A Black Press report by Jeff Nagel in the Burnaby News Leader shows the waste-to-energy incinerator which Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) Chair and Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz together with FVRD Vice-Chair and Abbotsford Councillor Patricia Ross have been using as an example for why the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) shouldn’t be allowed to buy a newer, state-of-the-art incinerator, is contributing far less pollutants after an upgrade.
As reported earlier this month on Abbotsford Today, “This summer the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC), despite a steady stream of hot air from the Fraser Valley Regional District’s (FVRD) reigning pseudo-environmentalists, gave permission to the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) to go ahead with its proposal to remove millions of tonnes of waste from the diesel-spewing semi-trailer parade through the Fraser Valley to a landfill in the interior and convert that to energy for Vancouver homes, businesses and government buildings.”
Nagel’s report adds to the confusion over just what it is that Gaetz and Ross are fighting against since the net result of all of their noise has been … well … nothing and, were they somehow to find a way to be effective in their ‘Air Battle’, the net result would be to increase or maintain pollution levels in the Fraser Valley as a result of the daily parade of diesel trucks shipping Abbotsford’s and Vancouver’s garbage through the Valley.
[excerpt]
A mostly complete upgrade at Metro Vancouver’s waste-to-energy incinerator in south Burnaby has already sharply reduced emissions that contribute to smog.
Metro Vancouver solid waste manager Paul Henderson said there’s been a more than 25 per cent drop in nitrogen oxides released and those emissions should drop by nearly another third by the end of the year to less than half of the 2013 average.
The $7-million emission control system upgrade is the latest improvement at the region’s Waste-To-Energy Facility, but the Fraser Valley Regional District has challenged the plant’s operating certificate renewal, demanding the province impose much tighter emission limits and monitoring requirements.
[source]
Editor’s Note: 9/16/14 22″34 – Black Press has not yet run the Jeff Nagel story in the Fraser Valley but did run another Jeff Nagel story called, “Mr. Burns’ to dog Metro Vancouver politicians over incineration” about opponents to the GVRD’s Waste-to-Energy plans.