EBMUD Questions Our Questions, But Only Muddies The Water

I got an email from The East Bay Municipal Utility District the other day. Seemingly polite, the "between the lines" message was a little unsettling.

The email from EBMUD (pasted below) seems to question facts in my previous post about a no-bid deal they got from Oakland City Council for Recology to build a food waste preprocessing plant onto their West Oakland wastewater plant site.

It's easy for them to offer a tour and say "this is an opportunity to get the facts", but I think we'd all like to know - which facts do they question, which facts do they challenge? Why throw "mud" at my blog posts without getting specific?

Just to be transparent, I'll post their email here, as well as the tour invite.

If anyone wants to go on their tour, I'm sure it would be interesting, but it's hard to tell whether or not their "facts" will clear the air or just further muddy the water.

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From: "Chan, Gregory"
Date: May 1, 2013, 2:39:47 PM PDT
Subject: Tour Information for the EBMUD WW Treatment Plant

Dear Mr. Newhouse,

FYI, attached and below is information about various tour dates to EBMUD’s Wastewater Plant — with a particular look at water recycling, food waste and energy production.

For those members of your reader base that have read your recent blog and have expressed concerns -- this is an opportunity to get the facts.

Contact information and the reservation process are contained in the attached flyer as well as below.

Gregory L. Chan
Public Affairs Office
East Bay Municipal Utility District
375 Eleventh Street (MS 802)
P.O. Box 24055
Oakland, CA 94623-1055

Office: (510) 287-0135
Fax: (510) 287-0149
e-mail: gchan@ebmud.com
website: www.ebmud.com

TOUR EBMUD Wastewater Treatment Plant and Food Scrap Processing Facilities

Twilight Tours 5:30 pm
• Tuesday May 7
• Thursday May 23

Saturday Tours 10 am
• Saturday May 11
• Saturday June 15

Making sure that pollutants do not enter San Francisco Bay is a job we all share. Find out more about how EBMUD and our customers work together to conserve energy and water, and protect natural resources.

Tours will last about one hour and are limited to 10 people per tour. Participants must be able to walk one mile. Please wear comfortable clothes and closed toe shoes.

Location:
EBMUD Wastewater Treatment Plant
2020 Wake Avenue
Oakland, CA

Parking:
Park in small parking area at front gate

To reserve a spot, contact:
Allison Garrett
(510) 287-1445
agarrett@ebmud.com
www.ebmud.com