 1000% setting.
And these scientist types can't ever keep their story straight. Remember back in the 70's when Newsweek published that one article by someone or other about how a new ice age was going to hit us any second? I mean, when a premier scientific outlet like Newsweek gets something wrong it's like it makes ALL of science wrong forever and ever. Just because every peer reviewed article published in the past ten years agrees that global warming is anthropogenic doesn't change anything that that one article claimed. No one carries more authority than that one guy who wrote that article in the 70's for Newsweek.
Posted by: Clay Fouts | May 28, 2006 9:38:28 AM
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Got news for ya Maria - the global warming - it's part of a natural cycle. The amount that 'mankind' is responsible for is miniscule. Do some checking, these same scholarly scientists were warning us about a 'new ice age' that was decending on us in the 70's. The earth has gone through several cycles of 'warming' and 'ice age' - I know you don't want to believe me but for some facts you might want to go to http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/ice_ages.html
I know this crushes your enviro, tree-hugging tendancy but it's the truth not a half truth. By the same token, I like cutting down on pollution as much as the next guy; I'm just not going to nuts about it.
Posted by: Mmmarvel | May 16, 2006 8:41:39 PM