1 February 2010
This is Unacceptable
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Gene McDonnell holds a sign outside Kamloops City Hall Saturday during the Save Kamloops rally. The
demonstration was in opposition to a proposed gasification plant hat would burn creosote-soaked rail ties.
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Kamloops British Columbia - There are few if any good places in the world to build a creosote
gasification plant, and Kamloops certainly isn't one of them.
That was the message a pair of university professors delivered to more than 250 people Sunday afternoon at a public forum addressing health issues related to
a gasification project in the city.
It was received with thunderous applause from the crowd, many of whom attended a related rally and march from city hall to Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry
Lake's office the day before.
"This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated," Douw Steyn of the University of B.C. said of the gasification project.
Steyn, an air pollution specialist in atmospheric sciences, and Thompson Rivers University nursing instructor Penny Powers, spoke for about an hour in the
university's Alumni Theatre on Sunday.
Steyn focused on air quality in Kamloops while Powers talked about the health risks of burning creosote.
Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp. received a permit this month from the Ministry of Environment allowing it to operate a demonstration gasification plant that
will use a gasifier and combustion engine to create two megawatts of electricity from railway ties.
The proposal has come under fire from opponents, who have banded under the Save Kamloops moniker. They say the province is allowing testing of technology in
a valley where it is not suited or wanted.
Steyn and Powers said people should be outraged that the province approved the plan after City council turned it down.
Steyn said Kamloops already has poor air quality caused by wood, vehicle, and industrial emissions. Pollutants are frequently trapped in the valley bottom
due to atmospheric inversion.
The City should have developed an air quality management plan years ago and must do so now before conditions worsen, he said.
"From an air quality perspective, you should absolutely not consider (the plant)," said Steyn, adding any energy produced by the project is not
worth the risk.
"You do not use the energy you gain as justification for the incinerator. That's putting the cart way before the horse," he said.
Powers said even dust particles created when creosote-laden railway ties are sawed up prior to burning are bad.
The particles are suspended in the air for long periods of time, travel great distances and, when inhaled, cause a variety of ailments including lung cancer
and asthma, she said.
And the toxic by-products created after ties are burned are never destroyed, said Powers. They stay in the air, collect on water, or end up in the sewer.
"Such a facility is quite a danger to the people of Kamloops and other regions," she said. To make matters worse, there is no way to monitor the
plant to make sure it is operating properly.
Councillors Denis Walsh and Nancy Bepple attended the forum and were present at Saturday's rally and march, which as many as 800 people participated in.
The group met in front of city hall at 10:30 a.m. and were escorted by police to Lake's office on the 600 block of Tranquille Road. RCMP blocked off that
section of street so the rally could continue safely.
Anita Strong took part in the event. She said the large turnout speaks to how strongly the issue has resonated in Kamloops.
"It's definitely an issue that touches everyone in the community and everyone is passionate about," she said.
A number of people spoke at Lake's office. Strong said each speaker had the same concerns.
"The absolute big thing is health. They don't want to live here and breathe these toxins."
Jason Hewlett.
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