Final decision still up to proponents or Metro Vancouver?
Now that city council has moved to send a letter to Metro Vancouver saying we do not want an EFW plant located on properly zoned land in the city of Nanaimo it seems it is up to Metro Vancouver to remove the proposal for the Duke Point plant, or in fact up to the proponents to withdraw it. City council's letter does not automatically kill the proposal.
In an article in today's Daily News Spencer Anderson reports that the proponents are not withdrawing their proposal at this time, and a Metro Vancouver spokesman says they will not rule out the Duke Point pitch from the list of nine proponents vying to build a new facility. The Metro spokesman says it is up to the proponent to determine if they wish to proceed.
City Council simply inept or pandering for votes?
Either way they turned process on it's ear.......
The idea that Nanaimo could be seen as becoming Vancouver's dump would of course be a very hard sell for a fleet of highly skilled spin doctors.
However, if the proposed EFW facility is in fact the state of the art way of converting our waste into a fuel that can produce electricity and steam while providing many family supporting jobs and is a superior way of dealing with waste rather than a landfill ........ that is not quite as hard a sell.
However, given that this council caved to the noise of the clamoring mass, due process has been denied and at this point we still have no idea what the science says about the proposed EFW at Duke Point.
It is not difficult in Nanaimo to whip up a vocal minority when you ask them if we want to burn Vancouver's garbage. The answer to that question can be foretold with a 99.9% accuracy, after all, who would want that? Not me.
Could be answer to our own garbage woes
Nanaimo is looking at having to make some very expensive choices in the very near future as to what to do with our own waste when the existing landfill closes. A modern day energy from waste plant could provide the least costly, most environmentally friendly option to our own disposal issues. One which our Mayor said we may in fact consider in the future.
So why would we want to slam the door on what could be a win win for Nanaimo when it comes to our future disposal needs. Why would we not consider if there would be serious economic and environmental benefit to encouraging the EFW at Duke Point with the caveat we get very preferred tipping rates? Metro Van builds the plant on their dime and we get to save buckets of money by not having to build our own, or another landfill, sounds like it is worth at least looking into.
How is this Council decision seen?
This council unanimously voted the other night to tell Vancouver we have no interest in their proposal, our Mayor has been on television saying we will appeal to the province to see the facility isn't built.
They also told the rest of the corporate world that if you want to do business in Nanaimo regardless of whether your land is properly zoned and your project will meet all regulatory requirements, you must first get the approval of Nanaimo's NIMBY's and the Green Dreamers and Screamers if you want to proceed.
Process?
Nanaimo city council voted to postpone their decision regards sending a letter to Metro until a Regular Council Meeting to be held after the Metro Vancouver public consultation process is complete.
On Monday night, they threw process under the bus, as clearly the terms of their own motion have not been met. This means they have been badgered into making another decision with incomplete information (in this case none) and are perhaps taking Nanaimo taxpayers on another expensive ride. Shades of Colliery Dam?
I motion that we put the minority NIMBY Screamers on one of the barges that already floats OUR GARBAGE to the Lower Mainland!
ReplyDeleteTalk about uneducated folk who scream it's not okay for them - but okay for our crap to go elsewhere.
Since the NIMBYs are so dead against a WTE let's build the new RDN garbage dump next to their houses!