Opponents of a proposed gasification plant at Mission Flats fear dwindling attendance at a series of public forums is a sign of a growing complacency on the issue.
“I think most people think that the big rally was the last hurrah. That they’ve defeated it,” said Hap Ryan. “I don’t think it is defeated.”
Ryan was one of about 40 people who attended the fourth forum hosted by Thompson Rivers University professor Derek Cook at the university Sunday.
When the first forum was held last month, it was standing room only. Attendance has since slowly died off.
But a rally and Kamloops Chamber of Commerce forum at TRU last Thursday drew hundreds of people. Many oppose Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp’s intention to build a railway tie gasification plant in Kamloops.
Ryan said people need to keep attending the forums and putting pressure on ACC president Kim Sigurdson and the province to move the plant elsewhere.
“Even if these guys could prove it’s OK, it’s the idea of millions upon millions of creosoted ties being shipped into the city and stockpiled. It’s bizarre,” he said.
He is worried that rain and snow will wash creosote from the ties into the ground, where it will seep into the river, said Ryan.
Katherina Senger shares Ryan’s concern. She said Kamloops has come a long way from being an industrial town and she doesn’t want to see a “dirty, polluting thing” set up shop here.
The best way to prevent that is to keep up the public pressure, said Senger.
“We’ll take industry, but not if it’s dirty,” she said. “We do not need another, dirty, polluting industry here.”
Don Barz, a Kamloops-based financial planner, used Google Earth to show attendees at the forum how close the ACC site is to the Thompson River and North Shore.
If a strong wind comes up, it could easily toss creosote coated wood chips and other particulate into the river and Brocklehurst, he said.
Barz said creosote isn’t the only concern. The ties might be covered in coal dust, asbestos and other toxins people aren’t even aware of.
“There’s a lot of other stuff in them than creosote. We have to get away from it just being creosote,” he said.
Sigurdson said Thursday night he is taking public opposition into consideration and will decided in the next two to three weeks if he will reconsider the Mission Flats location.
