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COAL TRIAL AT HOWE SOUND MILL POISONS COAST |
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July 11, 2007
The Port Mellon Pulp Mill at Howe Sound is the latest of BC's pulp mills to burn coal for fuel, despite degraded air quality and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Howe Sound Pulp and Paper commenced an initial trial burning of 1,000 tones of coal for a week in February 2007.
According to Ministry of Environment staff, no permit amendment or authorization was required for the trial since the mill's current permit does not disallow burning coal, or any other fuel. The permit specifies only that the pollution must be acceptable to the Regional Waste Manager of MoE.
"Apparently skyrocketing particulate matter, increased sulphur dioxide,
and dioxins emissions above Canada Wide Standards are acceptable to
MoE," said Rob Wiltzen of Crofton Airshed Citizens Group. "The results
from the first trial are not encouraging but the mill tells us that
they are not valid in any case. The logic for allowing a further
expanded trial is simply impenetrable."
On May 28, 2007, Howe Sound Pulp and Paper commenced a nine-month
trial, burning unspecified volumes of coal. In a memo obtained from the
Ministry of Environment by environmental groups, the mill maintains
that the high particulate matter and organics test results (dioxins,
furans, PAH's, HCB's) from the first trial would not be typical when
burning coal, but were due to mechanical failure.
"There are horrendous consequences to the use of coal in B.C's pulp
mills, and the absolute absence of public process clearly demonstrates
the lack of regard for human and environmental health," said Delores
Broten, Senior Policy Advisor of Reach for Unbleached (RFU). "This
appears to be yet another example of complete abdication by the
province of their regulatory mandate. The mills are lining up to burn
coal and our monitoring and enforcement authority, oblivious to higher
emissions and inconclusive test results, just lets it happen. Where
does public health and environmental protection enter the equation?"
Apart from the greenhouse gas implications, the use of coal raises
human health concerns because of mercury and heavy metals emissions,
increased particulate matter linked to respiratory illnesses, and a
range of organic toxins. An application to burn coal at Crofton was
withdrawn in 2004 after citizens protested vociferously.
“Without proper monitoring and reporting, it is impossible to
determine the impacts of burning coal on air quality. A trial implies
an experiment with scientific controls and clear 'before' and 'after'
measurements when you change conditions," said Wiltzen. "What has been
provided by Howe Sound Pulp and Paper falls far short of anything to
suggest that this is a trial."
Monitoring concerns could be addressed if Canada adopted
European procedures for continuous sampling technology for persistent
pollutants and metals testing from stacks. Recent efforts to introduce
such technology in British Columbia have been stymied by Environment
Canada, which has refused to endorse a proposal put forward by an
unusual alliance of industry and environmental groups to test German
continuous sampling equipment on Catalyst's Crofton division power
boiler stack.
"Our members on the Sunshine coast are concerned about emissions of
mercury, fluoride and greenhouse gases," said Broten. "We do not see
any serious attempt at testing or monitoring this switch to coal, which
is a much more polluting fuel, nor any attempt at all to capture
greenhouse gas emissions, as the Premier promised about any new use of
coal."
Of utmost concern to locals is that the Howe Sound coal trial may take
local fish off the menu for good. A recent study by aquatic ecologist
Asit Mazumder of the University of Victoria found that mercury levels
in lake small-mouth bass and ocean rockfish caught on or around
Vancouver Island already exceed, by up to twice, Health Canada safety
guidelines. It is likely that the Sunshine Coast, also on the Strait of
Georgia, would show similar results. Mercury contamination results from
burning coal. Mercury spewed into the atmosphere falls into fresh and
salt water, where bacteria transform it into highly toxic
methylmercury, which then works its way up the food chain.
"While the world wakes up to pollution and climate change, Howe Sound
Pulp and Paper seems determined to do what it can to speed up the
climate crisis in the name of the bottom line," said Wiltzen.
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Press Centre