Bye, bye some more jobs. Maybe we can get a job at the MoE to watch the last of the jobs dwindle away.

Or maybe Old Man Time will catch up to the feeble ones on the PACHA and make them dust before the last job is gone!

Is there any reason why the pellet plant can't stay out on the willowcale road and expand/improve the facility there? That seems like the most reasonable solution.

You know, there are ways of dealing with the emissions. They do not have to discharge pollutants into the air. The technology exists, and is proven, to scrub the emissions, and there are many in use, mainly in parts of Western Europe, where they have learned to force industry to comply in order to preserve the health of the people. I believe it is time for us to adopt such policies. Industry and the environment CAN co-exist. These solutions cost money, it is expensive to set up, and they must also be maintained, which also costs money. Don't get me wrong, businesses must remain profitable or else they cannot support us. I just think that we should be looking forward, beyond todays profits, to a future where we can work and be healthy too. This race to be the cheapest and to make the most amount of money as soon as possible is very short sighted, call it greed.
metalman.

“PACHA …. wants to know why the CIty has issued a development permit, and the construction has started even though the Ministry of the Environment has not yet issued a permit outlining the emission limits.”

Easy question. The City has nothing to do with environmental compliance, the same as the city has nothing to do with tax compliance, health compliance, criminal law compliance, etc.

The Ministry of Health can fine or shut down a restaurant if it does not comply with health regulations, the same as the MoE can fine or shut down a plant for non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations.

The real question is how long has the existing plant been in non-compliance, what sort of fines, if any has the ministry been issuing the operation, and how cooperative has the operation been with the ministry?

There is an Air Quality implementation group who has not been doing there work, it appears. There is a ministry responsible who has not been doing their work, it appears. There is a business operator who has not been acting in good faith in complying with the requirements of a permit, it appears.

Interestingly, this plant does not show up on the National Pollution Inventory as operating in this region. They should be, with the number given above. They fit right in there with the big ones and they are conveniently located south of the city so that the prevailing winds carry their chit right into the city. It is the industrial activity to the south of the BCR monitor that cause the BCR monitor to have the highest recordings of any monitor in the City. This plant, if we take the annual tonnage to be in the 6 times the permitted 60 tonnes level, is the highest emitter of PM in that part of town. In fact, they are likely exceeded only by the pulp mills.

And this from that clean, cannot do anything wrong, biofuel industry that we are supposed to get to rely on to be our saviour.

So, final question goes to the ministry of Environment. If this plant has been exceeding its emission permit by six fold, which other plants have been exceeding their permits? And, by the same token, which plants have been the good corporate citizens, and have not come close to putting the amount of PM or other controlled pollutants in the air?

I think the Ministry of Environment needs to report out such matters on a quarterly or annual basis, in a fashion similar to the Ministry of Health which keeps records of inspection reports on the internet available for all to see. This is a matter which concerns the public and needs to be transparent to the public.

Just think back of the types of postings we had with respect to the restaurant which was shut down in response to a few children getting sick, possibly as a result of undercooked or raw chicken. No one was concerned about jobs at the restaurant. Some were concerned about the owners because they were good people, which they are.

So why is this any different? If you say it is children that were involved. They still are. They breathe too. And in this case they are breathing the air polluted by a corporation that is not in compliance, the same as the restaurant was not in compliance.

The only difference is that we do not seem to care about increase in asthma as much as we care about a stomach upset.

I will be pursuing this matter, and I hope others will be too. Our system of compliance operations is under funded, so it is up to us to be the watchdogs. The system is complaint driven. And people on here wonder why so many are turning out to be complainers.

Keep up the good work PACHA. These type of issues need to brought to the public's attention.

As a very famous person is want to say...hee, hee

To answer Chickenbus's question.

The reason why they could not stay in their current location on the Willowcale was because CN would not give them a spur line at that location. At the current location they would truck the product to the spur line for loading onto rail cars. This involved more process and more cost. The new location eliminated that cost in a location that would facilitate long term spur line access. Airshed I wouldn’t think even factored into the decision.

The reasonable solution to a person with two lungs in College Heights is not necessarily the reasonable solution to an income statement of CN or the operational costs of a pallet plant.

IMO the only solution, and I have said this a number of times, is the ring road development with an industrial park in the Northeast.. Obviously transportation infrastructure is the key to where plants want to locate. Why not build transportation infrastructure where we want the pollution to go? If the wind blows Northeast, why not add industrial zone capacity out in the Northeast?

I figure PG gets the federal and provincial government to partner on a ring road facilitating industrial development and cleaning up of the Price George airshed. From the east of PG we should have a bi-pass option North to Salmon Valley going through the Shelly and Upper Fraser. This route could facilitate the CN infrastructure and vast delta lands across Fraser River from the pulp mills for the creation of a polluter plant industrial zone. Plants in this location would have vast lands of cheep flat land adjacent to rail spur line access. The industrial pollution blows away from town 90% of the time and people in PG become healthier.

The only important questions are:

How much are your lungs worth?

Are there other reasons why PG could need a ring road to the South-East-North?

How much has Prince George paid in federal gas taxes, and provincial resource royalties, and where is the return on investment in these taxes for future infrastructure needs as part of a coherent long term plan?

Where do we want future industrial infrastructure to be located if not in the bowl, and how could that work with todays current infrastructure (ie rail access)?
IE What if? What if PG saw the CN line through downtown closed and the Nechako liberated for tourism with industrial traffic going through Bear Lake-Fort StJames-Vanderhoof? Where should our future industrial infrastructure be located then, and is this compatible with our clean air desires? Win-win IMO.

PG is one huge funnel. We funnel all our industrial infrastructure and traffic right down to central street, and then look around and ask and point fingers as to why we have the misfortune of bad air quality with no one thinking about the elephant in the living room standing on our collective chest.

Hazardous goods travel along the By-Pass, Fifth Avenue, Carney Street and First Avenue. Not to mention CN.

Is this not the bowl or heart of the City? This exploitation of our valley keeps residents from enjoying the river and denies a vibrant downtown.

Surely it must be obvious.

What are these hazardous goods? Who knows? Do we have to have a tragedy before there can be political will to look after our safety?

Why aren't people asking questions?

Does not this point out the need for a Taxpayer's Association?