Ian Gartshore

Background: pressure is being applied to the Regional District of Nanaimo to allow a proposed Waste to Energy (WTE) incinerator to be built near Nanaimo in order to burn garbage from the lower mainland. So far they've turned this down, and likely could use some support from us. This is my letter of support. To: corpsrv@rdn.bc.ca cc'd to  Michelle Stilwell MLA ; Len Krog MLA ; Doug Routley MLA Dear Directors of the Regional District of Nanaimo, I would like to applaud your decision in 2013 to oppose the building of an WTE (Waste to Energy) incinerator facility in our area to burn Metro Vancouver's garbage.  Given the lack of industry in our area, and the resulting lack of tax revenues to Nanaimo from the Duke Point industrial area, I can appreciate that this may be a difficult one for the city councillors in particular. I believe there is a better way. I have just learned that Nanaimo has been chosen to be the site of the next annual conference of

Should Nanaimo be the site to burn garbage from the lower mainland? As I see it: Pro: As an energy advisor I know that the more local source of electricity we generate the more stable the electrical grid becomes.  The proposed plant would yield little actual power output; not much more than the potential of power being generated from our drinking water supply (gravity-fed from the mountains). But every bit of power counts. It is FAR better to burn garbage than it is to landfill it in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Why? Rotting compostable materials in the absence of oxygen (typical in dumps) create enormous amounts of methane gas, thousands of times more powerful in changing climate than is the carbon dioxide created when incinerating the same material. Local construction and maintenance jobs would be created. Local garbage could be incinerated. The waste heat could be used by another facility (which would then be responsible for the emissions, giving the i

What does it mean for our local economy and local jobs when virtually all of the money for electricity and fuels leaves the community?  It is not good.  Is it truly possible to create clean electricity locally, create good jobs here, AND stop paying fossil fuel companies those high prices? Yes! British Columbia already has cleaner electricity than does Alberta (where it is mostly coal-fired). Clean (much cheaper) electricity could power our transportation sector. Electric trains, electric or hydrogen buses, electric or compressed air cars, and far more cycling and walking paths would all contribute enormously to reducing the costs and pollution. Creating local jobs producing that clean electricity, such as is being generated at the local landfill and the drinking water pipeline coming out of the local mountains, is more than possible. Here we could be erecting wind turbines (perhaps Mount Benson, or the valley behind it), solar panels on most roofs, tidal power (this alone could d

This week I was invited to submit a few paragraphs to a popular local blog, saying what my campaign platform was about.  I appreciate the opportunity! What I wrote about are the areas I hear the most concern about: Jobs, health, the environment, and how to pay for all of these.  The exercise of being concise, yet detailed enough to cover the many important subjects, is a good exercise. If you wish to see what I wrote, the summary can be found at the Go Nanaimo Blog .