Kitimat Clean, a company founded by newspaper publisher David Black, is promoting a "world scale" new refinery to process all the bitumen delivered to the B.C. coast by the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.

In an August 17 news release published on the Kitimat Clean website, Black set out his proposal:

The refinery will have the capacity to process all of the output of the planned Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.

The refinery will be state-of-the-art and designed specifically for processing Alberta oil sands heavy crude oil. We want it to be the cleanest and greenest upgrading and refining site in the world.

The plant will process up to 550,000 barrels per day of dilbit (condensate diluent and Alberta oil sands bitumen). The diluent will be separated and returned to Edmonton via the proposed Enbridge secondary pipeline.

The plant will produce 240,000 barrels per day of diesel, 100,000 of gasoline and 50,000 of kerosene, or aviation fuel.

We hope to begin construction in 2014 and conclude by 2020.

The plant will be located at the 3000 hectare Dubose location which is 25 kilometers north of Kitimat and 25 kilometers south of Terrace. The Dubose site is Crown Land zoned for industrial use. The Enbridge pipelines are planned to run through the property.

The refined fuels will be piped forty kilometers south of the Dubose property to a marine terminal site on the Douglas Channel. Enbridge currently plans to use this site as its proposed crude oil shipping terminal.

Petroleum coke and sulphur by-products will be loaded onto ships at Kitimat if a bulk marine terminal is available or shipped by rail to Ridley Island at Prince Rupert for loading.

We will also build a natural gas cogeneration facility at the Dubose site that will provide steam and electric power for the refinery.

The website also offers maps of the proposed site and a very brief statement on Black's background, as well as a more detailed Questions and Answers page.

Black's announcement has drawn extensive media coverage. It is also being discussed on Twitter here and here.

Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.