I’m not in favour of Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp.’s gasifier for Kamloops, but not because I think it is going to cause me irreversible health problems. I don’t.

I’m opposed because of the perception of that plant in the city. This city already has a reputation of having clean-air problems because it has been the home of a pulp mill since the 1960s.

Most people were thrilled back in 1964 when the Kamloops Pulp Mill opened here, bringing money and jobs. I recall my dad loading us all into the car one Saturday for a trip to Mission Flats to tour the mill. One of the less pleasant days of my childhood as I got a close-up look and smell of bubbling pulp.

We didn’t make our living from the pulp mill. We were railroaders. But that mill definitely brought prosperity to many Kamloops families. A lot of kids played sports and skied and had music lessons because of the pulp and saw mills.

But local families also put up with a wretched smell in the air on many days, some neighbourhoods were worse than others. We were lucky, our Dallas neighbourhood was far enough away to escape the rotten egg odour, but it was among the few areas that the smell didn’t infiltrate at least sometimes.

When we left the city, we had to endure comments from outsiders about how they passed through Kamloops once and would never return because it stunk so badly. It’s not that bad, we’d say, in defence of our city, but there was no changing some people’s minds.

Kelowna, on the other hand, was extolled as a beautiful place of lakes and pleasant smells. Which is why, of course, so many long-time Kamloops residents developed an inferiority complex about Kelowna.

We knew how much better Kamloops was than Kelowna with our own rivers, lakes, ski hills, well-planned streets and cultural offerings, but could we convince anyone? No. We were the stinky city.

Eventually, local politicians and individual members of the community started talking about promoting a different kind of image. While we are happy to be a resource town and most of us understand how devastating the loss of the pulp mill would be to the local economy, there is another side to the city.

We are a community of people who revel in health and fitness. Wellness is our new direction.

This is not to say that the gasification plant is going to kill us all. In fact, the emotional response to the plant has almost made me want to support it. People have jumped on to the protest with no information at all about the plant.

If each one of us properly looked at ACC’s proposal and understood the scientific evidence, we would probably have to admit the amount of emissions is so miniscule as to be a non-existent health hazard.

So science aside, it’s the image of having a power plant that burns railway ties in our midst that will hurt us. It will undo years of work to create a new image for Kamloops.

The protesters have succeeded in creating enough fear to ensure anyone who hears about the plant will picture a huge gasifer belching smoke and toxins into the air in a haze of black clouds. In fact, the opposite is true.

The only real evidence of a gasifier will be the stack of rail ties on the lot at Mission Flats and how many of us actually travel down to Mission Flats on a regular basis.

But the picture has been painted and that is why the majority of city council has said no to ACC’s proposal. That is why our MLAs should do whatever they can to politely say thanks but no thanks to Kim Sigurdson and his alternate energy scheme.

There’s no point in blaming Interior Health Authority officials and the Environment Ministry manager who approved the project. They looked at the facts and figures. The plant fits health and environmental guidelines.

It’s the politicians who have to figure the way out of this problem. As Coun. Denis Walsh said, ACC does not fit the image Kamloops has developed for itself. We are the Tournament Capital of Canada. We are a place people come to play team sports, golf, fish, ski, walk, run, listen to music, watch plays and stroll through art galleries and museums.

Yes, we still have a pulp mill. It’s cleaned up its act dramatically over the years, but no one wants to add, or be perceived as adding, to the air pollutants that still exist.

Families no longer have to tour through industrial plants for entertainment on a slow weekend. Neither is a dirty industry the main source of income for local residents.

There is something grand about protecting an image of health and beauty. It’s image that draws people to anything. A nicely decorated store window, an attractive restaurant, a well-kept park — these are places people will choose to enter over a shabby doorway or an overgrown, weed-filled lot.

Kamloops is no longer a grimy mill town. It’s a pretty city surrounded by mountains, rivers and streams. It’s a place committed to helping people be healthy.

We have an image to protect. That’s why I’m saying no to the gasifier project.

Susan Duncan is city editor of The Daily News. Her column appears Fridays. Email her at sduncan@kamloopsnews.ca.