Just give me the facts, please

Opponents of the Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp. railway-tie plant are finally ramping up, after it’s likely too late. Save Kamloops, after declaring “victory” when City council voted with them against ACC, went quiet for weeks.

Now, with a permit issued, the rhetoric is flying fast and furious about toxic waste and the dangers of creosote and risking the lives of our children, etc. Really, I’ve seen nothing, and I mean nothing, in the way of scientific fact to suggest this plant will not work.

Being a lay person, I’m not arrogant enough to suggest I know whether it will work or not. That, however, doesn’t stop a lot of other amateurs from proclaiming it an environmental disaster and threatening to leave town.

There’s nothing wrong with being an amateur, and nothing wrong about worrying about our environment. But, surely, reason should prevail. I’m capable of being convinced, but I haven’t seen anything yet to convince me that this a conspiracy from hell.

Is the Ministry of Environment on the take from ACC? I think not. Did they send people to North Dakota to study the gasification technology that will be used for the ACC plant? Yes, they did.

Did MOE, and Interior Health, both conclude it will not be a health hazard? Yes, they did. Does the permit include very strict guidelines for operating the plant? Yes, it does.

What does the Interior Science Innovation Council, an independent organization based here in Kamloops, have to say? It endorses the project.

Will this plant spew billowing black mushrooms of toxic smoke into the air? The only science that has been produced says it will have very low emission levels, so low the MOE says a permit normally wouldn’t even be necessary.

If there is contrary evidence that this specific technology will fail, please bring it forward. It isn’t good enough for the John O’Fees of the world to simply say, “What if it doesn’t work?” It’s not good enough either, for them to say, “My questions haven’t been answered.”

Ask questions but do more that sit back and wait for the answers. Go get them. Answers based on fact, that is. Don’t speculate, don’t make things up, don’t exaggerate.

And, while you’re doing that, please keep in mind that there are a couple of million of those “creosote-laden” railway ties piling up with no means of disposing of them, until now.