it THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCO | | | Ski er s ” Tee eee || seek - ) Grills . February 17, 198% News 985-213) Classified 986-6222 Distribution 986-1337 44 pages 25¢ 5,000-name petition sent to 8.C. ministry A WEST Vancouver-based environmental group has sent a 5,000-name petition to the provincial Ministry of Environ- ment protesting an air pollution amendment application made by Canadian Forest Products Ltd. (Canfor) for its Port Mellon pulp mill. In its petition, The Environmen- tal Watch states the amendment, if granted, would allow the mill to continue exceeding the minimum provincial air pollution standards that it his exceeded for the past 10 years. The petition’s 5,000 names were collected from West Vancouver, Howe Sound and Gulf Island resi- dents in seven days. : Canfor has applied to have air emissions from its 80-year-old Port Mellon mill measured under a ENVIRONMENTAL Watch spokesman Terry Jacks...‘‘We have a problem here and the public wants it rectified. bubble system or ‘Total Loading Concept’ until June 30, 1991 to allow for what the company has announced will be a massive mill and pollution control upgrade, scheduled to begin,in 1990... **" When the mill upgrade is com- pleted, Canfor officials have said air pollution emissions will be reduced by up to 68 per cent over current levels. But Environmental Watch spokesman Terry Jacks said Mon- day the bubble or emis- sion-averaging system is another attempt by the mill to obtain a more lenient method of mill air emission monitoring and will allow _ the mill to maintain its current - pollution levels. He added that the mil! overhaul is part of a $1 billion deal that has yet to be finalized. : Mike Wong, manager of the ministry's ‘Lower Mainland waste management branch, said Tuesday By TIMOTHY R News Report his department has received letters of concern over the mill's amend- ment application from a lot of prominent peaple in the Howe Sound area in addition to the Watch's petition. He said because of the obvious concern, he could not estimate when a decision on the amendment would be made. The bubble system, Wong said, would allow the mill ‘more flex- ibility’’ in its air pollution monitoring than the current measurement from individual stacks. Wong added that Port Mellon is the only mill in his region that has applied for the measurement system. Canfor is currently investing $2.3 million to reduce its Totally Reduced Sulphur (TRS) levels and has invested $20 million on pollu- tion controls at the mill over the past nine years. Company director of energy and environment Kirke MacMillan said particulate and TRS levels will be 20 per cent below current ‘B’ levels under total loading measurements during the two-year overhaul period. Because high-speed scrubbers installed on two of the mill’s three recovery boilers to reduce par- ticulate ash and TRS have not been effective, the. company has balked . at installing ‘a ‘similar $10 ‘million’ scrubber on its recovery boiler number three, emissions from which Jacks said pose the most serious health threat to area resi- dents. Under the terms of Port Mellon’s air pollution variance order, which was extended in 1986, the mill is required to install the scrubber. But MacMillan said Tuesday it : ; ae was “pointless” to install a scrub- g’) 2+ EE eR . ee ber that the company knows will § ALMOST 25,000 plastic ducks raced down the Capilano River Sunday in the North be less effective in reducing per. g Wancouver Rotary Club’s duck race. Organizers are labelling the race — which zaised’ | EE ee aerator a £+.$60,000 for the ciub’s local projects —:a Success. Here, Andre Anglos h trostati ipitat lready in- ” ike : aie Hime eee enor reay A some of the 24,680 ducks at the finish'line. . Seo Canfor Page 3