Don't Burn Rail Ties For Energy!

Minister Mungall, let’s make sure that British Columbia does not become the province in Canada where rail ties are burned for biomass energy.

Washington State and Oregon State have both explicitly banned the sale of biomass energy generated from burning rail ties. In the European Union, rail ties have to be disposed of in specialized landfills or incinerators.

Meanwhile, the biomass plant in Williams Lake wants to burn at least 0.8 to 1.2 million railway ties per year and sell the energy to BC Hydro. If estimates provided by CN and CP Rail in 2011 are still comparable, there are only 0.8 million newly retired railway ties in Western Canada each year. This means the plant will burn at least all the newly retired railway ties as well as stockpiled ties, some of which may be treated with PCP and almost all of which are treated with creosote and creosote borate.
British Columbians do not want to fill their air with the fumes of burning rail ties. In 2010, a proposal for a cogeneration plant with a CN Rail contract to burn rail ties was prevented from going ahead because of strong opposition from the community of Kamloops

You have the ability to step forward and protect British Columbia’s air from harmful pollutants that are toxic to the environment and human health. Make sure that the Clean Energy Act ensures that only clean wood is burnt for energy consumption, not rail ties.