Standards set for coal-fire power

January 9, 2003

Standards set for coal-fire power

Matt DeBock - Elk Valley Miner

A proposed coal-fired power plant at the Fording River mine site took a big step forward this week with the introduction of B.C.'s first-ever emissions standards for coal-fired power generation.

East Kootenay MLA Bill Bennett said the move is an important one, which he has been working toward for two years.

"Before I was even a candidate, I was travelling around the riding trying to get to know what the big issues were, what the people thought the big issues were," he said. "The desire to see this happen, particularly in the Elkford/Sparwood axis, it was the number one issue people talked to me about. So I took it on as my number one objective for the whole riding, because it's obviously a $250-million project, that creates that many new jobs. That much economic activity in the Elk Valley would obviously be something that most people would want."

Bennett said that once elected he began working to get the green light from government for the power plant.

"The first I did was figure out why, after 12 years of the company trying to get this thing going, wasn't it going?" he said. "The number impediment to this project has always been a lack of certainty around what the air emissions regulations are for coal-fired power plants.

"It was hard to get a straight answer out of government. Fording will tell you that for 12 years they tried to get a straight answer out of first the SoCreds, then the NDP and then, frankly, us. It was hard to get a straight answer out of us for the first six months to a year. But we've finally, after 18 months, put together these standards which are competitive with Alberta.

Bennett said that having standards competitive with B.C.'s neighbouring province is vital to the viability of the project.

"They're not going to invest $250 million in trying to meet standards that are way different than what they are ten miles across the mountains in Alberta," he said, adding that the new regulations are very similar. "They are the same as Alberta, but actually there is some flexibility for companies that propose to use waste coal. Because of the environmental benefit of using waste coal, there is some advantage to that. I don't think Alberta offers that flexibility."

Alberta's regulations on sulphur dioxide are the same, regardless of the coal used in a power plant, while B.C.'s new standards offer a scale, allowing companies to emit slightly higher levels of sulphur dioxide, depending on the percentage of waste coal used.

"That should be, hopefully, enough of an incentive for the companies to proceed," Bennett said. "I've been told by Fording and Teck Cominco that once they know what the rules are, they'll put the project together on paper and submit it.

"I think that getting these standards now is an extremely positive step. It does, I think, put the ball into the company's court now. I think the ball has been in our court, and I'm really happy that we've now provided the framework for Fording to put together a project, submit the project to the environmental assessment, and work their way through the process. Hopefully, we'll get this $250-million economic development."

Fording Coal spokeswoman Cindy Brunel said the company has not yet had enough time to examine the new regulations, but said they will be working to do so in order to proceed with the project.