Duke Point EFW Proponents Respond

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Dear Citizens,

Wheelabrator, Urbaser and Seaspan, the proponents of the energy-from-waste project, would like to thank you for following our project over the past few months. There have been recent activities that have impacted the future of the proposed project.

On April 14, 2014, the Mayor and Council for the City of Nanaimo passed a motion that City Council not support a proposed energy-from-waste project in Duke Point. This followed a previous motion last November where Council voted to hear more details before making a decision.

We, as the proponents, have made progress on the information outreach effort for this project and have repeatedly asked Mayor and Council to learn more about the energy-from-waste technology and its benefits. Unfortunately, this motion does not support continuing the information sharing process.

The media and city officials have asked us if we plan to formally withdraw from the project. At this time, we have been advising all inquiring parties that we are waiting to confer internally before we make any decisions on the direction for the Duke Point project.

Wheelabrator, Urbaser and Seaspan acknowledge the unanimous vote from Nanaimo’s City Council opposing the location of the proposed energy-from-waste facility in Nanaimo. However, it should be noted that over the last several months, the proponents have respected Metro Vancouver’s ‘Request for Proposal process to promote the benefits of the technology, while maintaining a presence in the community.  This outreach included meeting with various representatives in the community to provide information about the technology, including its excellent environmental, health and safety record, as well as the economic benefits that this project would bring to the community.

Clearly, more open and transparent input and communication from Metro Vancouver on this project would have been a benefit to the citizens of Nanaimo.  As the body in charge of the project, the proponents had expected Metro Vancouver to take control of the outreach process by providing a non-biased opportunity to encourage public debate.  As a result, the citizens of Nanaimo never had the opportunity to learn the factual and scientific information regarding the energy-from-waste technology and adequately address the myths and inaccurate information distributed by a small, but very vocal, minority of objectors.   A well executed and supported public outreach process is what the citizens of Nanaimo deserve to properly make an informed decision on  this project.

We wish to thank all those citizens who have taken an interest in this project for Nanaimo and the region.

Sincerely,

Wheelabrator, Urbaser, Seaspan