Some of us in Federal Way may not have heard of Tacoma’s efforts in building a manufacturing plant that will convert natural gas into methanol on Tacoma’s tide flats. Methanol will be shipped to China to help them reduce their need for coal in plastics manufacturing, thus reducing greenhouse gases. This story is widely available by a simple Google search.

While this will help the world environment SOME, the impact on the local area will be great. The reduction of greenhouse gases in China will be a dot on a grand scale. Some of Federal Way’s water and sewer services are provided by Tacoma Public Utilities. The impact on water will be 10.4 million gallons daily, which is the current daily total water TPU uses and 1.4 million gallons of wastewater that will be dumped back into the sewer system. While the above should concern all of us in Federal Way, there is something more concerning: Federal Way would be upwind if an explosion or leak were to happen. Northeast Tacoma and the Twin Lakes area would be directly in the level 3 impact area.

The other issue is that even though there are new jobs that come with the plant, the plant will be owned by a Chinese corporation. China is currently purchasing much of the commercial real estate in Tacoma like they are in Seattle, making it unaffordable to live in the region. Eventually Chinese investment will stifle economic growth here, and while it may take years, it will happen. It would be a good idea if you are concerned with this to send an email or letter to Tacoma’s mayor Marilyn Strickland, the Port of Tacoma commissioners and even King County Executive Dow Constantine asking them to stop this potential nightmare. Mayor Jim Ferrell and our city council have serious concerns about this project as well.

Randall Smith, Federal Way