August 11, 2007 Mr. Frank Bjorklund, Plant Manager Eramet Marietta P.O. Box 299 Marietta, OH 45750 Dear Mr. Bjorklund, LET’S CLEAR THE AIR! Please join Neighbors for Clean Air and work with the Marietta community to make Marietta an outstanding green community and leader in community – industry problem solving. I am a resident of Athens County now, but for six years from 2000 to September 2006, I lived in Marietta, Ohio. I am very concerned about the air pollution and especially the dangerously high manganese levels in the ambient air in the Marietta, Ohio area. While I was a resident of Marietta, I developed asthma which I have been fortunate enough to curtail in its symptoms and effects. But that is because I moved away. During the year and a half before I moved away from Marietta I was repeatedly ill with sore throats, fatigue, mononucleosis relapses, and I became seriously worried that my health would further deteriorate if I remained in Marietta. I could step out on my porch near the Mound Cemetery in Marietta some mornings and smell the noxious odors from the Eramet plant. I am glad to report that since moving away from Marietta, OH in September 2006, my health has improved. I have gone seven months now without any sore throat, congestion, or illness incident. Previously, I was becoming ill for several days at a time at regular intervals. I do say that the polluted air in Marietta forced me to move. I am my sole support. I live alone, rent, and am middle aged and poor. Thus, moving away was an option for me. I did not have employment I could not afford to quit. The priceless asset of my reasonably good health was and is valuable property that I could not allow to be harmed. Other people do not have those options. For a variety of reasons they must remain in the Marietta area. I have friends with chronic respiratory illness. They call it the mid Ohio valley crud. It is serious health effects from air pollution, Mr. Bjorklund. Another friend has two young children both of whom developed bronchial asthma in their first year of life. They lived at the time within two miles of Eramet, Mr. Bjorklund. Children should not have to struggle to breathe because the adults in their community did not care enough to provide them with clean air. As responsible citizens, we cannot allow our young people to become unhealthy. Civilized caring society requires a better response than to do nothing and let people suffer and die. The cancer rate in Marietta is above the state and national averages. Every year, cancer incidence at Marietta Memorial Hospital exceeds the projected rates of illness. So, let’s clear the air, Mr. Bjorklund. We urge you to meet with us at Neighbors for Clean Air, commit to reducing pollution levels, and together we can make Marietta a healthier place to live. Thank you. Yours very truly, Ellyn J. Burnes 3 ½ Ohio Ave. Athens, OH 45701