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Wind power surges in B.C. | December 13, 2009
Plug out - tune in | November 20, 2009
Burners may have edge | June 15, 2009
Metro hot on waste-to-energy plants | May 27, 2009
Clock ticking on garbage question | February 21, 2009
New water deal better | November 21, 2009
Recycling Education Centre open | October 25, 2008
Green light for Interior landfill | October 08, 2008
Valley's an air pollution trap | October 04, 2008
Recycling is the real answer | October 01, 2008
Waste conversion task force meeting | September 19, 2008
Wind turbine blades await installation on towers at Dokie Ridge near Chetwynd, August 2008.
Wind power surges in B.C.
Environmental permits have been issued for two large wind energy projects in B.C., and work is to resume in January on a half-finished project that went bankrupt last year.
As it concluded a historic land settlement with the Haida Nation, the B.C. government issued an environmental certificate last week for a 110-turbine offshore wind farm in Hecate Strait near Haida Gwaii. The $2 billion NaiKun project includes 80-metre towers anchored to the seabed and underwater cables that connect the island chain to the BC Hydro grid at Ridley Island near Prince Rupert.
Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom and Environment Minister Barry Penner issued a second permit to the Thunder Mountain Wind Project, 45 km southeast of Tumbler Ridge in northeastern B.C. Its plan includes 160 wind turbine towers, five substations, a 65 km power line, access and maintenance roads.
Both permits impose dozens of conditions, including fish and wildlife monitoring programs and ongoing consultation with affected aboriginal communities. The Haida Nation is a partner in the NaiKun project, and will operate and maintain it when it is completed.
Plutonic Power Corp. and GE Energy Financial Services announced Friday they have paid $52.5 million to take over the Dokie Wind Project near Chetwynd. That project has been under court-supervised creditor protection and work was stopped on its phase one site in late 2008.
The resource-rich Peace River region also boasts the province's best inland wind power sites. B.C.'s first producing wind farm began operation this year on Bear Mountain near Dawson Creek, and the Dokie plan includes a second windswept ridge in the Chetwynd-Tumbler Ridge area.
B.C. is a latecomer to wind power, with numerous sites developed in Alberta and most other provinces. B.C.'s abundance of cheap hydroelectric power has historically made alternative sources uncompetitive, but with no new dams built in 25 years, the province has directed BC Hydro to buy new supplies from private developers.
The province's latest energy plan also directs BC Hydro to become energy self-sufficient by 2016, using clean domestic sources for 90 per cent of new capacity.
The NaiKun project is expected to generate enough power to supply 130,000 homes, and Thunder Mountain would supply the equivalent of another 100,000 homes.
Plug in - tune in
Abbotsford Collegiate student Alexandria Mitchell wants to get the community of Abbotsford powered up over the issue of global warming.
The Grade 12 student has been invited as a youth delegate to attend the COP 15 United Nations Climate Conference Dec. 7 to 18 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In advance of her trip, she’s organized a town hall meeting at the University of Fraser Valley to get Abbotsford residents involved in the issue of global warming.
The event, titled Plug Out – Tune In, will focus on climate change and the role Canadians can play in the international problem.
“I want to get people turning down our power usage and tuning in to the issues,” said Mitchell. “It will be an opportunity to attract people who may not be so active in environmental issues, and give them an opportunity to take part in the discussion.”
University of British Columbia Professor Dr. William Rees, the originator of the “ecological footprint” concept, is keynote speaker.
UFV Professor Dr. Tim Cooper and Abbotsford Coun. Patricia Ross are also presenting.
Mitchell, 16, said her passion for the environment stems from her middle school days when she did a project around recycling after discovering the school district didn’t have a program in place.
The COP 15 conference is bound to bring together a wide variety of individuals committed to a common goal, said Mitchell.
“It will be a hot spot for political activity. But the politics are irrelevant because (climate change) is an issue that has no boundaries.”
However, the real work will happen before and after the conference, she said.
“I want to broaden the discussion around climate change.”
To do so, Mitchell has set up a blog and website, and a Facebook page for those who want to “tune into” her adventures at the conference.
The Plug Out - Tune In meeting takes place Wednesday Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. at UFV, 33844 King Road.
To check out Mitchell’s blog visit http://plugout-tunein.blogspot.com/
Helen Spiegelman of Zero Waste Vancouver says Metro Vancouver shouldn't rush to build waste-to-energy plants.
Burners may have edge as Metro mulls waste options
The option of building incinerators to turn more trash into energy remains a strong contender as Metro Vancouver weighs the pros and cons of eight different scenarios to deal with the region's looming garbage glut.
The controversial idea is opposed by some environmental groups and air quality defenders in the Fraser Valley, who fear increased air pollution from waste-to-energy plants and a reduced emphasis on recycling.
But twin reports for Metro by consultant AECOM Canada suggest building a large new waste-fired plant would actually generate the lowest levels of most local air contaminants.
The findings also suggest a big incinerator would be the least costly one to taxpayers, would generate the most electricity and could also capture a tremendous amount of heat that could be piped to neighbouring buildings, offsetting their energy needs.
The region needs a new way to dispose of the 500,000 tonnes of trash a year that now goes to the Cache Creek landfill, slated to close in late 2010.
Metro hopes to get provincial permission to export garbage to the U.S. for five years while it builds new facilities to handle waste.
The options studied were:
- A large waste-to-energy (WTE) plant handling 750,000 tonnes of waste per year.
- A mid-sized WTE plant taking 500,000 tonnes a year, with more waste being landfilled.
- Building a mid-sized WTE plant, but outside the Lower Mainland.
- Construction of a 500,000-tonne mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) plant that would process part of the waste for fuel and shred the rest, allowing it to be landfilled more safely with fewer emissions. The refuse-derived fuel may be burned in the region by local cement plants.
- An MBT plant as described above, but with the refuse-derived fuel being used outside the region.
- An MBT plant that processes all waste for disposal at the Vancouver Landfill, without turning any of it into fuel.
- Maximize local landfilling by dumping 750,000 tonnes a year at the Vancouver Landfill in Delta and building a new bioreactor landfill outside Metro Vancouver to handle the rest.
- Maximize out-of-region landfilling by reducing use of the Vancouver Landfill to 230,000 tonnes a year and trucking the rest to a new bioreactor landfill to be built outside the region.
So far Metro isn't shortlisting the options before it.
"Each of the eight has advantages and disadvantages," said Metro Vancouver waste management committee chair Marvin Hunt.
But he said it's clear some options are more likely than others.
Hunt said building new landfills may be difficult – Metro struggled 10 years to build a replacement for Cache Creek before giving up.
By far the costliest scenario – at more than $70 per tonne – would be the MBT plant with all processed waste being landfilled, compared to less than $30 per tonne for a big incinerator.
Hunt said the high cost of that option make it a long shot, along with the fact it would produce no fuel or additional energy.
But Helen Spiegelman of Zero Waste Vancouver said that option may actually be the greenest.
The MBT plant with all waste landfilled would have the lowest greenhouse gas emissions by far, the report shows.
And Spiegelman said a high cost per tonne may be beneficial, because it would drive the region to recycle more and create less waste in the first place.
"Unlike all those other scenarios it can be ramped down over time," she said, adding any private partner that builds an incinerator for Metro will insist on a guaranteed, stable stream of waste.
"You build the burners, you've got to feed 'em," Spiegelman said.
Waste-to-energy plants would be costly to build – $470 million to $700 million – but cheap to operate, due to the value of the electricity and heat produced.
Vancouver Coun. Heather Deal wants all the reports examined in detail before the board decides to move forward, particularly the findings that impacts on air quality would be negligible.
"Air emissions is a huge concern," she said.
Metro's board will consider the issues again at meetings in late June.
After that it's expected the eight scenarios studied will be winnowed down over the summer and recommendations will come back to the board in September.
The region would still have to refine what technology it wants to use, choose a provider and then get it built.
Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini, Metro's environment committee chair, said he also sees the findings pointing towards waste-to-energy and away from landfilling.
He said he's happy the reports lay out the facts, but fears science will take a back seat to politics.
He suspects the provincial government, which has final say over Metro Vancouver's next solid waste management plan, will make its calculations based more on public opinion and may well dictate Metro pursue a course that's illogical but popular.
"Politics has guided decisions for the last two to five years on this," he said.
Valley air pollution impacts negligible: report
Air pollution in the lower Fraser Valley would be no worse than it is today, whether Metro Vancouver burns its garbage in incinerators or hauls it away to distant landfills.
That's the result of a consultant's study of air quality impacts attributed to each of eight scenarios studied for future waste disposal.
The report by RWDI Air Inc. found Metro Vancouver's waste now accounts for just 0.1 to 1.2 per cent of air contaminant levels in the lower Fraser Valley.
It found that those levels would be lower still by 2020 – no matter which waste technology Metro chooses – for particulate, nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides.
The report forecasts slightly higher levels of ammonia, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for some of the waste options modeled.
In general, the findings show a technology called mechanical-biological treatment (where waste is processed for more eco-friendly landfilling or to produce refuse-derived fuel for industry) resulted in slightly higher levels of several air contaminants than other options.
A large waste incinerator resulted in the lowest projected air contaminant levels, at or below current readings for all seven types of contaminants.
The differences of the findings between the different technologies is not great, said Metro air quality planning manager Roger Quan.
"It will be less than or comparable to present day," he said, adding the impact waste handling has on air quality is small.
Future air quality in the region will be much more dependent on further improvements in vehicle emissions, Quan said.
Any move to cleaner marine fuels – ships continue to use higher sulphur fuel and account for a growing share of air pollution here – may also result in a significant improvement.
The findings assume improving emission standards for trucks that carry garbage to landfills or plants.
Quan said researchers also projected how air quality in Chilliwack would be impacted by each scenario in an eight-day "worst-case scenario" period of the summer, when air quality is typically worst.
He said ozone levels in 2020 in the test scenarios would be almost unchanged from today (as a result of waste technologies).
"The level of improvement in Chilliwack is less than the improvement in the region overall," Quan said. "There is no discernable differences between the scenarios."
Metro waste management chair Marvin Hunt said he's hopeful the results will calm concerns in the Fraser Valley.
"We can be confident that whatever scenario we come up with at the end of the day they will all have minimal impacts," he said.
The reports commissioned by Metro Vancouver can be viewed at
http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/solidwaste/planning/Pages/default.aspx
Metro Vancouver has sent a delegation to Sweden to study waste-to-energy plants like the one above.
Metro hot on waste-to-energy plants
Metro Vancouver’s interest in incineration has Abbotsford Coun. Patricia Ross hot under the collar.
Four metro directors are in the middle of a week-long trip to Sweden to look at waste-to-energy plants (WTE). The plants burn trash to create power and heat for industry.
The trip, with its $33,500 price tag, is an ominous sign to Ross, who is chair of both the Fraser Valley Regional District, and the FVRD Air Quality and Environment Committee.
She fears Metro politicians are being wooed by WTE industry officials and those who support the technology.
“I don’t know where Metro Vancouver came to the conclusion that putting your garbage in the sky is any better than putting it in the ground.”
Marvin Hunt, the chair of Metro Vancouver’s Waste Management Committee, acknowledged Wednesday that WTE plants are at the forefront of the options Metro is considering.
Although Abbotsford is in the Fraser Valley Regional District, it is partnered with Metro in waste management under a contract that lasts through 2010. Next year the Cache Creek Landfill, which currently accepts 500,000 tonnes of Lower Mainland waste each year, will reach capacity and close. Metro must have a new solution.
Ross and Abbotsford councillors have taken the position that adding a new source of air pollution into the confined Fraser Valley airshed could be disastrous to local air quality.
“In several letters we’ve expressed some serious reservations,” said Ross. “We don’t like this plan.”
And, she said, turning waste into a fuel will mean government will no longer be encouraging people to reduce waste.
“It’s counter-productive to zero-waste goals,” said Ross. “It has become overwhelming that this is a bad idea.”
She hopes Metro officials will also visit resource parks, which deal with waste through several operations on-site – composting, recycling, repairing and re-selling and even swap meets.
Ross said Metro officials should visit de-commissioned waste incinerators. With changes in packaging and other efforts to reduce the waste stream, she predicts the waste-to-energy plants could be obsolete within 15 years, and the region will have wasted billions in taxpayer funds.
Ross would prefer to see Lower Mainland garbage going to landfill sites, and notes there are proposals in Cache Creek and Highland Valley.
Hunt, confirms that WTE technology is on the front burner as the region’s trash solution.
He compares landfilling solid waste to burying barrels of oil, and says the region is “wasting $75 million per year.”
If there are ways to use this as a resource, he says “I don’t understand why I shouldn’t be looking at those options.”
Metro had discussions with Ottawa-based Plasco Energy about “zero emission” WTE plants, but those facilities are not an option at the present time, said Hunt. He concedes that there is no true “zero emission” facility available.
“You have emissions by breathing. There will be some emissions from anything we do.”
The question, he said, is what are emissions, and how can they be controlled.
Hunt challenges the notion that landfill sites cause less air pollution than a WTE plant.
“There is no one spot where you can measure the emissions coming from landfills,” he said. “There is no stack.”
There is research to indicate that landfill emissions are worse than those from a closed system with emission controls, he said.
In fact, Hunt sees innovative ways to improve Lower Mainland air quality using the new technology. Cement factories in the region burn coal to produce the heat they need, and newer waste-to-energy technology could provide a heat source that creates fewer emissions.
“With waste-to-energy I believe we can reduce pollution,” said Hunt.
He also challenges the notion that WTE plants will discourage waste reduction. In fact, recycling rates in Europe are still high in communities that have WTE, he asserts.
If at some future time the waste stream diminishes to the point where the WTE plants are wanting for fuel, Hunt suggests solid waste can be removed from Burns Bog and other landfills. That would provide needed fuel, and return the sites to their natural state.
He said the idea that these plants are becoming obsolete and being decommissioned is nonsense. He visited a plant in Paris, France that opened last year. It is such misinformation that makes trips like the present one to Sweden important, he said.
“We’re wanting to get more people on the committee to know and understand what we’re talking about.”
Hunt foresees three plants – one on the North Shore, one in the northeast of Vancouver, and one south of the Fraser River. There is already an incinerator in Burnaby. Those four facilities could be augmented by up to three more, he said.
Hunt has been on the waste management committee for a decade, including the last four as chairman.
Metro’s new solid waste management plan will be developed in September and October. If WTE is settled on as part of the plan, he estimates it will be five to six years before the plants are taking waste.
“It still has a question mark.”
Clock ticks down on garbage question
Call it the 500,000-tonne challenge.
That’s how much garbage Metro Vancouver hauls annually to its nearly full Cache Creek regional landfill, now set to close in less than a year.
And despite the looming deadline, nobody is quite sure where the mountain of trash will go come 2010.
A decade-old plan to turn part of the Ashcroft Ranch into a new Interior landfill fell flat four years ago when aboriginal groups opposed it and the provincial government refused to give the green light.
Metro’s current plan is to build new waste-to-energy (WTE) plants within the region to treat garbage more as a resource and eliminate the need to keep a convoy of trucks rolling to Cache Creek and back.
But because the new high-tech incinerators can’t be built fast enough, Metro is asking the province to okay the temporary export of garbage to the U.S.
Meanwhile, rival proposals in the Interior to build new landfills are still advancing.
Metro can do nothing in the garbage arena without Victoria’s blessing because the province must first approve a new Solid Waste Management Plan for the region.
But so far the clock keeps ticking and the province remains silent on which solution it will ultimately back, said Metro waste management chair Marvin Hunt.
“We’re so far past frustration it’s laughable,” he said. “We sure hope they’re going to tell us where to put this garbage.”
And if there’s still no answer when 2010 arrives?
“We’re going to ship it to the front lawn of the Legislature,” Hunt answers. “How is that for a contingency plan?”
Metro is proceeding with a detailed study of waste-to-energy technologies this year in an attempt to determine whether and how to proceed with new burners.
It proposed to build between three and six such plants dispersed around the region.
But that plan hit a road bump last month when Metro backed down from a legal fight to expropriate the old Canfor mill site in New Westminster where it intended to site one of the waste-fired power plants. (The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority had contested Metro for the land and is now expected to turn it into an inland port terminal.)
And while Metro has said it no longer wants to build another landfill, other proponents are still chasing the idea.
Teck Cominco’s Highland Valley copper mine has secured environmental approval to build what it hopes would be a new regional landfill serving Metro Vancouver and the southern Interior near Logan Lake.
And a rival plan backed by the Village of Cache Creek would greatly expand the landfill there, allowing it to continue taking Metro waste for another 20 to 30 years.
Cache Creek Mayor John Ranta says he’s still optimistic about his town’s chances to hang onto the 120 jobs and the nearly $10 million worth of local pay cheques they bring from handling Metro’s waste.
He said it’s a much better plan than exporting garbage to the U.S.
“Everybody’s hurting with this economic downturn,” Ranta said. “We can’t afford to be shipping jobs and money out of the country to manage our waste.”
Richmond Coun. Harold Steves, like most of the regional district directors on the waste management committee, doesn’t like the idea of entombing trash in the ground.
But he’s also opposed to waste-to-energy plants.
Advocates see them as a way to create energy, cut greenhouse gas emissions and deal with local garbage here in our own region.
Steves and others fear air quality impacts if the plants proliferate.
“I think the micropollutants that come out still cause asmtha and disease and are bad for the environment.”
He predicts the region will end up shipping waste to a landfill in Washington State over the short term, while continuing to work to increase local recycling rates.
New water deal 'better' for local sewage and air
Abbotsford and Mission have officially closed the lid on the existing Sumas Wastewater Agreement and have renegotiated a contract that will give them more control over what can and cannot be flushed into the local system.
The new agreement, approved during a special in-camera meeting Monday at Abbotsford City Hall, includes a new environmental clause giving Abbotsford and Mission the power to stop any industry from connecting to the sewer system if it is deemed to pose an environmental risk.
"It's not just the sewage system that we have more control over, it's the quality of our air and water as well," said Abbotsford Coun. Patricia Ross this week.
The City of Abbotsford, the District of Mission and the Fraser Valley Regional District entered into negotiations with Sumas, Wash., around three years ago.
It was only recently that Sumas agreed to their terms and conditions.
"We get more than just a say with this new contract, we get final determinations. They have to ask us first if it is OK to build any particular industry - this is huge, and never, quite frankly, did we think that Sumas would agree to that," said Ross.
Abbotsford and Mission originally decided to renegotiate the contract because it wasn't as good a deal financially as it was supposed to be when it was originally signed in 1997, she said.
Another flaw in the contract became apparent during the proposal of Sumas Energy 2 - the SE2 power plant, if built, would have been allowed to discharge its cooling water into the sewer system, according to a report by wastewater manager Rob Isaac.
"SE2 highlighted the fact that the original sewage agreement with Sumas was not favorable for us," said Mayor George Ferguson in a statement released this week.
In the same release, Mission Mayor James Atebe said, "Renegotiating to terminate the existing agreement immediately, and write a new one addresses the water and sewer commission's major concerns."
Through the new agreement, "Sumas gets a five-year extension and Abbotsford gets an agreement that makes financial sense and protects the Sumas River," said Isaac in his report. The contract, which is effective Jan. 1, 2009, will also see Sumas pay the same sewage rates as taxpayers in Abbotsford and Mission - plus an extra 25 per cent premium.
In the previous contract, Sumas residents paid less in sewage fees than Abbotsford residents.
"There is a lot less risk to our taxpayers, it is better deal for everyone all around," said Ross. Before Sumas approached the FVRD to connect to Abbotsford's sewer system, it was discharging poorly treated wastewater into the Sumas River.
©Abbotsford Times 2008
Creative pumpkin designing was one of the many activities at the family event at the new Recycling Education Centre.
More focus on recycling
It’s another big step in the greening of the Abbotsford area.
The Abbotsford Mission Recycling Program held the Grand Opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Recycling Education Centre on Oct. 18.
The new Recycling Education Centre will be used to teach community groups, students and individuals about recycling, composting and other environmental issues like climate change and pollution.
Abbotsford Mayor George Ferguson, Mission Councillor Paul Horn and John Richards, recently retired manager of the Abbotsford-Mission Recycling Program, were all on hand to cut the blue ribbon and welcome the crowd of bystanders inside for the first look at the building.
The new Recycling Education Centre was built using a combination of recycled, used and new construction materials. The outer shell of this building is made from two 45-foot long by eight-feet wide mobile storage containers and the timber roof was designed to support a “green” roof. The green roof will help with energy conservation, working as a form of insulation keeping the building cool in the summer months and warm in the winter.
The Recycling Education Centre is located at 33670 Valley Rd. in Abbotsford. (Just off the Abbotsford Mission Hwy.)
For more information about this new centre call 604-850-3551
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/33235824.html
The Highland Valley Copper Mine site, owned by Teck Cominco, has been approved by the Environment Ministry to be developed as a landfill site, with a capacity for 55 million tonnes of garbage. .
Green light for Interior landfill
A proposed new regional landfill in the southern Interior has won environmental approval, giving it a revived shot at becoming the future home for Metro Vancouver’s waste.
The Highland Valley Centre for Sustainable Waste Management got the green light from environment minister Barry Penner Monday after a review by B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office.
Teck Cominco wants to build the $112-million state-of-the-art landfill at its Highland Valley Copper Mine near Logan Lake.
The 140-hectare site would have a capacity of 55 million tonnes of garbage, or 600,000 tonnes per year –enough to take over for Metro’s near-full Cache Creek regional landfill that closes in 2010.
Penner’s environmental approval came despite opposition from at least one local First Nations group, the Nlaka’pamux Tribal Council.
Similar objections from area First Nations had prompted the province in 2005 to block environmental approval for Metro’s own proposed landfill at its Ashcroft Ranch property.
That obstacle ultimately led Metro’s board, faced with the impending closure at Cache Creek, to decide early this year that new landfills can’t be built fast enough and to instead seek to temporarily export garbage to the U.S. while moving to build as many as six new waste-to-energy plants.
Penner earlier this year directed Metro to reconsider all options, including Interior landfills and a potential waste-fueled energy plant on Vancouver Island.
The speed of Highland Valley’s approval and its success in vaulting aboriginal opposition was “interesting,” according to Metro Vancouver waste management committee chair Marvin Hunt.
“Depending on how fast they can have it up and operating we may be able to make use of that instead of going to the States,” he said. “That’s a possibility that might be looked at.”
But Metro will still proceed next year with a detailed process to explore the potential for waste-fired power plants, he added.
Whether Metro uses the site or not, Hunt said a new regional landfill is needed to serve many other towns in southern B.C. where local landfills are nearing capacity.
Penner said area First Nations expressed “a variety of views” but the project was backed by bands closest to the mine site as well as the community of Logan Lake.
“An adequate amount of consultation and discussion had taken place and on that basis I felt it was appropriate to make the decision,” he said.
Highland Valley still faces competition from Cache Creek, which is hungry to hang onto its well-paid dump jobs.
The village is backing a rival proposal to expand the existing Cache Creek landfill.
Mayor John Ranta figures Highland Valley’s approval despite “significant” native opposition is a good sign the Cache Creek extension could get an environmental certificate even if proponents don’t get unanimous aboriginal support.
A Cache Creek extension could be used by Metro Vancouver without an amendment to the region’s solid waste management plan, Ranta noted, an advantage over Highland Valley.
He also argues the Cache Creek landfill already has the necessary infrastructure, is closer to Vancouver and situated at a low altitude, all factors that may make it more cost-effective.
Highland Valley’s certification is contingent on a series of conditions, including installation of a triple liner to contain and treat leachate as well as a landfill gas management system to recover methane and generate energy.
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/30656879.html
We’re living in a “pollution trap.” The Lower Fraser Valley – which narrows dramatically from Abbotsford to Hope. Sea breezes slowly blow smog from Vancouver and Whatcom County up the narrowing valley from Abbotsford to Hope during warm temperature inversions and pollutants are trapped between the mountains. About 250,000 people can’t escape breathing the chemical soup particularly on summer days when there is little wind movement.
Valley’s an air pollution trap
We’re living in an air pollution trap with no escape, according to one of the top air quality experts in Canada.
The Lower Fraser Valley is one of the most constrained air sheds in the world with so large a population, said Dr. Douw Steyn, Professor of Air Pollution Meteorology, University of B.C.
“It’s a scandalously stupid thing for Metro Vancouver politicians to even consider building incinerators in this air shed,” Steyn said.
The environmental consequences of burning garbage in incinerators is unacceptable in this air shed which is one of the most challenged air sheds in North America, Steyn said.
He is respected for his expertise as professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at UBC.
Abbotsford Deputy Mayor Patricia Ross said even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identifies the Fraser Valley as an area that is already “unhealthy for sensitive people due to unacceptable pollution levels of ground level ozone and particulate matter.”
Children and elderly people are most vulnerable to illness during ozone episodes as smog envelopes the valley.
“Metro Vancouver should not be experimenting with incineration in one of the worst possible air sheds in North America,” Ross said.
Doctors note that breathing problems are not uncommon.
Living in this air pollution trap results in serious health implications for Fraser Valley residents who have a higher than average rate of asthma, said Dr. Dave Williams, a respirologist and Chief of Medical Staff at Abbotsford Regional Hospital.
Residents may often feel tired or sick as the pollutants constrict the airways in the lungs and an ominous whitish-brown haze obscures the view of Mount Baker and the surrounding Coast Mountains.
Williams said it would be a major human health concern if Metro Vancouver builds new garbage incinerators in this air shed.
“We’ve been trying to encourage people to drive less and to do less burning already because of the problems in this confined air shed,” Williams said.
Steyn explained why air pollution gets trapped in the Fraser Valley.
Sea breezes from Vancouver and Whatcom County move the air emissions from the city to the eastern Fraser Valley and squeeze the pollutants into this funnel-shaped valley where it hits the wall of mountains and can’t escape, he explained.
As the pollutants travel to the Fraser Valley, smog is created by the chemical reactions in the air.
The scientist explained that the chemical reaction happens slowly in the air as the oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds combine with sunlight during bright summer days to create ground level ozone.
“The air pollutants become trapped both vertically and horizontally in the eastern part of the Fraser Valley during temperature inversions,” Steyn said. “And that’s why the area from Abbotsford to Hope is the most polluted part of this air shed.”
Scientists regularly report that the Fraser Valley is an air shed where “poor” air quality episodes occur and smog causes asthma and other human health problems.
This summer for example, Chilliwack reported two poor air quality episodes when the concentrations of ground level ozone exceeded the Air Quality Index and an air quality advisory was issued, said Ken Reid, an air quality expert with Metro Vancouver.
The vision of Metro Vancouver’s Air Quality Management Plan is to have clean and healthy air for this generation and future generations.
Reid said the goals are to:
n Minimize risk to public health from air pollution.
n Improve visibility.
n Minimize Vancouver’s contribution to global climate change.
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/30391724.html
We’re wasteful beyond words. The solution to winning the war on waste is to make industries responsible for reducing, reusing and recycling their own products because they’re the ones making money on all this unneeded garbage. Governments need to compel corporate responsibility. .
Recycling, ‘zero waste’ target is the real answer, says Ross
We need a “can-do” attitude.
There is no need to burn garbage – that’s the bottom line, said Abbotsford Deputy Mayor Patricia Ross.
In fact, there is no reason the public can’t aim to generate “zero waste,” she said, noting that the City of Abbotsford residents are already attaining a 70 per cent recycling rate.
But, Abbotsford industries, institutions, apartments and corporations are lagging far behind.
More than 85,000 tons of garbage was thrown away by the City of Abbotsford last year. Most of the solid waste – 86 per cent – was thrown away by multi-family apartments, industries, stores and institutions.
The amount of garbage thrown away in Abbotsford is equal to 685 kg per person.
Local companies need to step to the forefront to reduce the amount of trash being sent to the Cache Creek landfill.
Residents also need to do their part.
Lisa Kyle, Abbotsford Manager of Water and Solid Wastes, said that only about 29 per cent of the trash in the residential garbage bags is actually “garbage.”
Food wastes account for 57 per cent of the material found in the trash which can be easily composted, according to city audits. And, 14 per cent of the stuff found in the garbage bags should have been recycled, she said.
Meanwhile, Abbotsford citizens have reduced the amount of trash that might have otherwise been sent to landfills by about 70 per cent.
Kyle said city garbage trucks in this community picked up 1,100 tons of trash in August, for example, plus 400 tons of materials were recycled and 300 tons of yard wastes were composted. That figure doesn’t even include the amount of kitchen food wastes that people compost in their own backyard.
It is better to recycle rather than to burn or landfill, Ross said.
Incinerating a ton of mixed plastic, for example, creates six times more greenhouse gas emissions than recycling.
The other problem with building incinerators to burn municipal waste, Ross said, is that it becomes an insatiable out-of-control, smoke-spewing monster – always demanding more and more garbage to burn.
“Once you build these incinerators, you have to keep feeding them,” Ross said, adding that this leaves no public incentive to cut down waste.
In other words, officials in Vancouver appear on a course to curse our future and our children’s future to the incinerator option. But, there is a better way. A smarter way. And, it’s being done in cities in Canada and the U.S., Ross said.
Politicians can invest in community-based solutions to reduce, reuse and recycle and this creates good jobs, a healthier environment and economic renewal. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, she said.
Cities such as Buenos Aires, Halifax and Seattle have already passed ground-breaking “zero waste” initiatives.
They’re building state-of-the-art recycling and composting parks and innovative collection systems. Indeed, some cities are requiring companies to make products that are safe for the planet.
Each person is now producing about two-thirds of a ton of solid waste every year.
Dr. Paul Connett said that practically all wastes can and should be recycled or reused.
Waste products should be either banned or if an industry is creating waste, it should be taxed to the max and compelled to dispose of it themselves, Connett said.
Connett said waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities are old school - 20th century thinking - they’re a waste of energy.
In comparison, Connett said waste recovery is good for the environment, economy and jobs.
There are wise economic reasons not to approve incinerators or waste-to-energy facilities, Connett said.
Incinerators are expensive and create very few jobs and taxpayers usually find out the true costs when it is too late. It’s important to compost and recycle.
He said there are five principles to aim for:
n Keep it simple.
n Keep it local.
n Integrate into local economy and local community development.
n Make sure the solution is sustainable.
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Eye on possible waste to energy pollution from west
The "fast-talking salesman" analogy came to mind for many people attending a meeting this week about a proposed power plant that will be fueled by garbage.
The methods used in a poll measuring the residents' interest in Plasco's waste-to-energy power station came under fire Tuesday night in Port Moody during a Waste Conversion Task Force meeting.
Abbotsford Deputy Mayor Patricia Ross, who attended the meeting, observed that a poll commissioned by the Plasco EnergyGroup misled people to believe they were being questioned by BC Hydro.
And that was just the start of the criticisms pointed at Plasco, she said.
The City of Abbotsford recently sent a letter to Port Moody expressing concerns about the pollution levels from the proposed incinerator.
Port Moody Coun. Diane Dilworth, who sits on the task force, said she was one of the 400 people called by polling firm Harris-Decima, which was paid by Plasco Energy to conduct the survey.
Dilworth said she was concerned with some of the questions she was asked, including what political party she supported in the last election and which one she would support in the upcoming election.
What is even more troubling, according to a former Port Moody city councillor Jo-Ann Parneta, was the question asking if those polled would be interested in participating in more surveys for BC Hydro.
"That certainly left me with the impression that the poll was being done by BC Hydro," Parneta said during Tuesday night's meeting.
The results of those questions did not appear in the data provided to The Tri-City News by a Plasco representative earlier this week.
Several task force members also questioned the information Harris-Decima provided to the people taking the survey.
Before being asked if residents were in favour of a waste-to-energy plant in Port Moody, they were told Plasco's conversion technology produced no emissions and had been used successfully in Ottawa.
Respondents were not told the fuel produced in the conversion process was then burned to power engines that operate the facility, and that the test plant in Ottawa has yet to run at capacity.
Those omissions, said Rick Glumac, a task force member, raise serious questions about the poll results.
"I think the survey is completely invalid," he said.
Ron Unger, Plasco's vice president of project development, said the poll was prepared for internal use only and the company only decided to make them public when asked.
It was not the only part of Tuesday night's final waste conversion meeting when Plasco received a cool reception from those who crowded the Inlet Theatre.
While several Plasco supporters were peppered throughout the audience, the majority of people who spoke were opposed to the waste-to-energy facility.
Many of the opponents that spoke during the question period said the technology is still in its infancy and did not want it tested in Port Moody.
Others, including resident Lesley Ogden, went further, saying the city should not allow a plant that makes money from burning garbage.
Ogden added that the city should be looking at ways of reducing garbage rather than allowing companies to profit from it.
Burke Mountain Naturalists' conservation chair Elaine Golds said Plasco's test plant in Ottawa, often pointed to by the company as proof its technology works, is not functioning the way the company has indicated.
"It was supposed to be up and running a year ago and it still isn't there," said Golds pointing out that the facility has yet to run at capacity on a continual basis. "We do not want a dioxin factory in our neighbourhood."
But not everyone at the meeting was opposed to the facility.
Cas Balicki, a Coquitlam resident, said the waste-to-energy proposal should be seriously considered by the city.
"It's our garbage, it is our crap, not Cache Creek's," he said. "We have to deal with it here."
The task force chair, Port Moody Coun. Mike Clay, said Tuesday night's meeting would likely be the last.
He told The Tri-City News that many of the questions asked had been raised numerous times and the ones that have not been answered likely won't be before the committee puts together its report.
The task force's report is expected to be presented to council on or before Oct. 28.
Plasco gives Ottawa financial kickbacks
The city of Ottawa stands to gain financially if Plasco Energy builds more waste conversion facilities — such as the one proposed for Port Moody — as part of a deal Ottawa worked out to allow a test plant within its borders.
In fact, Ottawa will actually get royalties up to $3.5 million a year for 10 years for every contract signed after them, said Abbotsford Deputy Mayor Patricia Ross.
She said she has never heard of a city promoting a private company for profit.
"It's completely inappropriate," Ross said, noting the financial incentives the city of Ottawa will receive from Plasco.
"They've got no credibility as far as I'm concerned."
The question came up this week during Port Moody's Waste Conversion Task Force meeting from task force member Rick Glumac.
He asked Ottawa Coun. Jan Harder, who was in town on Plasco's expense promoting the benefits of waste conversion technology, whether Ottawa would receive a financial benefit should Port Moody move forward with a waste-to-energy proposal.
"You know the answer to that," she said. "Yes, we do."
The agreement was signed when Plasco was permitted to build a test facility in Ottawa and could see $3 million end up in city coffers should the company successfully expand it operations.
Tuesday night was not the first time Harder has spoken on behalf of Plasco, which operates its Trail Road test facility in Ottawa. According to the Ottawa Sun, Harder was part of a delegation that travelled to Spain in 2006 to speak to officials there about a plant in Castellgali also owned by Plasco.
Plasco hasn't sold anything
Parts of the city of Port Moody's website touting the accomplishments of Plasco Energy's waste conversion facility are misleading and should be removed, says a critic of the plant.
Under the heading "What does Plasco Energy do?", the city's website states that the company's facility converts municipal waste into "engine fuel gas, construction aggregate, sulphur suitable for agriculture, salt and clean water."
But during Port Moody's Waste Conversion Task Force meeting Tuesday night, Plasco's vice-president of marketing, Alisdair McLean, said the company had yet to sell sulphur and aggregate, or produce clean water.
He also admitted its Ottawa facility had only produced a limited amount of energy.
"I think the city should immediately remove the statement from its website that says Plasco is generating useful products because clearly it is not," said Elaine Golds, conservation chair with the Burke Mountain Naturalists.
Golds (who also writes The Tri-City News' Green Scene column) said the comments on the city's website give the impression Plasco's technology has a proven track record, which she said is not the case.
But Port Moody Coun. Mike Clay said the website information lists what the company is capable of proving, despite the fact it has yet to sell any of its by-products.
He said he has personally held a piece of aggregate that was generated by Plasco's conversion process.
"The question was have you sold [any products] and the answer is no, they haven't," he said.
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