Canfor Pulp Says Odour Fix In The Works

Thursday, October 15, 2009 01:57 PM

Prince George, B.C.- Canfor Pulp’s Limited Partnership says the $122 million dollars worth of credits it has received from the Federal government’s Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program will go towards projects aimed at improving air quality in Prince George. “ We have a whole basket of projects that we’ve been looking at through our strategic planning process” says Martin Pudlas, General Manager of the P.G. Pulp and Intercontinental Pulp mills in Prince George. “At this point, we’re at the feasibility engineering stage and we’re getting cost estimates together so we have a number of projects that we’re going to evaluate and we’ll make a decision on which ones we are going to proceed with based on the benefits.”

Pudlas says Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership has been doing an odour study with Paprican (Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada) “We have been able to pin point the source in the Prince George Pulp mill where a significant part of the odour issue is coming from, so we’re engineering a fix for that.” He says there are other projects under discussion as well “Were looking at our biomass burning boilers and upgrading the precipitator systems we have on those boilers as an example of a particulate reduction project.”

Pudlas says the funding from the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program is a win-win for everyone “Obviously Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership is a winner because we have $122.2 million dollars that we can put into advancements in our facilities, it will make the longevity of our facilities better, it will improve the efficiencies of our facilities and for the folks that live in the communities, a large part of those monies are going to go to improving our environment systems, so the Airshed will be significantly improved through this.”

The time line for completion of those projects has not been determined.

Just this morning, the People’s Action Committee for Healthy Air (PACHA) released the results of the first “bucket brigade” air sampling. Chemical analysis of two samples taken in the Patricia Boulevard area of the City showed very high levels of a chemical found in glues, lacquers and varnishes. While there is information on the health impacts to those who intentionally sniff these products to get high, local Paediatrician, Dr. Marie Hay, says there is little information available on the impacts of having breathed this chemical in on a daily basis.

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Posted on Thursday, October 15, 2009 01:57 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: hammmy on October 15 2009 5:18 PM

Maybe there going to pump out febreze and cover it up that way....Hey you never know!

Posted by: metalman on October 15 2009 5:38 PM

A good news story. Make a note of it, these things are rare!
metalman.

Posted by: Bridget on October 15 2009 6:07 PM

Finally! Industry taking responsibility for cleaning up pollution. This is great news. Thank you to PACHA, MACC and the Bucket Brigade for putting the pressure on Canfor to step up to the plate.

Posted by: The Real Moses on October 15 2009 6:39 PM

Thank you Canfor and PAPRICAN for taking the initiative to pinpoint the odour source.

Posted by: mdhay on October 15 2009 7:43 PM

The Paprican odour study was completed early last year 2008.
My understanding is that this study has never been made public by Canfor, despite PACHA request for this to be done.
It would be a tremendous sign of good faith and a good neighbourly gesture if Canfor were to release a complete copy of the Paprican study to us all.This might help us know what we have been breathing in over these past 40 years.

Posted by: Green on October 15 2009 8:06 PM

This is great news that industry is moving forward and addressing this issue. There were many in the community that thought that Canfor was in denial about the problem but now the money is here and the improvements will be beginning. It will benefit us all! Thanks Canfor for working on a solution

Posted by: MiddleGround on October 15 2009 9:09 PM

Canfor is going to be improving both the odour and the amount of particulate going into our air.

Surely, people can celebrate that!

Let's give Canfor some positive feed back for making some huge improvements.

As my mother use to say, you catch more flys with honey then vinegar. Maybe if we take this approach they'll do even more.

Posted by: NMG on October 15 2009 9:11 PM

I agree that this is great news, however, I'm also convinced that were it not for PACHA and the relatively recent (recent as in the last few years as opposed to the "we have to put up with it" attitude of the past) and continued pressure from the community to clean up our airshed, these improvements would not be occuring.

I think we owe ourselves in PG a BIG pat on the back for making enough noise about this issue that hopefully we'll finally start seeing some progress. I also think it's important to keep the pressure up and do what we can to see even great improvements to the environment that we have to live in.

Posted by: Denaljo on October 15 2009 9:19 PM

Congrats Canfor - it took only 40 years and some corporate welfare to get you all on board!!! Anybody notice the foamy slime coming down the Fraser lately? Thanks again Canfor for using the rivers as your toiletbowl! Does anybody know if the fisheries still put out warnings about eating the dioxin laden fish here?

Posted by: Eagleone on October 16 2009 5:52 AM

This will do little to solve PG's air problems... the Huskey refinery is the source of the smell and particulates... one only has to drive within a half mile of it to know that. Horrible location if ever there was one for an oil refinery.

Posted by: Maverick on October 16 2009 7:13 AM

Glues, lacquers and varnishes, Thats funny, none of those are used in any form of pulp or paper production.

Posted by: mdhay on October 16 2009 9:33 AM

Toluene and MEK are chemicals found in glues and lacquers ......and these same chemicals are released in the "cooking process" in the mills when chemicals are used to breakdown "lignine in the wood". These toxic chemicals ...with many others, are then dumped into the PG airshed.
The mills are also allowed to dump 2 kilos of particulates into our airshed, per every one tonne of production material. In European Union mills,they are only allowed to dump O.2 kgs per tonne of production into the airshed.In South Africa ( a third world country not supposedly advanced as us in Canada) they do not allow mills to be built within 40 kilometers of populated areas.
There is modern technology readily available which would allow PG mills to clean up their act. If only they would be good neighbours and do so.
They now have $122 million dollars (from our taxes) to pay to do this. There can be no more excuses. Forty years is long enough.

Posted by: CaringSoul on October 16 2009 10:52 AM

Surely, people can celebrate that!

Let's give Canfor some positive feed back for making some huge improvements.

Roflmao what else are they going to say when 122 million dollars of tax payer money has just been deposited into their bank accout. I will hold on to my positive feed back when they actually do something!
At this point I see it as just Bla Bla.

Posted by: Resident on October 16 2009 9:47 PM

Canfor announces spending money to clean up air emissions. Bucket brigade finds toxic chemicals in PG air. Coincidence?

Posted by: GoodCitizen on October 18 2009 10:21 AM

Dr Hay. That's only the white folks that can't live within 40 miles of industry. It's OK for the blacks - yup they're a better country.