A waste-to-energy company that is bidding for Metro Vancouver's garbage has been fined for air pollution violations in the U.S, according to a report this month in the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Covanta Energy Corporation has been fined more than $100,000 for violations at five plants in three states. The fines were for emitting excessive levels of the pollutants nickel, soot, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide and failure to adequately control smokestack pollutants.
The New Jersey-based company, which operates a total of 44 plants that produce electricity from garbage, recently bought a Burnaby incinerator operated by Veolia Environmental Services.
Covanta has also partnered with Green Island Energy to build a plant in Gold River, B.C. and is one of the many proponents interested in Metro Vancouver's residual solid waste -- the approximately 1.6 million tonnes of annual garbage that can't be recycled or reused. The plant, which is sited on a former pulp mill, would burn a mixture of this municipal waste and wood waste.
The project has high-profile lobbyist Andrew Wilkinson behind it, the Surrey Leader reported this week. Wilkinson is former provincial deputy minister and past president of the B.C. Liberal party.
The vice-president of Green Island Energy, Bruce Clark, also has strong Liberal ties. He is chair of the Liberal's B.C. Laurier Club and brother to former Liberal minister and deputy leader Christy Clark.
Bruce Clark did not comment specifically on Covanta's pollution fines, but told The Tyee that the proposed Gold River facility will use the "newest generation of combustion and pollution control technology," and will be "significantly better than the current facility in Burnaby."
He acknowledged the public concerns around air pollution and waste-to-energy facilities, particularly in the Fraser Valley, and noted that the Gold River plant, on Vancouver Island, is "out of that air shed."
Colleen Kimmett reports for The Tyee
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Van Isle
2 years ago
Covanta; now there's a name
Covanta; now there's a name that rings a bell, but I can't place it at the moment. Was the former name Ogden Aviation?
Norman Farrell
2 years ago
Covanta Energy Corporation
Covanta Energy Corporation (NYSE: COV), formerly Ogden Corporation, is an operator of power projects. Its waste-to-energy facilities convert municipal solid waste into energy. The Company changed its name to Covanta Energy Corporation, effective March 14, 2001.
Ogden Aviation (ex-employer of David Hahn) was sold to Menzies Aviation of the U.K. in 2000, part of Ogden Corp's move to the energy business.
Van Isle
2 years ago
Some little birdies have
Some little birdies have been telling me lately that BC Ferries aren't paying their bills to their suppliers. Is BC Ferries going the same route (pun intended) as Ogden Aviation?
freebear
2 years ago
That is why the export of garbage will be made illegal by Govt.
So Campbells business friends can get their hands on the cash for burning garbage!