By Katie Fairbanks, Reporter, The Daily News
Community members urged a health committee Monday to take a stronger stance against Millennium Bulk Terminals’ proposed Longview coal terminal.
The Health Impact Assessment Steering Committee met to discuss the study and draft recommendations and to hear public comment on the documents.
A majority of the nine people who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting said the project’s effects on public health would burden the county. Many said the recommendations should be stronger and more specific to the project.
Committee member Kathleen Patton said her primary concern about the draft recommendations is they wouldn’t prevent the project from negatively affecting people’s health. The recommendations should include a statement saying the project would make people’s health worse, she said.
“I know we’re not a deciding body, but this is a moral document,” Patton said. “It describes impacts on people’s lives.”
Half of those who spoke during public comment supported adding a statement to the recommendations clarifying that some of the project’s effects on health can’t be avoided.
Read the full article, here.
