Penner Should Take Lead on ACC

(Aired January 21, 2010)

I think B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner should get off his duff and take the lead to solve the controversy that's brewing over the proposed gasification plant down on Mission Flats. The Environment Ministry has approved a permit for the plant, with, it would appear, very little assessment of the plant, its technology, and its potential. Kudos to MP Cathy McLeod, who has taken some initiative and done some research and found that the plant received funding from some "arms length" agency called Sustainable Development Technology Canada. She's checked into what legwork was done, and she's got some major concerns. She says an environmental assessment wasn't done because STDC is considered an "arms length" agency, and not a federal agency. I'm not sure why that should have made a difference before approval, but apparently it did. McLeod is taking up the matter with the federal minister, the ministry, and the agency.

Good for her. I'm calling on provincial Environment Minister Barry Penner to get on board too. He needs to call for some public hearings, an environmental assessment, and some full blown investigation into the technology before the plant can proceed any further. The fact that the City expressed opposition should have triggered that right off the bat, but the government, in my view, dropped the ball. They should pick it up. What harm can it do? Let's be transparent about this issue, and do it right. If the proposal stands up, let it go ahead. If not, well, the time to stop it is before it causes any problems. McLeod is concerned about the stacking of the ties, the proximity to the river, as well as the technology itself. I agree there are concerns. Can those ties leach into the river? Has that been looked at? If Domtar doesn't buy some of the energy, who else could be a customer? There are still many questions to answer. We need some answers now.