Christina Lake facing south toward the site of a proposed gasification waste-to-energy plant. (Stephen Acres)
A recycling centre would be a natural fit with the environmentally minded residents of the town, whose population of 1,500 swells to about 6,000 over the summer.
But upon learning that the proposed facility would be a big gasification plant for recycling hazardous petroleum industry waste from Alberta, B.C., and California, anticipation turned to shock and incredulity.
Now the residents of Christina Lake, a picturesque resort town located just north of the U.S. border between Grand Forks and Trail, B.C., are rallying together to stop the plant.
Vancouver-based Aquilini Renewable Energy has applied to the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary to rezone a 100-acre parcel of land to allow a waste-to-energy recycling plant.
Although currently zoned industrial, the town’s bylaws explicitly prohibit petroleum-based industry of any kind. It is that aspect of the zoning that Aquilini wants changed.
Richard White, a spokesman for a group of local property owners, says locals fear that if the plant goes ahead, Christina Lake’s currently thriving tourism industry, on which the town depends, could suffer.
“Ninety-five percent of the local industry is based on the service industry, to service the resort and the tourist areas. If something like this comes in it could absolutely devastate what we have in place now, and what we all hold so dear and so close to our hearts. It could ruin the whole area.”
Over 400 people—including about 40 from south of the border—attended a meeting on the issue last Thursday, at which experts spoke of the downside of petroleum waste-to-energy plants and their adverse effects on human health and the environment.
White says the proposed site sits on an aquifer that not only supplies water locally but also to the town of Laurier in Washington State. Residents are concerned that a toxic spill could contaminate the aquifer, while the high water usage needed for the hazardous waste recycling process could deplete the water supply.
The waste, consisting of toxic, volatile chemicals, would be transported by rail and road, which poses the risk of accidental spills. In addition, the site is located adjacent to private properties, he says.
“The local people would be impacted by 24 hour-a-day operations, seven days a week.”
In a submission to the regional district, Aquillini Renewable Energy said it would build a “world class” facility modeled on European designs that would produce no odours, keep noise to “an acceptable level,” and cleanly recycle the wastes into reusable alternative fuel while maintaining “the highest operational and environmental standards.”
“Aquillini Renewable Energy is committed to the long term sustainability of the environment and the health and welfare of its community, province, and country,” wrote company president John Negrin.
Aquillini also said the plant would provide local employment and boost the tax base.
David Tambellini, whose father’s family settled in Christina Lake almost 100 years ago, says that while he’s all for new industry and more jobs, a petroleum recycling plant is simply wrong for the area. He believes the risks involved far outweigh any benefits the plant might bring.
“We’d be sacrificing one economy for a dubious other one, and once we sacrifice that economy that’s based on our clean air and water reputation, it’s gone forever—it’s not something we could get back. It’s not worth the price on our environment, health, and economy.”
Tambellini notes that the only other gasification plant of this type operating in Canada, the Swan Hills Treatment Centre located 240 km north of Edmonton, has a “horrible track record.”
Over the years, the controversial Swan Hills plant has been plagued with spills and leaks, as well as small "fugitive" releases of over ten times the legal limit. In 1996, the plant’s operator was fined for an accident that sprayed PCBs, dioxins, and furans—some of the most toxic chemicals in existence—into the air.
According to a study by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, gasification plants’ air emissions include carbon monoxide, particulate matter, methane, ammonia, dioxins and furans, and the heavy metals cadmium and mercury, among many others.
These contaminants, many of which are emitted in the form of miniscule nano-particles, would pose a problem for Christina Lake, nestled as it is in a valley surrounded by mountains, says Tambellini.
“Given the prevailing wind patterns, these particles will accumulate at the north end of our lake. There’s sort of a funnel when the wind blows from the south and it develops a bit of inversion, especially in the winter, and there would be no place for them to go but into the water or into the land around the lake.”
The City of Port Moody recently rejected a similar industry, stating that “any waste to energy technology must prove itself to be significantly more refined and stable than its predecessors, and to meet acceptable emission targets, before being implemented on a production scale in our region.”
As well as health and environmental concerns, Tambellini says the locals are worried about the plant’s impact on property values.
“Who’d want to retire here or buy a place if they knew it had a gasification plant?”
White says a petition in circulation opposing the plant currently has 1,700 signatures and counting. He estimates that 85 percent of the town’s residents are against the proposal.
Of the 13 regional directors who will vote on whether to amend the zoning to allow the plant, only one lives in Christina Lake. The vote is expected to take place after a presentation by Aquillini toward the end of the year.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that politicians will come to their senses and see what a preposterous proposal this whole thing is,” says Tambellini.
