An Ottawa-based company called Plasco Energy Group Inc. tried to make Port Moody part of its scheme to build a garbage gasification empire across Canada. But citizens got in the way.
Plasco’s strategy is to sign up one city to allow them to build a “plasma-arc” garbage plant and then use that agreement to leverage future contracts. They offer early adopters a bounty payment for each future community that signs up and promise that they’ll build their plant “at no cost to the city.”
Plasco got its foothold in Ottawa in 2006, drawing on political ties to bring in several million dollars in provincial and federal support to build a small (75 tonnes per day) demonstration plant on land provided free by the City of Ottawa. The plant was supposed to be fully operational over a year ago but to-date it has never run at anything close to full test capacity, nor has it been able to run more than 36 hours continuously.
Undeterred by such serious difficulties with their demonstration plant, Plasco scouted the country for the next sign-up. In June 2008 the City of Port Moody approved a “non-binding” agreement to look at siting a plant on its former landfill site, won over by what proved to be misleading claims about the technology.
Over the summer of 2008, a task force struck by Port Moody’s Environmental Protection Committee held public meetings on the proposal. Each meeting disclosed more information about the shakiness of Plasco’s case. By Labour Day it was pretty clear that the tide had shifted against Plasco.
Even as the Port Moody proposal was receiving public scrutiny, a separate Plasco deal with the Central Alberta Waste Management Commission was unraveling. In late September 2008, local communities started backing out of the Plasco agreement, citing concerns from their legal advisors about financial risks.9
Elaine Golds, a leading BC environmentalist and resident of Port Moody, told the local task force “Gasification is not the answer and Port Moody is not the place.” She said that so-called “waste to energy” plants are actually a waste of energy and would result in the release of toxic heavy metals and dioxins into the airshed. “This sounds like a facility with serious problems rather than one with a stellar operating record”.
In the face of overwhelming public opposition, Plasco, rather than face certain defeat at the October 14 Port Moody Council meeting, submitted a letter on October 9 to Port Moody in which they officially withdrew their proposal.
9 “Plasco partners keep pulling out,” Red Deer Advocate, Sept 26, 2008. (cited October 4. 2008)