Editor:
I am concerned that we are trying to kill the golden goose.
I came to Williams Lake at the end of the burners and do not want to go back to them. If this plant doesn’t get a license, then we are looking at returning to some kind of waste wood burning system.
The community needs to see that this plant is an essential part of the wood processing industry and should be supporting the license renewal. This plant is both a benefit, socially and financially, to the community. The issue of burning railway ties is a separate issue from the license to operate.
I am not crazy about burning ties but they are lying along railway lines all over Western Canada and leeching into the soil or the air, at these sites.
Are we not better off disposing of these ties in a controlled environment, under the supervision of professionals? The disposing of ties is not a small time venture with very loose ground rules. The capital investment in the processing of these ties before burning is in the $12 million range.
They must be processed in a controlled environment to contain air and ground contamination. The plan has had a lot of thought put into it and shouldn’t be discarded, unilaterally. As for the license, this plant is a very important piece of our community fabric. Please support it.
Bill Carruthers
Williams Lake