Western Front - 2001 March 2

              The Western Front
Western Washington University Volume 115 Issue 13 Bellingham, Washington
Encogen energy plant is a clean burner
The Encogen NW plant's cooling towers discharge steam as a byproduct of electricity generation. The power plant,
which produces enough energy to power 160,000 homes, is located on Cornwall Avenue in downtown Bellingham.
By Heather Baker and
Levi Pulkkinen
THE WESTERN FRONT
On any quiet night, the low
drone of the Encogen Northwest
cogeneration plant can be heard
throughout downtown and at
Western.
Often confused with neighbor­ing
Georgia-Pacific West, Inc.'s
pulp mill, Encogen is a natural-gas
fired cogeneration power
plant that uses three natural gas
turbines to produce about 160
megawatts of electricity. That is
Debating
marijuana
legalization
By Carly Barrett
THE WESTERN FRONT
The choice of what goes into a
person's body should be com­pletely
in that person's control,
Western student Eric Rolene
said Tuesday at a debate about
the pros and cons of marijuana
legalization called "Hashing it
Out."
"Students know it's not as
harmful as the effects of other
drugs and alcohol," Rolene said.
"From personal experience, I
don't think I'd look the same way
at life if I hadn't tried it."
Western's Legal Information
See HEMP, Page 3
enough to power roughly 160,000
households.
"A gas turbine is the same
thing that gets a jet off the run­way,"
Encogen plant manager
Rob Hoyt said. "It's the same
exact idea, except we're not try­ing
to get this plant off the
ground."
The burning natural gas spins
a series of propellers, turning a
generator and producing electric­ity.
The hot air then runs through
a series of boilers full of purified
Lake Whatcom water, producing
steam. The steam either is
rerouted through a different
steam turbine to produce more
electricity or is piped to G-P for
use there.
Some of the steam is con­densed
into very hot water, and is
either sent to G-P or to two cool­ing
towers, which are visible
from Western.
Currently, Encogen produces
seven parts per million of oxides
of nitrogen (NOx), by using
ammonia to break down the
greenhouse gas. According to
Northwest Air Pollution
Authority's 1999 Emission inven­tory,
Encogen has been decreas­ing
its emission output steadily
in every category since it began
operations in 1992.
According to the
Environmental Protection
Agency's Web site, Encogen
releases 59,000 pounds of ammo­nia
into the air per year from its
stacks. However, the ammonia
emissions should not alarm peo­ple,
Western's director of the
Institute of Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry Dr.
Wayne Landis said.
See ENCOGEN, Page 4
Western receives mild shake from
6.8 earthquake, buildings are safe
By Angie Bring
THE WESTERN FRONT
An earthquake centered near Olympia rocked
Western's campus at 10:55 a.m. Wednesday.
Western's Emergency Response Team reported
that the earthquake resulted in no damage on
campus.
The amount of shaking felt at Western from
the 6.8-magnitude earthquake would be equiv­alent
to a 3 or 4 magnitude earthquake, Bernie
Housen, an assistant geology professor, said.
Gov. Gary Locke declared a state of emer­gency
and estimated statewide damage would
amount to more than $1 billion.
Bill Managan, Western's assistant director of
Maintenance and Facility said no damage to
structural facilities from the earthquake was
detected.
"No brick damage was found, and university
rooftops were inspected and found in good con­dition,"
Managan said.
University Police inspected roadways and
buildings' exteriors and found no damage,
David Doughty, assistant director of University
Public Safety, said.
'Three hundred one years ago,
there was a 9-magnitude earth­quake
in the region and another
will happen, it's just a matter of
when.'
Bernie Housen
Assistant geology professor
Western has been preparing its facilities for
earthquakes since 1992.
"In 1992, a study on Western's buildings
resulted in a series of seismic upgrades in
order to comply with earthquake standards,"
See EARTHQUAKE, P a g eT
Drug laws
increasingly
complex
By Greg Woehler
THE WESTERN FRONT
It could happen to anyone. It's
Friday night, and you have noth­ing
to do. Your friend calls and
asks if you want to hit the clubs in
Canada with him and Dave and
Stu, his friends from back home.
You put on some nice threads,
grab your cash and ID and head
out the door.
After a night of drinking and
grinding, you head back to the.
border, where you encounter a
U.S. Customs Service agent.
Maybe somebody looked nervous,
maybe the agent was just having
a bad day; whatever the reason,
the agent decides to search the
car.
When he searches Stu and
Dave's backpack, he finds an
ounce of weed that they bought in
Vancouver when they wandered
off for an hour.
You are in a lot of trouble.
According to Washington State
law, everyone in the car is guilty
of possession and everyone will go
to jail.
The minimum penalty for pos­session
of marijuana under 40
grams is a $250 fine and one day
in jail. One year of probation is
also standard.
Possession over 40 grams is a
felony and could mean five years
in jail and a $10,000 fine.
Defense attorney David
Cottingham said he once defend­ed
a client in a real live Dave and
Stu situation and the client was
found guilty.
"She was a student sitting in
a car beside a bag that had mar­ijuana
in it, and they charged
her with possession," he said.
Cottingham called this
"unwitting possession," or pos­session
without knowledge.
"The (possession) laws are
See POSSESSION, Page 5
IN THIS ISSUE
Vikings cruise
into postseason
Western women secure
fourth straight berth in
NCAA Div. II West
Regional tournament.
See story, Page 8.
Mardi Gras is
"Bead" dazzling
Bellingham residents cele­brate
to
excess at the
Wild Buffalo,
Tuesday
night.
See story, Page 7.
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