Archive for September, 2009

It’s Not  Over!

Kamloops city council unanimously rejected the proposal for this plant.  However,  the provincial government could still let this project go ahead!

At this point we need your HELP. We are at a very important point in our battle and know this is far more than a local issue; it is regional, if not provincial. When we win here, we have little doubt that Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp will be trying to place this facility somewhere in the region. It is vital that our elected representatives along with the Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp (whose contact information is listed in the links below) receive letters from EVERYONE! It does not matter where you live. Everyone who enjoys this area, whether year round or just for a few days, needs to speak out now!

Please email them at the links below to register your objection.

Date ______________

Dear ______________,

I appeal to you to use your authority to stop the Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation (ACC) from building a pilot project to burn 500 /creosote-laden ties /day in Kamloops.

Kamloops Mayor and City council listened to the people and unanimously rejected the proposal for this plant on Sept 1st 2009.

To test demonstration Gasification plant in a city of 85,000 people in an area with air dispersion challenges beside an important downstream drinking water source and a threatened Class ‘A’ salmon run makes no sense.

Creosote contains five major classes of harmful chemical compounds, including benzene, known to cause cancer, aromatic hydrocarbons, probable cancer-causers known to leach into groundwater and persist in the environment for 80 years or more, and can form potently deadly nano particles like dioxins and furans.

For this reason, the Canadian government added creosote-impregnated waste materials (CIWM) to its Priority Substances List, and Kamloops city council unanimously opposed the project.

We want to keep our river, air and community healthy. Please help us.

I look forward to a prompt reply.

Name: ________________________________
(Please print.)

Address: _____________________________

______________________________

Signature: _____________________________

Click here to email all contacts below at once

Click here to email all the contacts below

Minister of Environment
Barry Penner env.minister@gov.bc.ca
PO Box 9047
STN PROV GOVT
Victoria BC
V8W 9E2

Ministry of Environment – Environmental Management Section Head (Kamloops)
Jason Bourgeois Jason.Bourgeois@gov.bc.ca
1259 Dalhousie Drive
Kamloops, BC
V2C 5Z5

Ministry of Environment – Regional Manager (Kamloops)
Rick Adams Rick.P.Adams@gov.bc.ca
1259 Dalhousie Drive
Kamloops, BC
V2C 5Z5

Kamloops MLA’s
Kevin Krueger kevin.krueger.mla@leg.bc.ca
9 – 111 Oriole Road
Kamloops, BC
V2C 4N6
Terry Lake terry.lake.mla@leg.bc.ca
618-B Tranquille Road
Kamloops, BC
V2B 3H6

Kamloops Mayor and Coucil
Peter Milobar Mayor@kamloops.ca
Denis Walsh DWalsh@kamloops.ca
John Decicco Jdecicco@kamloops.ca
Jim Harker Jharker@kamloops.ca
John Ofee Jofee@kamloops.ca
Marg Spina MSpina@kamloops.ca
Nancy Bepple NBepple@kamloops.ca
Pat Wallace Pwallace@kamloops.ca
7 Victoria Street West
Kamloops, BC
V2C 1A2

Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp – Founder Kim Sigurdson
originalaboriginal@shaw.ca
7 Bingham Drive
Winnipeg, MN
R3R 2W8

Reply from the writer of this article about ACC and Kamloops Test

http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2923

Thank you for your interest in the article. No communities are
currently using the technology. Kamloops will be the first location to
operate the system with the EERC’s railroad tie gasification
technology.

Lisa Gibson

Associate Editor

Biomass Magazine

Phone: (701) 738-4952

www.bbiinternational.com

By ROBERT KOOPMANS
Daily News Staff Reporter

September 2, 2009

Kamloops – Loud applause greeted City council’s unanimous decision Tuesday to oppose a Manitoba’s company’s proposal to burn creosote-laden ties in Kamloops.

Council voted to send a letter of opposition to the Ministry of Environment after a lengthy discussion, and information from several speakers.

“There is a host of unanswered questions about our air shed,” said Coun. Jim Harker, adding he was swamped by e-mails from concerned residents about this proposal.

“We must have the best interests of Kamloops at heart.”

The Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp., a Manitoba company, has applied to the environment ministry to burn creosote-laden railway ties at a Mission Flats site.

ACC wants to begin operation of two gasifiers in 2010 that would convert 500 railway ties a day into electricity for sale to B.C. Hydro.

A large crowd packed council chambers to signal their opposition to the project. The group started outside City Hall earlier in the afternoon with a rally. They could be heard singing and chanting as council worked through other matters.

Inside chambers, the group applauded those who spoke against the ACC proposal, including Paul Connett, a professor emeritus at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York. Connett also spoke at a public rally at TRU Monday.

He questioned the appropriateness of setting up such a plant in the midst of an urban centre.

“The whole thing is preposterous. This air shed is already overburdened,” said Connett, adding he would not even support a plant that burns clean wood to produce electricity in a setting like Kamloops.

Before council voted, ministry representatives Jason Bourgeois and Ralph Adams said the process of deciding whether ACC will get its permit has just begun.

Much work needs to be done to assess whether ACC’s claims regarding the efficiency of the burning process and the levels of emissions are supported by evidence.

Many factors will be considered, said Adams, including “contingencies” like the possibility of an uncontrolled fire in piles of stored ties and the impact that could have on air quality.

He would not deal with specifics of ACC’s proposal because it has not yet been closely examined, but said the ministry has tremendous freedom to regulate operations.

David Duckworth, the City’s director of public utilities, signed off on a report to council indicating staff had no concerns with ACC’s technical information, as long as several conditions are met.

Duckworth’s report says those conditions should include:

• the need for daily air quality monitoring

• the need for data to demonstrate that solid and liquid wastes from the Mission Flats site will meet the City’s standards

• that a contingency disposal plan be developed as well as mitigation procedures to minimize emissions from chipping of the ties before burning.

But councillors all said there are too many unknowns and too many concerns to support this proposal, even at this early stage.

“I’m not prepared to have any more pollution than we already have,” Coun. Tina Lange said.

“Not enough concerns have been answered,” added Coun. John O’Fee.

Mayor Peter Milobar also said he is worried about the solid and liquid wastes that the ACC plant could produce — waste the City would be required to accept in its landfill and sanitary sewer system.

Lange cautioned the jubilant crowd that the City’s opposition might not mean much, as it will be the provincial government that will ultimately decide whether to issue the permit. She urged everyone to send their own letters of objection to the Ministry of Environment.

Coun. Denis Walsh wondered how it was possible ACC could make this application with virtually no one being aware it was in the works.

“The public should know about these things,” he said.

rkoopmans@kamloopsnews.ca

A SHOW OF SOLIDARITY ON THE PART OF CITY RESIDENTS HAS CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF CITY COUNCIL. ALMOST 200 SHOWED UP AT CITY HALL YESTERDAY – OPPOSING AN APPLICATION BY ABORIGINAL COGENERATION CORPORATION TO INCINERATE CREOSOTE-SOAKED RAILWAY TIES FOR ENERGY PRODUCTION. ONE OF THE SPEAKERS – TRU PROFESSOR DEREK COOK – SAYS REGARDLESS OF THE SCIENCE, EVEN THE OPTICS OF ALLOWING THE PROJECT ARE NOT GOOD. WHEN IT CAME TO A VOTE, NOT ONE PERSON ON COUNCIL CAME OUT IN FAVOUR OF THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT ISSUING AN AIR PERMIT FOR THE BUSINESS. THE CITY WILL SEND A LETTER TO THE M.O.E. TO THAT EFFECT. COUNCILOR JOHN DE CICCO SAYS THE RESPONSE FROM THE PUBLIC WAS OVERWHELMING. ANGELA FERGUSON WAS ONE OF THE MANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC CONCERNED ABOUT THE A.C.C. PROPOSAL. BUT SHE BREATHED A SIGH OF RELIEF AFTER THE VOTE WAS TAKEN. REGARDLESS OF THE COUNCIL VOTE, THE PROVINCE MAY STILL GRANT A.C.C. A PERMIT. IF THAT’S THE CASE – AND IF THE COMPANY ABIDES BY THE CITY’S LIQUID WASTE AND SOLID WASTE REGULATIONS – THE PUBLIC HAS LITTLE RECOURSE.

Supporters write emails,letters, cards to Kamloops Mayor and Council members to say  thank you!.

They all deserve it.

They need a pat on the back for making the right decision.

City Hall
7 Victoria Street West
Kamloops, BC V2C 1A2
Phone: (250) 828-3311

Peter Milobar Mayor@kamloops.ca
Tina Lange Tlange@kamloops.ca
Denis Walsh DWalsh@kamloops.ca
John Decicco Jdecicco@kamloops.ca
Jim Harker Jharker@kamloops.ca
John Ofee Jofee@kamloops.ca
Marg Spina MSpina@kamloops.ca
Nancy Bepple NBepple@kamloops.ca
Pat Wallace Pwallace@kamloops.ca