The shortlist of possible locations for a Metro Vancouver incinerator could be down to two sites after Nanaimo city council unanimously rejected a proposal for Duke Point on April 14 in the face of massive public opposition.
If the Duke Point site is scratched from the list, that will leave only Port Mellon and Delta as sites that are currently being considered for the project, although other sites could be in the running.
“There’s a separate process where landowners have offered land,” Paul Henderson, Metro’s general manager of solid waste services, said Tuesday.
Six proposals were submitted under the separate process, but Henderson said it was “really tough to say” whether Metro’s review of those sites will be completed before a public information meeting scheduled for Gibsons on Saturday, May 24.
The $500-million Port Mellon proposal from Aquilini Renewable Energy would convert waste to energy, burning 370,000 tonnes of garbage per year.
The Delta proposal from Lehigh Cement would pre-process the waste to produce fuel for an adjacent cement kiln, Henderson said.
Since the Port Mellon proposal is on Squamish Nation land, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) does not have jurisdiction, but SCRD chair Garry Nohr said directors would raise the incinerator issue at a meeting with Squamish Nation council set for April 23.
“We’re just going to ask them if they want to talk to us about it, find out where they’re at and what their view is on it,” Nohr said.
With Metro Vancouver, Aquilini and Squamish Nation involved in the Port Mellon proposal, West Howe Sound director Lee Turnbull said the SCRD board has to figure out where it belongs in the process.
“We’re trying to get our oars in the process. To date we haven’t been included,” Turnbull said.
In setting up the May 24 meeting, Metro has agreed to move it to a later start time, in order to accommodate Keats Island residents who attend the annual spring SCRD meeting.
Metro is also trying to reformat the meeting to allow for a question-and-answer period, which the SCRD requested.
“The intent is to have an open house type meeting,” Henderson said. “We definitely heard that there is an interest in having an opportunity for questions and answers, and we’re looking at how that can be accommodated.”
Regarding the Duke Point proposal, Henderson said he could not confirm that the site had been withdrawn.
“We’re following up with the proponent,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Nanaimo Daily News reported that the proponents of the Duke Point site indicated they would not withdraw their proposal immediately, but would wait on Metro Vancouver’s response to the Nanaimo council decision.
