Letter to the Editor: Chronicle failed

Amerities is not actually admitting guilt in poisoning our air, although in reading their 150-page deposition, plant manager Jeff Thompson pretty much does admit the plant fouls our air with Naphthaline smell on a daily basis. If they are not admitting guilt, then why are they paying out $1.25 million in the CAL? The CAL is complicated — five pages in which you have to sign up to be part of the payout, sign up to not be part of the payout, and if you don’t sign up, you will be included in the payout. HUH??

The deadline (no pun intended) to respond was Aug 23, so, by the time you read this, it will be too late to do much. It would have been nice to have a nice big article in the Chronicle explaining how the whole thing works and maybe hear some voices on why this whole CAL came to be.

There have been other lawsuits across the country with very large payouts to people being poisoned in the same wood treatment process that Amerities uses. A $1.25 million payout is a total insult as hush money for one of the largest corporations (Union Pacific) to try and keep us quiet while they continue to poison our air, all while we pay taxes to breathe fresh air and drink clean water.

Stephen Curley

The Dalles