A controversial gasification plant that will turn railway ties into energy has the go-ahead from the Ministry of Environment.

Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp. president Kim Sigurdson told The Daily News from Winnipeg today a permit has been approved for his company to set up a gasification plant on Mission Flats.

Two one-megawatt gasifiers will go into operation late next year, he said.

Ministry approval follows on the heels of an endorsement by the Interior Health Authority last month.

“We have by far the only technology in the world to use ties to create power and heat,” Sigurdson said. “We're going to find a home for these ties and clean this mess up.”

The plant will represent a $12 million investment and employ about two dozen people.

The project was opposed both by City council — which voted unanimously to ask the environment ministry to stop it — and by a group called Save Kamloops, which describes it as a “toxic waste incinerator.”

Bill McQuarrie, executive director of the Interior Science and Innovation Council, called the issuance of the permit “the right decision” based on the technology of the project.

He said the MOE's research was “exhaustive,” and that a strict air monitoring program will be put in place.

“This quarterly monitoring program far exceeds the normal conditions of a permit,” he said, but urged ACC to publish the findings of the program.