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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 5, 1984)
EWEB plant smokes city By Douglas Pyle Of the Emerald Eugene’s largest woodstove spewed dense smoke out of its stack for several hours Tuesday, turning both the setting sun and certain east-Eugene eyes a deep red. The unusually heavy smoke resulted from the burning of wet wood chips and barkdust in the Eugene Water and Electric Board’s steam plant furnaces. The wet fuel was delivered by Rexius Forest By-Products from sawmills in Pope and Talbot, according to Ed Burgess, EWEB steam plant supervisor. When burned Tuesday, the wet batch of chips created smoke emmis sions that were “way out of reason,” not to mention way over required density levels, Burgess said. Representatives of Rexius were unavailable for comment as of press time. The white smoke drifted south from the EWEB steam plant near Franklin Boulevard and Hilyard Street Tuesday afternoon, hovering over the University neighborhood and even dipping down to street level at some places. It was especially heavy at 13th Avenue and Hilyard Street, near Sacred Heart Hospital, where it created a haze and a sweet odor like burnt leaves. The Eugene Fire Department said the smoke inspired several calls inquiring about fires and about what was wrong at mama Photo by Jim Moore A graph monitored at EWEB’s plant indicated the burning of wet fuel in their east-Eugene wood-fired power plant. EW£B. What was wrong was enough to bring Burgess back to the plant to clear things up at about 6:00 p.m., after having gone home from his regular shift earlier Tuesday. “It’s been quite a while since this bad a deal happened here,” he said. The “deal” amounted to about three hours of dense smoke that rated 100 percent in opacity, which refers to the amount of light that can pass through the smoke column. The maximum opacity level allowed for the plant is 40 percent, Burgess said. The plant had a similar pro blem last winter, but Burgess said he cannot remember how long it has been since smoke was as heavy for as long as it was Tuesday. Also, the single fuel silo feeding directly to the furnaces already had been filled with wet fuel, further complicating mat ters. Burgess said this would re quire using that fuel as well, but the amount of smoke could be kept under the 40 percent limit by mixing it with dry fuel from the stock pile. The burning of wet fuel re quired no cut-off of service. The problem amounted to a tem porarily excessive emmission of particulates and other pollutants, because the wet fuel would not burn as completely as dry fuel, Burgess said. i Butte to Butte run offered a lot of dough \ With the sun baking down on their plastic wrapper, these competitors in the 11th annual Butte to Butte run loafed their way through the 10-kilometer course with an extra slice of bread trailing close behind. Pre-race favorites and defending cham pions, Julie Brown and Greg Hitchcock won their respective divisions and left with $1,000 each in prize money. Hitchcock set a new record for the course, finishing in 29 minutes 14 seconds. Photo by Michael Clapp I i i mm PMUM MSTMMftT Featuring fine SZECHUAN & CANTONESE Dining Buffet: 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m., Mon.-Thurs. 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Fri. & Sat. iDinner: 4:30 p.m. 10:00 p.m., Sun.-Thurs. 5:00 p.m-10:30 p.m.. Fri. & Sat. 1275 Alder Orders to Qo 683'8886 Recycle this paper PREPARE FOR: SEPT 84 I Educational Center TEST PREPARATION SPECIALISTS SINCE 1938 For Information About Other Permanent Centers In More Than 120 Major US Cities A Abroad Call Days Evenings A Weekends Course Begins: In Eugene July 14 485-5699 Student Discount! v 10% Off on all books to any student with current I D. We’re close to campus at 19th & Agate. BOOK and TEA 1646 East 19th • 344-3422 / Precision Hairworks For the BEST haircut you can get at any price. corner of 29 th & Willamette 343-1182 no appointment needed Open Mon.-Sat. 6 BiiuwmiiftRflmuinmawnwuwmwwjiimnAf^omimmww'WuiiiiuuMHnminAiMimwjmAmrairt 7 rr rrx'rrrr Swing into summer with CARNIVAL THEATRE! I University Theatre’s fun-filled season of plays will fill your summer evenings with music and laughter! I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On The Road The critically acclaimed musical starring PRISCILLA LAURIS July 5, 6, 7, 19, 25, 26; August 3, 4, 10 Side by Side by Sondheim A musical revue of Broadway show tunes by the master songwriter, Stephen Sondheim July 12, 13, 14, 20, 21 August 2, 11 Mass Appeal A heartwarming comic drama starring TOM LASSWELL and DENNIS SMITH July 17, 18, 27, 28 August 1, 8, 9 Robinson Theatre • 8 p.m. $5.00 - Any Friday or Saturday $3.50 - Any other performance day Call 686-4191 for ticket reservations and information. I I I I I I I I I I r&naB? ‘ '£‘£27* *u~" 2 rnf" — SSSr “sh 2 FR« Topp,ngi */?** **• Coke*. CALL 686-9590 **-**£-*. S3 '211 Alder on campus J