The initial public consultation period is over for a controversial proposed industrial project near the shore of Eaglet Lake, which could burn thousands of tonnes of coal or petroleum coke per year and potentially increase greenhouse gas emissions for the province by up to 1.24 per cent.
B.C.-based Graymont Western Canada is seeking to develop a limestone quarry and lime plant near the lake, approximately 27 kilometres east-northeast of Prince George, near the unincorporated community of Giscome.
From Aug. 8 to Sept. 8, the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) accepted public submissions ahead of setting the application information requirements for the project. Once those information requirements are complete, the company will be able to apply for environmental certification -a process that will trigger a second round of public consultations.
"All our reports are rolling in. We should have the rest of the studies wrapped up this month. We'll be able to file our application shortly after that," Rob Beleutz said.
Beleutz, Graymont's health, safety and environment manager and auditor, said the company plans to have the application filed to the EAO by the end of the year.
In a project description filed to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office, Graymont initially plans to quarry 600,000 tonnes per year of high-calcium limestone from a 220-hectare quarry site four kilometres southeast of Giscome.
The rock will be crushed and screened at the quarry site, before being transported by a five-kilometre, covered conveyer system to the lime processing plant 400 metres from the shore of Eaglet Lake.
Beleutz said the decision to go with a conveyor system, rather than trucking rock from the quarry, came after receiving input from the community -some of which came at a May 12 public forum held by the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George regarding the rezoning of the proposed lime plant site.
"We've minimized handling of stone at the plant site," he added.
The proposed plant site was previously used by CN Rail to quarry ballast rock and has an existing rail connection and gravel road access. The lime plant's footprint will be limited to previously disturbed land on the site, he said, which currently is a mix of gravel and scrub.
At the processing plant, the limestone will be heated to approximately 1,000 C in a vertical kiln and converted into lime (calcium carbonate), a chemical used in a wide variety of industries including construction, steel manufacturing, water treatment, pulp and paper, mining and for removing sulfur dioxide from smokestack emissions.
The addition of up to two additional kilns could increase the amount of limestone mined to 1.7 million tonnes per year, with an annual production of lime of 600,000 tonnes.
The initial construction is expected to employ 40 to 60 people, and project is expected to create 10 to 15 permanent, full-time jobs.
According to the project description, the plant is expected to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The kilns will burn coal, petroleum coke, natural gas or wood biofuel, according to the report.
"We actually haven't settled on a specific fuel at this time. Natural gas is our preference," Beleutz said. "[But] there is no gas line out there."
It seems unlikely the company could find a sustainable, economic supply of wood biomass he added, because the material is already being full used in the local economy.
During the May 12 meeting held by the regional district, Graymont project manager David Chamberlain said the most-likely fuel source for the kiln(s) would be coal or petroleum coke, as the neared gas line is 20 kilometres away in Shelly and it would be very expensive to build the line to bring gas in.
In his book The Silent Epidemic: Coal and the Hidden Threat to Health, researcher Alan Lockwood said the mercury, fine particulate and other pollutants released by burning coal have been linked to heart disease, stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes, poor mental development and possibly diabetes.
Petroleum coke is a coal-like substance created as a byproduct by oil refineries. Documents released by Graymont in 2007 estimated the kilns could use up to 120 tonnes of coal per day. Graymont temporarily shelved the project in 2007, pending the outcome of legislation changes in the province and improvements in the global economy.
In 2007, the project was estimated to cost $140 million to build. No updated cost estimate was available.
"We've completely changed the kiln design [since 2007]," Beleutz said. "They don't generate waste, everything is utilized in the process."
The high-tech vertical kilns are 35 per cent more fuel efficient than conventional long rotary kilns, he added, and waste less stone material. The plant isn't expected to draw or discharge water from Eaglet Lake.
Lime plants are a significant source of climate change-causing carbon dioxide emissions, according to 2006 study on the British lime industry by consulting firm Entec.
According to the report, the conversion of high-calcium limestone into one tonne of lime produces 0.785 tonnes of carbon dioxide in addition to any carbon dioxide emitted from the kiln fuel.
Burning petroleum coke to fuel the kilns contributed a further 0.49 to 0.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every tonne of lime produced at U.K. lime plants, Entec wrote.
Natural gas-fired kilns generated an additional 0.21 to 0.58 tonnes of carbon dioxide per tonne of lime.
Assuming Graymont's kilns operate as efficiently as the most efficient British lime kilns, the lime refinery would emit 199,000 to 255,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, depending on the fuel source, at the initial build out of 200,000 tonnes of lime per year.
At the maximum potential production of 600,000 tonnes of lime per year, the proposed Graymont plant would emit 597,000 to 765,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, depending on the fuel source.
The 2012 B.C. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report estimated the total greenhouse gas emissions in the province at 61.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. That means the proposed lime plant could increase greenhouse gas emissions for the whole province by 0.32 to 0.41 per cent initially, and between 0.97 and 1.24 per cent at full capacity.
Air quality and carbon dioxide emissions will be addressed in the Graymont's final application for environmental certification, Beleutz said.
"That information will come out in the final application," he said. "The market [for lime] is huge. If we don't supply it, it'll come from who knows where. There is no substitute for this material."
