McNamer withdraws forum boycott
I’m pleased to see that John McNamer has withdrawn his attempt at boycotting tomorrow night’s chamber of commerce-hosted forum on the Aboriginal Cogen project.
In a press release today, he states, “. . . there will be no further mention of boycotting the Chamber of Commerce ACC forum as we feel the point has been made that this ‘community consultation’ is being done only after the permit was issued and should not be considered to be legitimate public consultation by anyone.”
I suspect John was dissuaded from continuing to talk boycott by other opponents of the project, as bohycotts are counter-productive in such situations. If you’re concerned about a project, refusing to listen to the guy who’s proposing it isn’t a great strategy.
As for putting “community consultation” in quotes, he and other opponents are the only ones who have done that. The forum has never been called that, though it’s certainly one form of community consultation. But call it whatever you want — the important thing is that it’s an opportunity for people to ask questions about the project and get answers straight from the proponent, rather than speculating about what it might or might not be about.
The issue over “community consultation” is specific to provincial funding approved for the project under the Innovative Clean Energy Fund. Application guidelines state that the fund is aimed at projects in which:
- All potentially impacted stakeholders and First Nations have been meaningfully engaged and necessary permits have been successfully concluded or are underway.
Once approved (which ACC has been), a project must show:
- Evidence of successful engagement with stakeholders, including First Nations, impacted by the project.
Whether the terms “meaningful consultation” is quite different from “successful engagement” or “meaningful engagement” I don’t know, though “engagement” and “consultation” can be two different things.
These clauses are what Terry Lake and Kevin Krueger have been using to try to block the project.
Now as to consultation before the issuance of the MOE permit, that actually took place during a six-month period, but I’ll get into that issue in an Armchair Mayor column, and whether it was “meaningful” or not.
Thursday night’s forum, by the way, starts at 7 p.m. in the TRU Grand Hall.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Date:Thursday, March 11, 2010
Time: 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Location: TRU outside the CAC (Campus Activity Center)
PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE USE March 06, 2010
Rally against Kamloops rail-tie plant will ‘send a message to the Minister’
Kamloops – A rally for March 11 is being organized by Kamloops area residents concerned about the permit recently granted by BC Ministry of Environment which will allow the incineration of imported toxic creosote rail ties in Kamloops.
The rally will be held on the grounds of TRU as a symbolic rejection of the legitimacy of a Chamber of Commerce forum at TRU showcasing the remarks of the plant’s president, Kim Sigurdson.
“The Chamber forum is a fraud being perpetrated on Kamloops area residents,” said John McNamer, who is helping organize the counter rally. “It is an attempt to try to establish that there has been community consultation in the permitting process, which is a requirement for the siting of this type of plant that very clearly has not been met.”
McNamer has publicly called for a boycott of the forum, calling it “strictly cosmetic.”
He has written to Minister of Environment Barry Penner asking him to suspend the air emissions permit given to the plant’s owners, Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation (ACC), and asking Penner to put into place “a legitimate agreed-upon community consultation process that includes comprehensive federal and provincial environmental impact studies.”
In that letter, Penner was also invited to attend the upcoming protest rally and speak to the crowd as well as to listen to the concerns of area residents. Concerned citizens will be given a chance to express themselves over a public address system set up outside the Chamber forum in TRU’s Grand Hall.
“With our attendance at this rally and our comments, we want to send a message to the Minister that Kamloops area residents – many of them voters – feel betrayed by a completely inadequate process,” McNamer said in a press release. “We will be voting with our feet on March 11.”
Rally organizers are extending an invitation to members of Kamloops City Council to address the assembled crowd and talk about the unanimous resolution council has passed in opposition to the ACC plant, which will be within the city, adjacent to the Thompson River on Mission Flats road. Other prominent opponents, including representatives of First Nations, the Kamloops business community and the Kamloops medical community, are being invited to speak.
McNamer, a retired rancher with a home in Kamloops, was instrumental in defeating a toxic waste incinerator that was planned for the Cache Creek area in the late 1980s. He said he will speak at the rally about a related toxic waste incinerator at Swan Hills, Alberta, and detail “the environmental horror story” seen at that facility. ”
“I invite anybody to look at the experience at Swan Hills, a type of toxic waste incinerator which was also guaranteed to be safe and clean,” he said. “It will send chills up your spine.”
The rally takes place outside, in the central plaza below the TRU Campus Activity Centre from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The Chamber Forum begins at 7 p.m. inside the Campus Activity Centre.
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