Business in Vancouver January 16-22, 2007; issue 899

The recent protest in front of Environment Minister Barry Penner’s Chilliwack constituency office against a relatively small coal and wood residue-fired power plant proposed for Princeton is to be expected.

This, after all, is British Columbia.

And the two coal-based energy projects that made the cut in B.C. Hydro’s most recent tendering process break new and controversial ground in B.C.

Or do they?

It’s a little-known fact that the Lower Mainland’s two cement plants both burn large amounts of coal – day and night, year round. At least one of them went through a B.C. Environmental Assessment Act review in 1996, which generated hardly any public interest.

For more than 10 years, the plant operators have been actively involved in greenhouse gas management planning to offset carbon-dioxide emissions. And as far as sulphur dioxide goes, another major emission from burning coal, the limestone that is fed into their kilns as an ingredient for cement also naturally binds into it much of the sulphur found in coal.

New coal-fired power plants (and retrofitted old ones) use the same principle for reducing their sulphur dioxide emissions. They also use controlled burning techniques for efficient combustion in addition to sophisticated particulate-capture equipment.

Mercury ranks highest among the metals of potential concern, and its complete elimination from coal emissions is not feasible at this time. Penner has publicly stated, however, that emissions standards for coal-fired plants in B.C. will be at least as stringent as any applicable elsewhere in Canada. This is consistent with current air-quality and emission-control standards in B.C., which are typically set with reference to wide-ranging research and best practices from around the world.

Compliance Energy Corp.’s $200 million coal-fired project at Princeton and AESWapiti Energy Corp.’s similar $300 million project in the Tumbler Ridge area both have 30-year electricity purchase contracts and intend to start operating in November.

It remains to be seen whether either plant manages to break ground, though they will likely encounter different levels of resistance.

Major projects tend to get a warmer local reception in northern B.C., although they rarely fly entirely under the radar screen of major environmental groups even there.

And the Princeton project, as noted, has already sparked protest. A local coalition has been formed, numerous protest letters have been sent to the provincial government, and the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association (among others) has called for provincewide hearings. Opponents of Sumas II are lending support and expertise.

Could this be the next big thing that major environmental groups operating in B.C. throw their weight behind? If so – and based in part on the long-standing use of coal as a fuel in other industrial facilities in this province – I believe it will be a misguided effort.

Today’s clean coal options seem hardly believable in comparison to what is imprinted on our collective psyches from the dirty history of coal burning. Coal is destined to remain an important part of the global energy mix into the foreseeable future.

Use of more of B.C.’s extensive coal resources here at home will ensure that the most stringent of environmental requirements apply, and provide opportunities to refine the technology that is gradually moving coal-fired generation closer to the zero-emission ideal.

The environmental impacts associated with coal-based electricity generated in B.C. are likely to be much cleaner than the impacts associated with some of the imported electricity it will be displacing.

The proponents of these projects may have a rocky road ahead of them in terms of public acceptance, but B.C. will be well-served if they manage to navigate it.

Jackie Hamilton (Jackie.Hamilton @telus.net) is the president of Jackie Hamilton and Associates, a Victoria-based regulatory and research consulting firm, and the principal author of the Major Projects Inventory (www.majorprojectsinventory.com), which tracks major construction projects across British Columbia.