Kamloops is located in a semi-arid desert. The city spans from the valley bottom (majority of population) to the hillsides that line the valley on the North and South side of the valley. The valley is also home to the South Thompson River that connects the Shuswap Lakes to Kamloops Lake, 15 minutes downstream from Kamloops. This waterway is home to the world famous Sockeye Salmon Run.
Objective
My objective is to determine if creosote burning is an Environmentally safe energy generator for the city of Kamloops and the Thompson Valley. I will be addressing the Environmental impacts of the project; as well as, researching the data that has been put forth to the government to determine if the project will do what it is intended to do.
Background
The Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation (ACC) is the company behind the proposal to construct the Creosote plant in the city of Kamloops. The company is Canadian based. out of Winnipeg, MN. The technology intended to be used in Kamloops is known as the “downdraft gasification process”. This process is intended to be used to burn railway ties at such a high temperature as to basically disintegrate the ties, and in turn, produce “Syngas”, a type of energy. Creosote contains harmful chemical compounds that pose significant health concerns. These toxic chemicals are where the public concern comes in to play.
Project Plan
A project of this magnitude needs to be looked at on many different levels in order to be nonbiased towards the environment. Economic impact, environmental impact, and whether or not the technology being proposed, is in fact, going to perform as specified will be the areas I will be looking into.
A unique and current event topic Tyler, good job. How do you plan to report your findings? Are you going to be looking at health concerns as part of your research? I think it would be a good idea, being from from Prince George ( now rated #1 for poor air quality in Canada I believe)I can understand the concerns and effects that air pollution has on people. You may want to see if looking into the long-term effects of air polution on people and environment there will help you.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on the creosote plant would be to move it outside the city. Since Kamloops Air gets stuck in our valley I dont think burning railway ties is a good idea for health reasons. It would be better to move it to a place with good air circulation. Maybe the praries?
ReplyDeleteHere is a pdf file on the benefits of creosote burning hope it helps
www.rta.org/Portals/0/Documents/RATABrochure.ashx.pdf
Very good and up to date topic,
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on the creosote plant is that it would be a good thing. one it would create jobs which will help our community also as the creosote ties sit they leech harmful toxins into the ground, so by burning them sure u put some toxins in the air, but, you gain energy.
so the way I see it you pollute the ground and gain nothing, or you pollute the air and harness some sort of energy from it.
That's a good point. never really thought of it that way. I think the concern comes when it's centralized in one location. The ties as of now are spread across the province, but when burned they will be polluting only Kamloops. To me, I think whoever put these ties their should be the one to clean them up.
ReplyDelete