This is in response to your March editorial entitled “Green bureaucrats break the back of Miller Brewery.”

While your newspaper is entitled to its opinion, readers should be aware that the editorial was riddled with errors.

The Department of Ecology did not “succeed in forcing the closure” of Miller. We at Ecology realize the brewery has been a source of pride and jobs in Thurston County for decades. Miller Company’s decision to close it was very unfortunate news.

Among several significant errors is the statement “Miller agreed to disconnect from LOTT’s system and built a $13 million treatment plant.” Miller proposed a treatment plant, but it was never built.

The Department of Ecology worked with Miller for more than three years to address its wastewater-discharge needs and to offer cost-effective ideas for protecting water quality while enabling the brewery to be productive. We also offered to help the company identify alternatives that would allow the brewery to increase its wastewater discharge without making pollution problems worse in the Deschutes River, Capitol Lake, and Budd Bay — which receive discharges from the brewery.

The brewery’s waste water may be clean in many ways that we measure water quality, but it certainly is not clean enough to drink — which was another false assertion in your editorial.

The new discharge that Miller proposed would contain far more phosphorous, nitrogen, and oxygen-depleting chemicals than the river and lake can handle. Phosphorous and nitrogen feed algae blooms that are already a problem in the lake. Chemicals that reduce dissolved oxygen are bad for fish in both the lake and the river.

We have been informed that multiple factors contributed to the company’s decision, and resolving the wastewater-discharge needs alone would not change the outcome. If those other economic factors were to change, we remain ready and committed to helping with a solution to the wastewater issues.

Sandy Howard, Spokeswoman
Dept. of Ecology

(Editor’s Note: Before this story ran, we contacted Ecology. Although we didn’t speak with the writer of this letter, the staffer we talked with was almost jubilant about the fact the DOE had “forced” the closure — his word, not ours. He also made the statement, “The water might be good enough for people to drink, but that doesn’t mean it’s good enough for the fish.” Since that very same statement has been reported in several other places, it makes one wonder if that isn’t some kind of agency mantra.
   A spokesman for Miller stated that DOE bureaucrats had done what the company considered “everything possible” to obstruct a solution so the brewery could remain open and operate at a profit. The company also feels that the discharge water quality was in compliance with state law. The bottom line is 400 people lost their jobs and Thurston County now has a $27 million hole in its local economy.).