After four public consultations, months of debate and plenty of negative reaction, Plasco Energy has withdrawn its proposal to build a waste-to-energy facility on a former landfill site in Port Moody.

Six days before council was set to vote on the Plasco issue, president Rod Bryden said it was clear throughout the numerous meetings that the company did not have the confidence of the public.

Many PoMo residents spoke in opposition to the facility throughout the consultation process, fearing the plant would pump harmful emissions into the air.

There were also concerns that using garbage to create fuel would minimize the focus on waste reduction and recycling.

“It didn’t seem to be a good use of our financial and human resources to go through the protracted debate,” Bryden told The Tri-City News Friday. “We don’t expect to have a plant in every city in the world.”

Had Plasco not withdrawn from the process, it appears doubtful the facility would have been approved by council.

In its recommendations, Port Moody’s Waste to Energy Task Force said the Barnet Highway site was inappropriate for a plant. Task force members also wrote that the company must refine its technology and ensure acceptable emission targets before a facility would be considered in the region.

But despite the company’s withdrawal, PoMo council still intends to vote on the report as scheduled during Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Coun. Mike Clay, who chaired the Waste to Energy Task Force, said there is still value in the work of the committee despite Plasco’s decision to remove itself from the process.

“There are recommendations that are beyond the scope of this application,” Clay said.

Parts of the report that are relevant to the broader region have been forwarded to Metro Vancouver, which is considering adding six waste-to-energy facilities in the Lower Mainland.

Clay said Port Moody has now done some of the legwork for other communities considering a waste-to-energy facility. He believes waste conversion plants may still be useful in the right situation and location in the Lower Mainland.

“There are some specific concerns to our community that wouldn’t apply elsewhere,” Clay said. “If they can evolve the process and improve it to the point where it is not emitting toxins... it may be an attractive alternative in another setting.”

Clay also expressed some concern about Plasco’s decision to pull out of the process days before council is scheduled to vote on the task force’s report.

“I believed they were committed to seeing the process through,” he said. “The timing is odd... They were at the hearings all along. Maybe they were thinking there was some salvation there as the process evolved — that they would hear something different.”

Elaine Golds, chair of the Burke Mountain Naturalists and outspoken opponent of Plasco, was elated at the news the company had withdrawn its proposal.

But she disagreed with Clay’s belief that waste-to-energy technology could be valuable in another part of the region. She said she will work to fight Metro Vancouver from going ahead with its plans to use waste conversion technology anywhere in the Lower Mainland.

“I think this is a very important issue,” said Golds, who writes The Tri-City News’ Green Scene column. “It needs to be brought up in the municipal elections... This is a good first step but we need to complete the process.”

Plasco approached the city of Port Moody with its proposal earlier this year and the city and the company signed a non-binding agreement in July to build a waste-to-energy facility on the old landfill site off the Barnet Highway.

The city then launched a lengthy public consultation process, holding numerous meetings over the summer.

Plasco has long claimed it can turn city garbage into useful products such energy, aggregate and agricultural sulphur without creating emissions and points to its test facility in Ottawa as proof its technology works.

But as the consultation process continued, questions arose as to whether the Ottawa plant was living up to Plasco’s claims.

While the company promoted the fact its conversion technology did not create emissions, the synthetic gas produced is used to power the facilities. Burning that fuel, opponents said, could potentially lead to cancer-causing dioxins and furans being pumped into the air.

Also, during a task force meeting last month, a company spokesperson admitted the company has not sold any of the by-products it said its conversion process creates.

gmckenna@tricitynews.com