By Christopher Foulds – Kamloops This Week

Published: March 23, 2010 12:00 PM
Updated: March 23, 2010 12:21 PM

The news concerning a Facebook message that appeared on Bill McQuarrie’s home page is another example of the need to verify or contact those involved before publishing or distributing information as fact.

It has also led to many questions that need to be answered by McQuarrie.

McQuarrie is the executive director of Interior Science Innovation Council and has been working with Kim Sigurdson, the president of the Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation, which had been planning to operate a gasification project in Kamloops in which creosote-soaked rail ties would be used.

McQuarrie told KTW he has no idea how the posting appeared on his Facebook page on Thursday morning.

The fact is, the message was posted under his name; therefore, someone who had access to McQuarrie’s user name and password posted the message, which infers strongly he and others (including the provincial government) had been working behind the scenes for some time to find another community to locate the Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation’s gasification project.

In the posting, which reads like a letter or an e-mail, reference is made to a “Terry” (presumably Kamloops-North Thompson Liberal MLA Terry Lake) and claims “Terry” has been told what to say and has received his marching orders from more powerful Liberals in the party.

A reporter at KTW is “friends” with McQuarrie on Facebook (that “friendship” was abruptly severed by McQuarrie this week) and came across the odd posting on Thursday morning, a day before the Facebook message made its way to Ruth Madsen, chairwoman of Thompson Institute of Environmental Studies and a vocal opponent of the ACC.

While we saw the Facebook page and saved a copy, we could not very well report on it without first speaking to McQuarrie, Lake and Sigurdson.

Our print deadline was 11 a.m. on Thursday and we could not talk to McQuarrie before then.

We finally contacted McQuarrie on Friday morning and, immediately after reporter Jeremy Deutsch conducted a long, taped interview with him, Madsen’s mass e-mail regarding the Facebook posting landed in my e-mail box.

McQuarrie denied he wrote the message, despite the fact it appears to be a private Facebook message that may have been accidentally posted for many to see.

He denied it even when we pointed out it was posted by his account.

Nor could McQuarrie explain how a message he had nothing to do with could refer to a press release (ACC’s decision to withdraw from Kamloops) that hadn’t yet been issued.

McQuarrie noted he had seen a CTV News story the night before that dealt with those who hack Facebook and other social-network sites.

While McQuarrie continues to deny he posted the message, there are many — yours truly included — who view such a claim with extreme skepticism.

When I was alerted to the message at about noon last Thursday, my first thought was: Who would be stupid enough to post that publicly? My second thought was: I bet that was intended to be a private message and someone pressed the wrong button.

However, McQuarrie repeatedly denied writing it and we must, at this point, accept his testimony.

But the manner in which Madsen distributed the message is troubling.

I contacted her in Palm Desert, Calif., where she is visiting, and asked if she had contacted McQuarrie to determine if he had, in fact, posted the message.

She said she did not.

Did she contact Sigurdson or Lake?

She said she did not.

She did volunteer that she passed the information by a lawyer before e-mailing it to various people, media outlets included.

That’s not good enough.

It could very well be that McQuarrie had his Facebook site hacked by a clever and vengeful opponent of the ACC proposal with knowledge of a press release that hadn’t yet been released.

Highly unlikely, but possible.

Perhaps McQuarrie left his laptop unattended while having coffee at Starbucks and a clever and vengeful opponent of the ACC proposal with knowledge of a press release that hadn’t yet been released waited for that specific, opportune time to hijack the keyboard and post the message.

Again, highly unlikely, but possible.

The point is, we don’t know.

But we — including Madsen — needed to ask before rushing out with a condemnation that offers as fact that McQuarrie is the author.

Whether the reader believes McQuarrie or anybody else is left to their discretion — once they hear what McQuarrie and others have to say.

By Jeremy Deutsch – Kamloops This Week

Published: March 19, 2010 5:00 PM
Updated: March 22, 2010 9:44 AM

This is a screenshot of the actual message on Bill McQuarrie’s Facebook profile page, as captured and saved in the Kamloops This Week newsroom at 11:54 a.m. on Thursday, March 18.

The head of a regional science organization working with the Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation to bring a gasification plant to Kamloops maintains a controversial posting on his Facebook page isn’t from him.

Bill McQuarrie, executive director of Interior Science Innovation Council, said he has no idea how the posting appeared on his Facebook page on Thursday morning.

The posting refers to an unreleased announcement that the ACC was abandoning its plans in Kamloops.

It’s addressed to someone named Kim, presumably Kim Sigurdson, the president of the ACC.

The posting also claims ACC’s air-quality permit will remain valid until the company picks a new location.

It also has some unflattering assertions that someone named Terry — presumably Kamloops-North Thompson Liberal MLA Terry Lake — has been “giving (sic) his marching orders.”

McQuarrie contends the details in the posting are untrue.

“It isn’t mine,” McQuarrie told KTW.

“Number one — I would never write anything like that and, number two, that’s not how we do business.”

He said he was told of “weird stuff going on” with his Facebook page on Thursday by a friend.

McQuarrie said he believes his page was hacked and intends to look in to the matter.

“I wish I had a really easy, brilliant answer for you, but social networking is not my forté,” he said.

The posting has since been removed from McQuarrie’s Facebook page, though KTW has a copy.

The ACC sent out a press release late Thursday stating the company is seeking a new site for its gasification plant.

After a recent forum, Sigurdson said he needed to take some time to decide whether he’ll proceed with the plan.

Word that his name was brought up in the post is a surprise to Lake.

He said he has no idea where it came from and and maintained it’s not true.

“I think it’s totally ridiculous,” he said.

While KTW came across the message on Thursday morning, the message was sent to various media outlets Friday by Ruth Madsen, chairwoman of Thompson Institute of Environmental Studies and a vocal opponent of the ACC.

Lake questioned how Madsen got a hold of the message.

Madsen would only tell KTW she received the message from a fellow opponent of the ACC plan who is also a Facebook friend of McQuarrie.

“It seems quite ridiculous and a bit of a bullying tactic to me,” Lake said of Madsen’s decision to distribute the message.

He does acknowledge that he has been working with the ISIC, the ACC and ministry to find another community to put the project.

Lake added he has never been given or taken any marching orders from Victoria.

Madsen, who is currently in California, said she consulted a lawyer before distributing the message.

“We found it really shocking,” she said of the message. “I would not have believed it. If I’m to believe that was written by him, and who knows if it was him or not, i don’t want to believe things are that bad.

“If that was written by him and the facts are true, then things in B.C. are worse than we thought.”

In January, the ACC was issued an air-discharge permit by the Ministry of Environment to allow the Manitoba-based company to operate a gasification facility, where creosote-treated railway ties would be chipped and incinerated as part of an energy-creation facility.

But the plan has ignited a flurry of opposition from the public and local politicians.

THE FACEBOOK MESSAGE:

Hi Kim:

Just got the thumbs up call from Victoria with no suggestions or changes to the press release. Also just talked with Terry and reminded him that he’s

not to mention any of the possible locations and we simply talk about the great science and technology. He’s been giving his marching orders from above and has his lines memorized.

On the permit front, your current one remains valid as you actually haven’t moved. When a new location is selected you resubmit for approval of that location and as Terry put it, “As long as it isn’t down in the Fraser Valley, you’ll be fine.” That being said and the hammer you continue to hold is your permit for Kamloops, so you still hold the card that can come back to bite Kamloops politicians.

Bill

Capital Power has announced it will no longer receive creosote-soaked rail tie chips at its Williams Lake facility.

The City says that during the past number of weeks, members of the public have raised concerns with respect to the chipping and storage of creosote rail ties adjacent to the downtown core and the subsequent burning of the chipped material at the Capital Power Plant.

CN Rail has been storing and chipping rail ties directly behind the Station House Gallery at the foot of Oliver Street for a number of years.

However, the volume of chips stored on the site has a seen a significant increase in recent months.

Concerns with respect to the CN rail tie disposal activities include: potential health risks from airborne creosote and associated chemicals resulting from the chipping and storage of chops in proximity to the downtown, potential for fire and associated smoke hazards due to the volume and location of the chip piles, and potential health threats associated with the burning of creosote soaked wood in the Power Plant.

City staff have been investigating the concerns and have been in communication with the Ministry of Environment, which permits emissions and monitors air quality; BC Rail which, owns the property on which the ties are chipped and stored; and Capital Power, which is burning the chips in their co-generation power plant.

In response to the concerns raised by members of the community, Capital Power has announced it will immediately stop receiving creosote-soaked rail tie chips in its Williams Lake facility.

The chips in question account for approximately 4 per cent of its fibre supply so there is no impact to Capital Power’s operation as a result of this decision.

The Williams Lake Fire Department has identified BC Fire Code non-compliance in relation to the location of the chip piles on the site near Station House Gallery and will be taking appropriate action.

Cariboo Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett, Mayor Kerry Cook and the City’s chief administrative officer Brian Carruthers toured the Capital Power Plant on March 18 to better understand the operation and the impact of burning chipped rail ties.

“We had a very informative tour of their operation and I feel that Capital Power has taken a responsible approach to this issue,” Cook says.

March 19,2010

By MEL ROTHENBURGER
Editor, The Daily News

A plan to process waste railway ties in a Mission Flats cogeneration plant is dead.

Kim Sigurdson, president of Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp., said Thursday night the company has decided to pull the plug on plans for installing two gasification units at its leased site, and will start looking around for other possible locations.

While several factors led to the decision, Sigurdson told The Daily News a public forum on the issue last week had a “profound” effect on him.

“We heard what the people were saying, and we decided to follow through and find another location,” he said after issuing a formal announcement.

More than 500 people showed up at a Kamloops Chamber of Commerce forum a week ago, and most made it clear they didn’t want the plant located here. Sigurdson said after the forum he would reconsider ACC’s plans and shareholders would make a decision within a week or two.

Sigurdson said he still hopes to get access to development money promised last year by the provincial Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) fund, which MLAs Terry Lake and Kevin Krueger tried to scuttle due to what they viewed as a lack of public consultation.

“We’re going to work with our friends within the B.C. government and try to find a place that would be suitable for this technology,” he said, adding that he has been working on options behind the scenes for the past several weeks.

“We’re going to have to see how that (ICE funding) works. If we stay in B.C. we should be eligible,” said Sigurdson.

Lake, calling ACC’s decision “a good thing,” said the company will have to go through a consultation process wherever it locates, but he’s willing to work with Sigurdson to find a suitable location.

“I guess I’ve been wondering whether he would do that or not (leave Kamloops) but given the amount of controversy it’s not surprising,” Lake said on hearing the news. It’s “hard to tell” where the plant might go, he said, and because of the controversy here “it might be a bit of challenge” but there may be other communities that are interested.

While Sigurdson doesn’t know where the plant might end up, he said he wants to keep it in the province.

The decision, arrived at over the past two days, was a difficult one, he said. “It was a really tough decision. We fought long and hard.”

He expects the air emissions permit issued by the Ministry of Environment will travel with the company, but will require amendments depending on where the plant is constructed.

Chipping of waste ties at the Mission Flats site won’t be resumed, he said. “We’re pulling right out of Kamloops.”

He wouldn’t speculate on what might happen with an appeal against his permit filed by local resident Ruth Madsen. That appeal has not yet been accepted for a hearing by the B.C. Environmental Appeal board.

Madsen could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

Sigurdson said the controversy in Kamloops has delayed ACC’s plans by six to eight months, and has cost “hundreds of thousands” of dollars that can’t be recouped. “It’s going to be painful, that’s for sure.”

Lorna Williams, who, with her husband Mike, was instrumental in generating the initial protest against ACC, and in forming the now inactive Save Kamloops lobby group, was taken by surprise at the announcement.

“I’m pleased to hear that,” she said, but “sad that another community could end up with it.” She said the announcement needs to “sink in” before opponents of the project decide what to do next.

Summing up his feelings about the end result of his efforts to locate in Kamloops, Sigurdson said, “I’m not very happy about this. You can tell it in my voice — I’m not a happy camper.

“Who could ever have seen this is the way it would play out.”

March 20,2010

By CAM FORTEMS
Daily News Staff Reporter

The woman appealing ACC’s pollution permit circulated a supposed Facebook message Friday alleging the B.C. Liberal government is helping the corporation move its gasifier elswhere.

But the supposed author, Interior Science and Innovation Council executive director Bill McQuarrie, denied he wrote the message, calling it a fake.
“I’ve never used Facebook for any business purposes,” he said.

“Why would you write a client on Facebook?” McQuarrie asked rhetorically. “It’s a career killer for me. If I was going to write that, I would probably have written my letter of resignation shortly before.”

He said he will try to trace the origin of the message that appeared briefly on his Facebook page Thursday but it might be difficult. “There may be a way to trace it.”

He questioned why permit appellant Ruth Madsen would simply start telling media about the purported memo without checking the facts. “Why do that without the courtesy of a call.”

The latest controversy surfaced less than a day after Aboriginal Cogeneration president Kim Sigurdson announced he is abandoning a proposal to gasify creosote railway ties at Mission Flats due to public opposition. It has all permits needed to operate.

The message circulated to reporters by Madsen – posted to McQuarrie’s Facebook account for about two hours Thursday – is addressed to “Kim” and talks about next steps for Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp.’s proposal for a gasifier.

“Also just talked with Terry and reminded him that he’s not to mention any of the possible locations and we simply talk about the great science and technology. He’s been given his marching orders from above.”

Contacted Friday, Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake said he’s never seen the message. He laughed off suggestions he’s taking “marching orders from above” or “memorizing lines” as alleged in the memo.

“What I’ve said is I’d be happy to work with him (Sigurdson) to look at alternative locations. I’ve had people in other communities express some interest in looking at this project,” he said, declining to name them.

The message also seems to imply that Lake told McQuarrie a gasification permit will be approved elsewhere and OK’d by government “as long as it isn’t down in the Fraser Valley….”

“I never talked to Kim Sigurdson saying ‘as long as it’s not in the Fraser Valley,’” Lake replied in an interview after Madsen sent out the message.
“It’s crazy.”

Madsen said she believes the message is real and it “raises questions.

“Is Bill McQuarrie right that Terry Lake has ‘marching orders from the top’ and ‘has his lines memorized?’” she wrote in a press release.

“If so, who is representing the interests of Kamloops residents? Is the B.C. government really reviewing and signing off on company press releases? Why do the residents of Kamloops get less protection than the people of the Fraser Valley?”

McQuarrie called the Faceback accusation “devastating, just devastating,” adding, ”It has the potential to destroy a relationship with the Province and with Terry (Lake).”

If it’s a gag, he said, “I’m not laughing.”

Jason Bourgeois, the regional manager in Kamloops who approved the ACC permit, said the permit remains in place until the company notifies the Ministry of Environment it is abandoning its plans here.

If the corporation wants to locate its gasifier elsewhere in B.C. “the simple answer is he needs a new permit for a new location,” Bourgeois said.

Much of the permit application work used for Kamloops – engineering and pilot testing in North Dakota – could be used elsewhere, Bourgeois said.

But it would require new notification, public consultation and a new study on localized meteorological conditions at another site.

“If it were rural or far from homes, it wouldn’t be an issue.”

Bourgeois said because the permit remains in place he assumes the B.C. Environmental Appeal Board will continue to consider Madsen’s application to have the permit overturned.

Sigurdson could not be reached for comment Friday night.

cfortems@kamloopsnews.ca