Cook County News Herald

If biomass fails, taxpayers will pay




I love how the Cook County News-Herald editor picks and chooses who can break the word count rule as she picks and chooses who and what agenda the Herald will support and how to best shape the news to best suit her agenda. Luckily, I can deal with an unfair playing field filled with unfair rules and favoritism.

The biomass co-chairs who attack me based on their assumptions can spin it any way they want but my information comes from this paper, the biomass website and a county commissioner who sits on the biomass board. Herald archives show just over $3 million for a plant and just over $3 million for distribution lines. With a never-ending pot of tax dollars I assume their project has grown to $9 million!

Speaking of false information, the co-chairs would like you to believe your tax dollars will not go to this project as they will use state and federal tax dollars. I doubt they really believe we don’t pay state or federal taxes in Cook County!

Local tax dollars were never meant to pay bond payments at the Economic Development Authority’s business park either but when a project fails taxpayers do pay for our elected officials’ mistakes as we also see with payoffs to Burbach Aquatics, the YMCA project, the EDA’s affordable housing project…no spin, that’s the facts!

Their plan calls to use tax dollars to build infrastructure to supply heat to businesses mostly owned by the wealthy 1 percent, most of whom do not reside here, spend their profits here, often use outside help for their building improvements, and have made a lucrative business off real estate housing foreign workers rather than hiring locally. Shouldn’t projects funded with tax dollars be about “We the People” rather than the wealthy 1 percent and foreign jobs?

Lengthy public process? Is that to inform us rather than ask us as you already seek funding and property? If it’s not a fast moving train there should be no problem tapping the brakes to actually ask the citizens on next fall’s ballot.

Lots more to say but I have rules to follow at Publisher Hal and Deidre Kettunen’s News- Herald and unfair playing field!

Tod Sylvester
Grand Marais



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