Environment minister Barry Penner.

The Provincial Ministry of Environment had given support to a proposed gasification plant for Kamloops.

 This was in spite of the fact that the project had been unanimously rejected by Kamloops City Council.

This news created a stir among the local community, with opponents – some of them Christians – expressing concern for the environment, particularly potential damage to air quality.

Minister of Environment Barry Penner, however, had remained firm in his support for the project. He told CFJC-TV: “Our government’s approach is to base our decision on sound science.”

Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation (ACC), a Winnipeg based company, had planned to set up shop within city limits, using new technology.

The gasification of scrapped railway ties was expected to create energy in the form of gas, which would then be converted into electricity.  

ACC had secured a 10-year contract with Canadian Pacific Railway, to dispose of their fatigued railroad ties.

ACC expected to receive 250,000 to 500,000 creosote-treated ties per year, which would be chipped or ground before being fed into the system.

They maintained that the process was eco-friendly, and that it would provide a sustainable energy solution for discarded materials.

Continue article >>

However, ACC then decided to pull out of the project. According to the Kamloops Daily News, company president Kim Sigurdson was impacted by a public forum.

The forum, held at Kamloops Chamber of Commerce, drew more than 500 people. Sigurdson said the response had a “profound” effect, adding: “We heard what the people were saying, and we decided to follow through and find another location.”

Kamloops citizens opposed to the project had established a website at savekamloops.ca.

They dubbed the proposed plant “a toxic waste incinerator,” citing the documented dangers of creosote as one of several deal breakers.  

Health Canada states creosote is a variable mixture produced from coal, and made up of more than 300 compounds, including benzene.  

Environment Canada’s website says benzene causes cancer in lab animals. Food plants sprayed with benzene have showed cell damage.  

Summit Drive Church pastor David Fields was one of those who expressed concerns about the issue. “There are a lot of question marks around the environment, involving creosote.”  

He told BCCN he believes the environment is a Christian issue, based on scriptures such as: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”; “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good”; and “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”  

Several years ago, while in South Africa, Fields asked a local pastor what message he could bring home. He was asked to remind Canadians to be good environmental stewards.  

According to Fields, climate change and other environmental issues contribute toward human suffering and poverty in countries such as South Africa.  

“To care about the environment is to love our neighbours, and to be obedient to God.”

Fields said he continues to base his views on both science and scripture. Appropriately, he  holds both a Bachelor of Science  and a Bachelor of Divinity.

April 2010