Children at Highway 6 and Hill Drive, near the proposed pellet plant site on School Road.
Image Credit: LIFE
January 12, 2015 - 4:37 PM
COLDSTREAM - Now that the Ministry of Environment has granted a permit to the operators of a proposed wood pellet plant in Lavington, opponents of the project are increasing pressure on local politicians to stall construction.
Representatives of Lavington Is For Everyone (LIFE) will go before Coldstream council tonight, Jan. 12, to ask the municipality to hold off issuing a development permit until more is known about the plant’s potential adverse effects on the community. The group argues there is insufficient evidence to call the proposed Pinnacle Pellet Plant safe.
The District of Coldstream has already agreed to rezone the property so Pinnacle Renewable Energies can build the plant and the Ministry of Environment has issued a permit allowing the operation to go ahead.
In an email to Infonews.ca, the Ministry said a condition to the permit is that pollution control equipment must be upgraded at the existing Tolko sawmill before the pellet plant can operate.
“As a result, it is expected that the overall impact to the air shed from both facilities will result in a net reduction of particulate discharges, and subsequent improvement, to local air quality,” the Ministry stated.
In documents filed to the District of Coldstream, LIFE asks the municipality to support an appeal of the permit issued by the Ministry of Environment, and to hold issuance of a development permit in abeyance until more evidence is gathered.
The group of residents behind LIFE gathered over 400 signatures on a petition against the project and recently secured funding from West Coast Environmental Law to pursue legal research and action against the wood pellet plant.
The group has a number of concerns with the project, from air pollution to the risk of explosions.
The council meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the municipal office on Kalamalka Road.
Image Credit: LIFE
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015