Dear Editor:
Three years ago I attended a public information session at which options for disposing of solid waste in Metro Vancouver were discussed.
I was disappointed in the session as it was obvious Metro Vancouver had already decided to proceed with the waste to energy (incinerator) option. There were five so-called experts on the panel and they were all proponents of waste to energy. I felt like I was attending a propaganda session.
Concerns expressed by members of the audience were dismissed cavalierly with the assurance that the process would be so efficient that it would not produce any hazardous air emissions.
I see the B.C. Ministry of the Environment has granted approval for Metro Vancouver to pursue plans for a waste to energy facility and Metro Vancouver is resisting allowing the Fraser Valley Regional District to be directly involved in oversight of the implementation of the project.
This is interesting since the prevailing winds are from the west, which means that any emissions from the facility will blow to the east into the FVRD's jurisdiction. I will await anxiously the decision where to site the facility. If it is sited in Richmond or Vancouver I will have some confidence that the decision makers believe what the experts are telling them.
Unfortunately all of the options for disposing of solid waste are unattractive and it may be that waste to energy is in fact the best or rather least bad option.
However, before reaching that conclusion, an impartial fully informed review of all of the options should have taken place, which to my knowledge hasn't happened. Garth Evans, Burnaby
