Plant generates pollution dispute
Island power project billed as state-of-the-art draws criticism for high carbon monoxide levels
By Malcolm Curtis, Victoria Times-Colonist, Tue 31 Oct 2000

It was supposed to be the latest technology, but the Island Cogeneration Project near Campbell River is turning out to be an environmental embarrassment.

The $220-million, 250-megawatt plant built recently by Westcoast Power, will start providing 10 per cent of Vancouver Island's electrical power early next year.

But even before the plant plugs into the B.C. Hydro power grid, it is being tagged as a polluter, with unflattering comparisons to other plants in the Lower Mainland that have themselves been criticized for being environmentally unfriendly.

A report by Environment Canada, B.C. Environment and the Greater Vancouver Regional District shows that Island Cogeneration Project (ICP) will emit about 912 tonnes of carbon monoxide a year, almost 10 times the rate of the proposed Sumas II plant, on the U.S. side of the B.C.-Washington border.

The emission levels are 19 times the pollution of Hydro's Burrard thermal plant in Port Moody, though that plant produces almost four times the power to be generated by ICP.

People in Campbell River aren't happy about the comparisons.

Campbell River Mayor James Lornie said he is meeting today with managers of the power plant.

"I felt very comfortable with this project right up until the comparisons were made," said Lornie, who noted the cogen plant provided the city with a badly needed economic shot in the arm during its construction.

Now, he admits, "I have a concern that we don't have the most up-to-date environmental technology."

The Elk Falls plant will be fuelled by natural gas.

It's called a cogeneration plant because it will produce electricity as well as steam for Fletcher Challenge's Elk Falls pulp mill.

Federal Environment Minister David Anderson, MLA for Victoria, has told concerned Fraser Valley residents that it is difficult for Canada to oppose the Sumas project.

"How can Canada ask America not to build Sumas II when our own power plants -- even our newest ones -- are worse polluters," Anderson said in a letter. He noted that the province approved ICP though it has "six times the emissions of Sumas II per unit of electricity."

Ron Bollans, the B.C. Environment Ministry's assistant regional waste manager for the Island, said ICP was approved by the province after an environmental assessment.

The plant will significantly reduce emissions from Fletcher Challenge's Elk Falls pulp mill, which is a plus, Bollans said. The steam it produces will replace two polluting oil-fired boilers, he said.

Bollans said equipment could have been installed at the Elk Falls plant, like catalytic scrubbers and other pollution control devices installed at Burrard and planned for Sumas. But he said the extra cost, "millions of dollars," would have made the project uneconomical, with only a "marginal benefit" to the environment.

"Dispersion modelling" showed that the extra pollution equipment was deemed not to be necessary, Bollans said. The modelling showed pollutants around Campbell River would be readily dispersed into the atmosphere.

Unlike Burrard and Sumas, Elk Falls is not located in a heavily populated corridor that is closed in by mountains, Bollans said.

The plant is owned by West Coast Energy but is being sold to Calgary-based TransCanada Power under a deal announced in September. Doug Fraser, ICP president, was unavailable for comment.

The Elk Falls plant should have never been approved, said Arthur Caldicott, of the Georgia Strait Crossing Coalition.

"It's one more reason to put on hold the pipeline and the other cogeneration plant planned for Port Alberni," said Caldicott, of Cobble Hill. The coalition is opposed to Hydro's proposed Georgia Strait pipeline, a $180-million venture with Williams Pipeline of the U.S. to carry natural gas to the Island.

The Elk Falls plant and the proposed Port Alberni plant are Hydro's main justification for the pipeline, said Caldicott. But they don't make sense because they will significantly increase greenhouse gases, which have been linked to global warming, he said.

http://www.infomart.ca/todays_news/31-10-2000-vitc-1.html

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