Quesnel City Council has expressed some concerns over the School Board’s decision to put in a biomass boiler heating system at Correlieu Secondary.
Council’s issue is with P.M. 2.5 output, which is the fine particulate that is a health concern.
Mayor Bob Simpson noted that they would be nominal emissions but…
“It’s against the backdrop of a community that is working to rebrand itself and air quality is a massive component of our rebranding issue, if you will.”
Simpson says the Air Quality Roundtable, when doing it’s work, zeroed in on P.M. 2.5…
“The School Board is a member of the roundtable, they have someone that sits there, who knows that that is the strategic direction of the air quality roundtable. I think that is the egregious issue.”
Council, while it has no authority over the permitting of such a boiler, will ask the Board of Education to further consult the public on the issue and to seek funding from the Provincial Government to install a scrubber in the system.
The idea behind the School Board’s decision to go to the boiler is to save money and cut greenhouse gases.