One thing the Comox Valley is not lacking is passion for a cause.
When it comes to environmental issues, local residents seem particularly passionate.
Protestors regularly gather outside Ronna-Rae Leonard’s constituency office, demanding we take better care of our environment. Rallies against the Site C Dam, pipelines and the logging of old growth trees are commonplace on Fifth Street.
Most Facebook feeds are filled with anti-pipeline commentary, climate change concerns and demands for individuals to change their ways, for the good of future generations, if not our own.
That’s why it’s puzzling that the idea of waste to energy (W2E) has not drawn more public support in the Comox Valley.
Former Area B director Rod Nichol appears to be a one-man show, calling for Comox Strathcona Waste Management to stay the course in its consideration of converting the landfill to a W2E site.
Sustane Technologies is building a state-of-the-art plant in Nova Scotia where solid wastes will be transformed to fuels and recyclable materials at lower costs than landfills. The company has offered to build the same type of plant here. Yet the CSWM shows little interest.
Cost seems to be the biggest hurdle. The CSWM claims the W2E option is too costly. In its defence, the CSWM has a responsibility to appease its stakeholders - us - and if there’s one thing the Comox Valley Regional District knows, it’s that residents despise tax increases.
But why is the public not rallying in support of this? This is a chance for all those concerned about the future of this planet to make a real difference, right here in our own backyard.
Sure, it’s easy to poo-poo the oil and gas industry, logging, and other climate change monsters. Protests and Facebook rants cost us nothing more than our time. But this is a chance to actually do something right here, right now - a chance to shrink our own environmental footprint.
It may cost us more at the outset. And the cost will be immediate. Maybe that is why nobody is jumping on the W2E bandwagon… because the costs are real.
But so is the benefit. It’s time to get on the W2E bandwagon. Our future generations will thank us.
–Terry Farrell