Dear residents of Tacoma, Below my open letter regarding the planned methanol facility in Tacoma. This issue has been flying under the radar. We need an open conversation regarding the use of one of our most precious resources: fresh drinking water. Open letter to the City of Tacoma, the Port of Tacoma and Washington State representatives. 9/20/2015 The Port of Tacoma is about to announce they will approve the building of a Chinese government methanol plant in the heart of Tacoma. This announcement is carefully synced to the visit of General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. The methanol plant will use our fresh water and fracked natural gas to make olefin to ship to one single Chinese government run plant, which in turn will create plastics to sell and ship back to us. In the meanwhile, our recycling facilities are drowning in plastics. Methanol is extremely explosive. Should there be an accident, it will put the facility’s neighbors in Northeast Tacoma at dire risk. Yet the Chinese facility is only required a 50 million dollar comprehensive general liability insurance, plus 25 million for environmental clean-up. Imagine what a major explosion in the heart of Tacoma would cost. And take a guess who would pay for it? Please answer the following questions: Tacoma and the entire west are in an unprecedented drought. How can you propose the use of massive amounts of fresh water (2,500 gallons water/minute) to make plastics while our own recycling facilities are drowning in plastic? What are the costs for fresh water charged to the Chinese government facility compared to the costs to rate-paying residents? What are the costs for natural gas charged to the Chinese government facility compared to the costs to rate-paying residents? Who will carry the costs of building water and gas pipelines to this methanol plant? The general liability insurance carried by the Chinses government facility is 50 million dollars, plus 25 million for environmental clean-up. Methanol is highly explosive. How do you assure residents of Tacoma they will not be the ones paying the costs above 50 million? Will you create an escrow account to deal with unexpected costs to residents in case of explosion damages to life, property and our environment? How will the methanol plant pay for increases in fire, police, first responders and safety personnel? Will this cost be simply rolled over to tax payers? What precautions will be taken to safely protect residents living in or near a potential blast zone? How can we the residents of Tacoma (and the state of Washington) be sure we will not be the ones paying for future pollution clean-up once this Chinese built factory becomes obsolete? What toxins will be in the run-off water and how will it be cleaned and disposed of? The Port of Tacoma is routinely in violation of the Pierce County clean air regulations. How will this plant impact our air? How much of the proposed building costs will actually benefit Tacoma or will the plant components be imported from China? During a May 1st meeting 2014 the port announced the decision would take 18 months. How do you explain moving up the decision and keeping the public out of the loop? During that same meeting we were told the plant would need 40 staff to run the facility. What is the actual number of full time jobs? Right now natural gas prices are at historic lows. What will happen to the facility should gas and water prices rise sharply? I hope you take the time to answer these questions. Regards Claudia Riedener Tacoma, WA