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Port Mellon still in running for incinerator

Howe Sound
ininerator
Conceptual drawing of the proposed incinerator.

Metro Vancouver is continuing to evaluate possible sites for a new waste-to-energy facility, with Port Mellon remaining one of three short-listed contenders.

“The potential site identification process for Metro Vancouver’s new waste-to-energy project is still underway,” project manager Sarah Wellman confirmed last week.

“The Port Mellon site, which was proposed by Aquilini Renewable Energy for their exclusive use, is still a potential site. Site-specific consultation will be initiated once all potential sites are identified, and before a request for proposals is issued.”

Apart from the Aquilini proposal for Squamish Nation lands at Port Mellon, the other two known sites are in Nanaimo and Delta.

Metro is in the process of identifying up to three more sites on publicly or privately owned land, which would be available to all nine companies that qualified for the project during the initial selection phase.

On its website, Metro says the list of potential sites is expected to be announced this year, once option agreements for lease or purchase have been finalized.

In April 2014, Metro cancelled a public information meeting that had been set for the following month in Gibsons, saying its community consultation process was on hold until after all potential sites were announced.

In its proposal for the Port Mellon site, Aquilini Renewable Energy said its $500-million incineration facility would provide power to Howe Sound Pulp and Paper (HSPP) and closed containment coho salmon farms, while captured carbon dioxide would be used for a pharmaceutical algae farm and greenhouse operation.

HSPP, however, said last month that it “is not affiliated” with the Metro incinerator proposal.