Here's a thought. And I'd like to hear your thoughts - pro & con. We have 3 Pulp Mills operating in PG, and we have a serious air quality issue which has a lot to do with our geography, and the amount of industry crammed into the bowl area. Mackenzie has great air, and a pulp mill that is idling. What would it take to close one mill here and re-open the mill in Mackenzie? How many jobs would that affect here / Mackenzie. How many of the lost jobs in Mackenzie were held by PG residents? I know quite a few guys commuted to Mac to work there. No matter what best possible technology there is to clean up emissions, we have to accept that there will be some pollution, and if we concentrate industry into one locale, then we have the potential for the "overdose" of pollution like we have in PG. Perhaps the concept of super-mills and large industrial centers is not so beneficial after all. I admit that closing one mill in PG, and re-opening one in Mac may not be practical, but on the surface, one would think that it would curb the emmissions by Pulp Mills in PG by 30%, which is pretty close to the 40% target set by the province. I know the Pulp Mills are not the only contributor, but they get picked on, because they are the stinky ones.

Another thought for discussion.

Burning dead trees is carbon nuetral. OK, whether we burn the tree now and capture some value in bio energy. Or we let it rot in the wild over the next 20 years, it will release the same amount of CO2. But what about the time factor. Burning the tree releases all the carbon immediately, thus the short term rate of CO2 emission is quite high. After all the dead trees are burned, will our demand for energy be less? Or will we revert back to Fossil fuels, or start burning living trees to maintain status quo? I just wonder if the same argument would fly if we were to burst the Kenney Dam. All that water is going to flow down the Nechako anyway, sooner or later, might as well get it over with now...

Am I missing some important piece in my logic. Can someone enlighten me?

Quickly, a response to your first thought:

1. Canfor does not own any pulp mills in Mackenzie, and I don't think they want to in the future, so who would open the pulp mill.
2. There are no sawmills open in Mackenzie, so where would the chips come from? Please don't argue they should "open the sawmill in Mackenzie" because the fibre cost is currently too high, which is why all the sawmills are currently closed.

I realize that Canfor doesn't own the idling mill in Mac. But, perhaps they could, if it was made attractive to them.
Lots of fibre ( not currently from the sawmils, but available through portable, on site chipping/grinding operations that are already happening here in PG. Workforce available. The government is handing out money to keep jobs going. Why not help Canfor with some "moving expenses" and help them buy the Mackenzie mill, if they will close one here. ( would this fit into the "offset" idea that the Liberals are proposing ?)

I'm not trying to shut down PG..not at all. But in the long term, for PG to be viable, we have to spread the industry around, and outside of the bowl. New industrial parks outside the bowl, and old industry eventually needs to move from the bowl.

Part of the reason the mill is in financial crisis is because it has been so poorly maintained over the years that all the equipment is in poor operating condition and needs some MAJOR money to fix it.

The 3 pulpmills in PG have been here for 45 years. Why should they have to pack up and leave?

We need industry, but not at the expense of our health.
Why should individuals who live here not have the right to breath good air. We live in the most beautiful part of the world, in the middle of a huge forest, in a sparsely populated area, yet our air is less than desirable, in fact it's deadly ( 30 people died directly linked to outtdoor air quality in PG) The purpose of my discussion item is to try to provoke thought and conversation on how to balance both industry and a healthy environment...and maybe the two are not opposing ideas. A point was brought up at the PACHA AGM that Port Alberni cleaned up a lot of its pulp mill pollution problem 18 years ago, and they still operate, plus employ technicians who maintain and monitor emissions.

Prohibiting future industry from setting up shop in the bowl, is a good idea, but that will only maintain the status quo. To make things better, either industry will have to change it's practices significantly, or move to locations better suited for dispersing the pollutants.
Or a third option...the sick and dying "bleeding hearts" ( some of whom have also been here for 45 years or more...) can just move away...maybe to Mackenzie :-)

Yup, there was a guy on the local TV news last night who said he moved up to the Hart because of health problems with his son and the air quality. Good for him because the pulp mills aren't moving. Canfor has spent many millions of dollars on the 3 PG mills to make them super efficient.

Mythoughts, I had a similar attitude toward the whole situation. Growing up in PG, we called it the smell of money, and we'd breath it in and smile, because that's what kept PG going. But then my kids got sick, and I got sick, and lots of people I knew were having respiratory problems. When you stay up all night with your baby who is gasping for air...you think differently about what you breathe, and how precious life and good health is. Can't put a price tag on that.

30 people died directly linked to outtdoor air quality in PG


This statement can not be quantified. Most people die "with respiretory problems" because of advanced age, obesity,and lifestyle's. Sometimes the toxin's that affect children are in the home. An unhappy home, perhaps due to finance problems, power struggles, and the crap that is offered as healthy food all affect a childs well being. As this asthmatic knows the majority of breathing problems come from mental stress!