Ness Lake Residents Speak Out Against Biocarbon Plant
By 250 News
Friday, April 08, 2011 04:00 AM
Electoral Area "A" Director Warren Wilson, Alterna Energy's Leonard Legault, Terry McEachen and Maureen Bilawchuck prepare to address gathering at Ness Lake Community Hall
Ness Lake, B.C. – It was a packed house at the Ness Lake Community Hall last night as residents turned out to hear more about a project they are concerned will impact their air quality and quality of life.
The project, Alterna Biocarbon/biochar, is to be built near Isle Pierre. That’s about 15 kms south of Ness Lake on the south side of the Nechako River. While they are in different districts under the Regional District of Fraser Fort George umbrella, Ness Lake residents are concerned about air quality issues because the wind knows no barriers.
Warren Wilson, the Electoral Area “A” Director with the Regional District of Fraser Fort George, arranged to have an information meeting at the Ness Lake community hall, “I wanted the residents to hear from the company and from the Ministry of the Environment because there were all sorts of rumours going around.”
Those rumours included talk that the Alterna plant would be burning railway ties, or household waste, neither are true “I won’t be burning tires, I won’t be burning railway ties, the plant will burn wood waste” says Leonard Legault of Alterna Energy.
Still, more than one resident expressed concern about the plant burning railway ties “20 years down the road if they want to burn railway ties will the public have a say?” asked one man. Although the Ministry of the Environment tried to assure residents that railway ties are not part of the plan, it was a theme that kept resurfacing. “When the building is built, and there is money invested, and jobs on the line, and the company says it wants to start burning railway ties, or treated wood, there’s a momentum and it’s that incremental creep that we are worried about.”
“That’s why we’re here tonight to dispel all the incorrect rumours,” said Terry McEachen, a planner with the Regional District of Fraser Fort George. “Even though we don’t have all the answers, we thought it would be better to come here and talk than to let the rumours continue.”
For the residents of Ness Lake, the issue is simple, what will be the impact of emissions from the project to be built on the opposite side of the Nechako River?
( at right, it was a full house at the Ness Lake Community Hall)
Alterna spokesman, Leonard Legault, can’t give those answers just yet. He says he got into the biocarbon business because he sees himself as a small “e” environmentalist. This process uses woody biomass to create a higher energy pellet which could be used in operations which traditionally use coal. Legault says a research and development operation near McBride resulted in any volatile compounds being captured and combusted to generate heat for drying and other uses. “The emissions are particulate, and our emissions are far below provincial limits.” Some preliminary testing from the test plant in McBride indicates emissions would be 20 milligrams per cubic meter however the full technical reports are not yet ready and will be part of the application.
The property for this project went through a rezoning process last year, but many in Ness Lake felt they weren’t informed because the plant is in a different electoral District ( Electoral District C). The property is directly south of the Isle Pierre sawmill in an area zoned for heavy industrial use. Terry McEachen of the Regional District’s Planning department says the legal requirement to notify residents about a rezoning calls for notification within 200 meters, but they sent notices out from the Nechako River to Highway 16 ”We didn’t go across to the other side of the river, fair enough” says McEachen.
Ministry of the Environment spokesperson, Maureen Bilawchuck says all the work up to this point with rezoning and preliminary engineering, all happens before the project comes to the Ministry. She explained how the permitting process involves about 6 different steps which includes a technical report on “The things that go in, and what things are going out to the environment, out into the air , out to the water and out to the land.”
To this date, Alterna hasn’t submitted a formal application to the Ministry of the Environment for the plant “There have been lots of discussions with my staff, but so far, there has been no official application filed” says Bilawchuck. She pointed out that once an application has been filed, there will need to be public consultation and the results from that process will be part of the application process “That’s when you ( the public) have a chance to submit comments and concerns. When a decision is made, if it’s no, it’s an absolute no. But if it is yes, the proponent may not get everything they want.” There is also a process to allow for an appeal of the decision.
Residents expressed frustration over not having details of how much particulate will be emitted “I’m hearing blah blah blah, and nothing about the details” said one resident.
Residents also expressed concerns about the rezoning process, “Any west wind, south wind, and we are the ones who are affected by it” said one resident. The Regional District’s Terry McEachen took the heat for the Regional District for not doing a better job about letting people know what was going on “I guess we could apologize for not going far enough, (with public notification) on the other hand, we did have some technical back ground which showed the impact wouldn’t be felt by people so far away.”
Another called on the Regional District to “Act on behalf of the residents and the environment and not on behalf of industry.”
This won’t be the only public meeting that Alterna will have to attend. Once the application has been filed, there will be requirements for public consultation, and Ministry of Environment’s Maureen Bilawchuck says with the significant turnout at the Ness Lake meeting she would likely request that the area to be consulted should be expanded to include the Ness Lake region.
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Posted by: mythoughts on April 8 2011 7:56 AM
We have three pulp mills that were built on a promise of creating no smell. We have nuclear plants in Japan that could not fail. We have oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico that cannot blow. Now we have a proposal for a mill that will create no noxious effluent.
No mention was made in the meeting of water use or liquid discharges although it was no accident that it is to be placed near the banks of the Nechako River upstream of Prince George.
And finally, it was revealed that concrete is already being poured for foundations. Once money is invested, have we any chance of stopping this project?