19 March 2010

ACC Pulls Plug on Plant

Kamloops British Columbia - 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."
 
Mel Rothenburger.