VASHON ISLAND, Wash. — K2 once made skis at a Vashon Island plant. Now a company called Bakkhos Holdings wants to buy it and grow pot.
It would also produce marijuana-infused products like candy under the Edipure label.
Opponents have formed a web site called notpotcandy.org, and are circulating petitions to block the project.
Many are protesting for environmental reasons, including Bill Moyer, a local activist.
Moyer claims there are a number of spots on the K2 site that inspectors failed to look at.
Those sites haven’t been thoroughly tested for chemical contamination and Moyer is worried about protecting groundwater. “They really need to enter into a site wide, voluntary assessment and cleanup,” he said.
Joe Yarkin is a farmer who's interested in growing marijuana commercially outdoors. He criticized indoor operations for using massive amounts of electricity. He said Bakkhos would burn up in three hours whatever energy he saved on his solar-powered farm in a whole year.
“They’re going to have to recreate an acre of sunshine and that takes an enormous amount of energy,” he said.
A spokesman for Bakkhos and Edipure challenged Yarkin's calculations.
Dan Anglin said Edipure would use a fraction of the energy K2 used to make skis. “We would never match even one-third of the consumption of energy of the previous owners,” said Anglin.
Anglin also said Bakkhos wants to buy a clean manufacturing site, and that K2 has promised in a letter to King County to take full responsibility for any contamination found which requires a cleanup.
“We’re very confident that as we take over the property that it will be environmentally sound,” Anglin said.