With only two days left for public comments to the provincial government, information has been hard to come by for residents looking to give their response to a proposed permit to burn coal at the Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Mill.
The permit would allow the Port Mellon mill to burn coal over a nine-month trial period, provided they comply with several air quality guidelines.
Problems understanding the process first started when Brackendale resident Glenne Campbell realized the 30-day period for public input was closing at the end of September. The call for input, sent out by the Ministry of Environment, was published in the Vancouver Sun and B.C. Gazette, but reached only a small number of Squamish residents.
The ministry's Lower Mainland environmental protection officer Steffanie Warriner said the notice was expected to reach town through a Sea-to-Sky Air Quality newsletter, which people can subscribe to online. According to the air quality website, this same group has not met since 2005.
Campbell subscribes to the newsletter and is a member of the Brackendale Owners and Tenants Association. When she heard about the notice, she tried to arrange an open house for Squamish residents with the chair of Sea-to-Sky Air Quality, Cindy Walsh.
"[Walsh] hasn't returned my calls or emails," Campbell said. She now considers the group to be "a very strange phantom operation."The group's chair, Walsh, is also an employee of the ministry. Rather than comment on an issue that involves her workplace, she has redirected media questions to Warriner, who said she would like to separate the ministry from the air quality group.
"We would prefer to not chair the committee. Rather we would prefer to have it chaired by a member of the air shed communities. However, until an individual steps forward, and is approved by the committee, the ministry will continue to take on tasks," she said.
Kate Thompson, media relations manager for the ministry, agreed that the overlap is less than ideal.
"It's obviously going to be a problem for [Walsh] because as chair she's in two positions."
Other group members such as Mayor Ian Sutherland have asked for the comment period to be extended. The mill first started using coal to augment hog fuel in its power boiler in late May. They stopped using coal during the summer, but plan to burn it again in November when rainfall makes the wood-based hog fuel less efficient.
On Thursday (Sept. 20), the Squamish Lilooet Regional District board passed a request asking the ministry for an extended comment period along with an information session involving ministry staff, company representatives and interested local governments, including First Nations.
Staff at the Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Mill declined to speak about coal burning to The Chief. Communication's representative Al Strang explained his position by stating, "I don't want interfere with the integrity of the process."
However, in a recent interview for the Coast Reporter, he explained that a one-week trial using coal in March gave the company insight into the environmental impact of coal burning. During this seven-day period, he said sulphur dioxide and PM10 particulate emissions increased, though stayed within the permit's limits, while dioxin and ash emissions decreased.
Strang was encouraged by these results. "We're embarking on something that will improve local air quality because it will ultimately reduce pollution," he said.
-with files from David Burke, Whistler Question and Greg Amos, Coast Reporter
