If you have concerns about the quality of our water, air and land in Port Townsend, please come to the public hearing at Fort Worden on Dec. 4 at 5:30 p.m.

If you saw the front page story in The Leader (Nov. 20), you know it’s time for the mill to renew its operating permit, and we citizens have an opportunity to inform ourselves, meet our concerned neighbors, and give our input.

Almost 20 years ago we moved to Port Townsend from a coastal community in northern California, and within two weeks I had a breathing emergency. I had never, ever had any breathing problems before! In the wee hours of that October night in 2006, I woke unable to inhale. My husband and I have always slept with our windows open all year long, and the room was filled with noxious-smelling white smoke. In panic I woke him and told him to get dressed and ready to take me to the ER. We closed all the windows and I labored with my breath while he dressed. With a sheet over my head I was able to filter enough air to slowly recover in small gasps. That worked and we avoided the ambulance and a trip to the hospital, but were left shaken and deeply disturbed about the event and our future in Port Townsend.

Subsequently, we joined a group of people who had been working together for decades to make PT’s air safe from mill pollution, many of whom were suffering with chronic illnesses they said were directly related to mill emissions. Some were scientists in the field.

Just in the nick of time, and in spite of misleading misinformation about deadlines (intentional?) from the local branch of the State Dept. of Ecology, we were able to halt the permitting process with a last minute appeal! This gave us the time to continue to organize, investigate, grow our activist group, inform our local community, and communicate with the State Dept. of Environmental Health (our local Dept. of Environmental Health was not interested).

In the end, and as a result of months and months of citizen’s hard work, the mill was required by the State of Washington to mitigate its intense pollution of our air and water and land. The stink was gone most of the time, groundwater began to be monitored and recorded, essential inspections and receipts for the ingredients of imported materials to be burned were strictly required, monitored and regulated. Our lives as citizens became healthier and far more pleasant.

Please remember Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

All citizen involvement is especially critical right now, when the very government agencies that are actively protecting our public health are in grave danger of being eviscerated. I urge everyone to come to the hearing on Dec. 4.  It is being held at Ft. Worden’s USO building, which is to the left and up the hill at the four-way stop.

Alea Waters

Port Townsend