Opinions based on collected facts

I have not and am not shrugging off anything. I have been trying to find a way to address the statements of Ron Olfert and Les Wood that were in the county newspapers in the past few weeks, and how to address the erroneous interpretations attributed to me.

I want the public to realize what has happened here. I stated my opinion based on facts I have collected and shared since 2004 till now, 2008. Ron Olfert and Les Wood made their statements on what their “perception” was of what I said.

A couple points I want especially to clarify. I have not been paid a dime nor do I want or expect to be paid and I have no paid staff. I do have contact and will continue to consult with valued established environmentalists, like Ceasar Hernandez and others across the nation, Montana and to include Alaska. I do not have a title of shame, nor do I feel anything but pride in what I have done for the environment, for a lifetime. I have been labeled an environmentalist and accept that label gladly.

Les Wood has his opinion of my statements and Al Gore's on the national scene. He can do this, which brings us back to quantities of pollutants to be expected from the operation of TRC, a coal-fired generator in our valley. The original figures from TRC were corrected years ago when I found out they were not reliable. In my mind, it is not the quaintly of any of the pollutants, to include mercury; it is the fact that there are any pollutants planned to be spewed into our air from a coal-fired generator. To have mining be the job choice that has to made to earn a living is just as wrong to me.

While I am at it, I have a few questions about Les Wood's statement in regard to financial losses. He needs to look at the figures of costs related to medical issues and deaths. Owners working with communities to create jobs with reduced hazards and choices for people to earn a living is the goal and the ideal. Unfortunately, that is not how it is working out here in Sanders County. There is money to be made in electricity sales and $900 an ounce for gold drives the mine. The owners are who reap the reward, not the employees the conditions do not change, people and environment come in last or not at all. He suggests I “would be better off helping honest employers to make work places less hazardous for the employees and less hazardous for the community.”

Right now, the honesty of the owner TRC is in question due to his own actions. The list was in the papers starting in the Dec. 8, 2007, Missoulian and other papers. A federal court indicted and convicted him of income tax evasion. He was sentenced to several conditions. His probation officer told me he has not started on the 300 hours of community service, and he is working on the others. He has until April 2012 to fulfill his sentencing conditions (stay tuned).

Sincerely,

Morlene Plouzek

Thompson Falls