There have been a number of potentially hot issue stories about the North Shore in the news recently. I thought I would combine them into one post for (polite, thoughtful) discussion purposes.
1) The Canexus propane plant in the District will be temporarily closing soon for upgrades, perhaps during the Olympics, but some are saying it's because of the risk of a terrorist threat.
2) North Vancouver has been listed by Metro Vancouver as a possible site for a $440m waste-to-energy garbage incinerator, since "heavily developed areas of Surrey, Burnaby, New Westminster, the Tri Cities or North Vancouver are considered the likeliest sites because they'd be the best fit for district heating." North Vancouver City Mayor Mussatto says
"I still have an open mind," said North Vancouver City Mayor Darrell Mussatto, adding there are pros and cons to both options.
If a waste-to-energy plant is built, he said he'd love to use the waste heat in the city's existing Lower Lonsdale district heating network.
The problem, he said, is there's no logical site nearby and it may make more sense to locate the incinerator somewhere more central, closer to other transfer stations and the bulk of the region's population, rather than trucking waste to the North Shore.
3) Industrial land continues to sell at a premium on the North Shore, because there has always been "a lack of it" and because some has recently been rezoned to commercial or residential use.
16 opinions/comments:
Oooh! Terrerists! Scary kids! Don't go out at night! Better to put a plant full of employees out of work for four or five weeks!
Oops - Does that mean that the Terrerists have won?
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we have no idea what else is coming down the Olympic pike.
I note today that anyone with a ticket to an Olympic event also gets free use of Translink services.
Does anyone know the likelihood that VANOC is paying for all of those transit fares?
Roger if you just heard that for the first time today then you *really* do need to get out more! LOL
I had to smile at Barry R's sarcasm re terrorists - what a rube.
Have we forgotten the Munich Olympics? That Canada has been publicly included "on the list" as an enemy state by Islamic terrorists because of our participation in Afghanistan and that, as such, will be subject to terrorist response?
We are hosting a world event that will be reported to every part of the globe. That makes Vancouver a venue for alot more than sports.
Good for the planners to take all reasonable precautions.
That's OK Barry, VANOC will probably pay for the "plant full of employees" wages too.
"It Goes Into Your City as a Cold Dense Killing Cloud," Hazardous Materials Consultant Says about Chlorine Disasters
Linda Solomon
Dec 1st, 2009
A Canadian company is dumping its "waste chlorine" into the markets of the United States and by doing so, alleges a hazardous material expert in Washington, DC, the company is endangering the lives of millions of citizens in and beyond Vancouver. Washington, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis have banned chlorine from being transported along their rails and Fred Millar, the hazardous materials expert, says the Olympics offers a "teachable moment" to Vancouver regarding the dangers of transporting the chlorine through the city.
A spill, according to the chlorine industry itself, could kill people within 15 miles of the track. The information is out there, and it's scary. But, I wonder as I sift through my notes, after talking to Millar, does Vancouver want to learn?
Strategy to keep people in the dark?
"As if this wasn’t used in WWI. It was so damn effective. It kills people so horribly. When you inhale chlorine, you burn your lungs, and you drown in your own fluids. It is a horrible death. It is so horrible that in WWI they outlawed chlorine gas. In the countries that fought, the diplomats made a gentleman’s agreement that chlorine was too horrible to use in warfare. But the punch line of all that is: 'My God they didn’t outlaw the machine gun, but they outlawed chlorine.' Apparently they can slaughter millions with a machine gun but death by chlorine is too horrible. Basically people are facing a horrible, horrible risk and communities are being kept in the dark about it. That’s the only way you can ship chlorine around the country like it’s peanut butter. Keep people in the dark."
Meet Fred Millar, of Washington, DC. He's very upset about what he sees as a risk to millions from chlorine transports.
Fred Millar, a hazardous material transportation and security consultant believes Canadians in general and Vancouverites in particular are ignorant. I'm personally shocked that the reporting from the Vancouver Observer of the dangers chlorine poses to the city has not led to television stories, radio stories, Globe and Mail stories---and ultimately public hearings that would ban chlorine from passing through our city.
"The only reason they’re moving their rail cars out of Vancouver is rail security," Millar said, after reading the Vancouver Observer/Tyee story yesterday and phoning to fill in more of the picture. "Only Washington DC enacted a mandatory re-routing (ban) of chlorine and other ultra hazardous chemical cargoes by rail and truck - and got stymied by a lawsuit from the railroads and the Bush Admin. The 9 other cities (and 2 states) introduced ordinances but did not enact them waiting for the DC court case to resolve."
Foreign policy puts Canada at risk?
"My argument to Canadians has been, 'if you guys had a sensible foreign policy where you were not in bed with the American occupying Arab countries all over the place, you wouldn't be a target.' But dammit you have been in bed with America in America’s misadventures. The recent terrorist attacks that have been most sensational in transportation have been against Spain and England. They killed 192 people in Spain. Immediately Spain withdrew their troops. In England, the Blair administration's support of America has been very unpopular. They attacked London with four bombs in the transit system that killed 50 people. I’m just talking about transportation attacks connected with the countries that supported US occupations on Arab lands. That is a whole discussion here in the US."
Millar contradicted a Canexus official's assertion that the chlorine rail cars that will allegedly be parked in the back yard of a Washington State couple are strong enough to withstand it if someone threw a grenade at them. "Not a single tank car in this country has ever been made to withstand a terrorist attack. They put on thermal insulation, a new coupling device and head shields: a big metal wall. The only thing a chlorine tank car is made to withstand is a general roll down the hill."
Let Bhopal be a warning? What follows now is a direct transcript of my conversation with Millar. In his words:
After the Union Carbide accident in Bhopal, India everybody was asking 'can it happen here?' Methyl Isocyanate leaked into Bhopal overnight and killed an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people. And about 100,000 were injured. Maybe 200,000. Now Union Carbide has been bought by Dow Chemical. Dow Chemical has just announced that they’ve reduced their poison gas cargos like chlorine and others (TIH—toxic by inhalation) that they’ve reduced their cargo by 40% and will reduce it by another 50% in the next few years."
"The main point here is the shippers of really dangerous cargos are increasingly concerned about the use of these cargos as a terrorist weapon. The Dow announcement is one example of that.
If Canadians only knew...
Millar contradicted a Canexus official's assertion that the chlorine rail cars that will allegedly be parked in the back yard of a Washington State couple are strong enough to withstand it if someone threw a grenade at them. "Not a single tank car in this country has ever been made to withstand a terrorist attack. They put on thermal insulation, a new coupling device and head shields: a big metal wall. The only thing a chlorine tank car is made to withstand is a general roll down the hill."
Let Bhopal be a warning? What follows now is a direct transcript of my conversation with Millar. In his words:
After the Union Carbide accident in Bhopal, India everybody was asking 'can it happen here?' Methyl Isocyanate leaked into Bhopal overnight and killed an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people. And about 100,000 were injured. Maybe 200,000. Now Union Carbide has been bought by Dow Chemical. Dow Chemical has just announced that they’ve reduced their poison gas cargos like chlorine and others (TIH—toxic by inhalation) that they’ve reduced their cargo by 40% and will reduce it by another 50% in the next few years."
"The main point here is the shippers of really dangerous cargos are increasingly concerned about the use of these cargos as a terrorist weapon. The Dow announcement is one example of that.
If Canadians only knew...
Canadians have been kept so innocent in all of this and I could not get one Canadian news agency to cover this. They say we don’t think we can get a story about rail security because we’ve been covering rail accidents.
Worse case scenario
If Canexus has a terrible release and it kills 10,000 people, Canexus will go bankrupt and they’ll just walk away. The people in Burnaby or Vancouver won’t have someone they can sue. Clorox wants to get out of legal liability.
There is one other possibility besides terrorism why Canexus is storing dozens of chlorine tank cars 150 feet from homes in Belmont, WA. Maybe the price of Canexus-origin chlorine gas has plummeted. Or perhaps it has dropped relative to other producers desperate to get rid of their waste product such as US
Magnesium in Utah, another disastrously sited plant regarding getting rid of waste chlorine from magnesium production.
The US Naval research lab said in testimony in the Washington DC city council on re-routing, which they enacted on a 10-1 vote. The bill said if you’re bringing chlorine gas and other hazardous cargos through this city and you don’t have an origin or destination in this area, go around.
"Disasterously situated"
The thing that Canadians….you know that those cargos are mainly going to the United States from Vancouver. There was a comment to your [Linda Solomon and Megan Stewart's] article [on The Tyee] that said, 'well, this is because you have a comparative advantage, Canexus has an advantage where it is that they can sell it to the US. Canexus is the most disasterously sited chlorine production plant in North America. They are trying to ship to customers mostly in the US. Their huge long transportation routes involves routes through major cities. Why would anybody think it’s a good idea to have a chlorine production plant in N. America that is going to sell to customers way way across the US. Isn’t that costly? It is. That’s because chlorine is a waste product. It’s being produced in N. Van as a waste product. Ever since the beginning of history, chlorine has been produced as a byproduct of sodium hydroxide. It’s a very valuable chemical. It’s extremely valuable as a feedstock for other uses.
What the map would show you:
The vulnerable zone in Vancouver would be 15-mile zone on each side of the track....and the actual release is only going to impact people in a much more narrow zone under the plume.
Steve Flynn of the US Homeland security official did a scenario of a toxic chemical attack in Philadelphia that could produce a cloud over the city that would go over the local baseball stadium…that was his scenario…That’s in his book, "The Edge of Disaster."
Even the US is unprepared.
Former Chairman Carolyn Merritt of the US Chem Safety Board said US communities are unprepared. She compared them to Bhopal. There are lovely safety videos on the website on the Emergency Response's lack of preparedness in the US. The official title is Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
Communities are unprepared and this board is worried that citizens aren’t taking this stuff seriously because they are uninformed.
We need to know more about this story.
Chris Shaw, who lives near the plant, raised the question of why the plant would close for the Olympics and re-open afterwards. Why protect people coming for the Games, and not the people of Vancouver. Stewart was careful to emphasize the exemplary safety record Canexus has always had.
Information is power, but you have to be willing to act on what you know.
Best case scenario: a positive outcome
The reporting VO does leads other media to spread the story and this creates a critical mass that results in public dialogue between citizens, hazardous materials experts, the city councils of Vancouver, North Vancouver and Burnaby, and chlorine manufacturers. We get information about the risks and benefits of transporting hazardous materials out on the table and create transparency.
It's in our backyard.
Did you not see the link with that article?
"I thought I would combine them into one post for (polite, thoughtful) discussion purposes."
So much for your thought.
Barry Rueger please note there is no FREE RIDE for spectators who purchased 2010 tickets as you seem to think. VANOC is paying or I should say the spectators are paying for it. LOL
From 2010 website “A fulfillment fee is applicable to each ticket and covers the cost of implementing the ticketing program and ensures that ticketed spectators will have access to local public transit on the day of their event. “ “travel from Vancouver to Whistler or Cypress Mountain is not included in the fulfillment fee and must be purchased separately”
Each and every ticket I purchased had a fulfillment fee added to it. The fulfillment fee appeared to be different based on venue location. As an example the fulfillment fee that was added to the ticket cost for a set of 4 tickets to a downtown ceremony was $16. It looks like the fulfillment fee on downtown tickets was lower than other venues I purchased.
Keep in mind every ticket sold has a fulfillment fee added to it even if you lived next door to the venue and have no intention of using a bus to get there. So if you happen to live downtown and will walk to the hockey game or have a slop side condo at Whistler & will ski over to the venue you paid the same extra fee to cover transportation as the person who will us the bus.
North Van District collapsed like a house of cards at the idea of a bus depot.
Imagine a regional incinerator.
^They might not have a say in the matter, just like the sewage treatment facility that's coming down the pike for Norgate. (I'll be that bus depot sounds like a great idea now, doesn't it?)
There's a reason why the merchants in the Pemberton-Welch area refer to those lands as "the Costco lands"
For the record I opposed Kyoto not because I disbelieved the world had a problem on climate change but rather because I did not think it fair or justifiable to give China and India a free pass on emissions. Without their commitments I don't see how such a deal could be effective.
China is only now making a minimal commitment while India is only promising to slow the rate of growth of their emissions.
How that is fair or even effective is unclear to me and it's important to sort this out since all of the plans so far proposed mean a serious decline in the standard of living for our country's children and grandchildren.
Both countries have a LOT more to lose from global warming than Canada and I do not believe any solution is feasible given their size if they do not make a serious commitment to being part of the solution.
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