Budget scrutiny Chamber of commerce watching for tax fairness. PAGE 7 Power up New cogeneration plant turns wastewater into electricity. PAGE 21 Dark tone Mother Mother’s new album takes on brooding aspects. PAGE 3
Clippers win PAGE 29
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012
VOL. 24, NO. 96
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New goals set to reduce city’s gas emissions BY TOBY GORMAN THE NEWS BULLETIN
NIOMI PEARSON/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Craft curiosity Best friends Ava Edmondson, left, and Abby Morgan check out Ann Smith’s (aka Spiderlady) arachnid display at the Christmas Market held at Green Thumb Nursery on Saturday morning.
Regional district lays charges in illegal dumping cases BY NIOMI PEARSON THE NEWS BULLETIN
Bench warrants have been issued on two residents after they failed to appear in provincial court on illegal dumping charges. The charges, laid by the Regional District of Nanaimo, are the first under the district’s Waste Stream Management Licensing Bylaw, which was created in 2004.
The residents, Richard Sitar and Nikki Deer, are charged with two separate incidences of dumping, on or around May 30, 2012 and Aug. 1, 2012. Both were scheduled to appear in court Dec. 4, but neither showed up. Both could face fines of up to $200,000 under the bylaw. The news comes as a small victory for Ken Smith, one of a group of local residents who took it upon themselves to clean up illegally dumped garbage
on the Doumont trails earlier this year. Together, with assistance from Waste Management, members of the Nanaimo Mountain Bike and MikeIsland ATV clubs removed 6,700 kilograms of waste from the area. Maude Mackey, RDN Zero Waste compliance officer, could not confirm if the Doumont incident is related to the current charges before the courts. ◆ See ‘ILLEGAL’ ‘ /4
Ambitious goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Nanaimo are being revisited after it became clear the goals were impossible to achieve. Andrew Tucker, the city’s director of planning, said previous energy emissions plans, while adopted by city council with good intentions and encouraged by the province, are not reachable. “Amendments to the OCP [Official Community Plan] were made in 2010 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent below 2007 levels by 2020 and reduce those further by 80 per cent by 2050,” said Tucker. “Those were very aggressive goals, provincial goals at the time, and, admittedly, were aspirational goals.” Instead, the goals have been reset to reduce emissions by three per cent below 2007 levels by 2020, and 39 per cent by 2050. To show its ongoing commitment to environmental sustainabil-
ity, which are also pillars in the city’s official community plan and the recently adopted corporate strategic plan, city council adopted its latest effort Monday, the Community Sustainability Action Plan, a plan Tucker called several years in the making. This latest attempt to reduce emissions will encourage the city to work with major employers, development industry, the Regional District of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island Unive r s i t y, Va n c o u ve r Island Health Authority and other stakeholders to reduce emissions in facilities not owned by the municipality (the city is obligated under a different program to reduce greenhouse gases). In September 2007, in accordance with provincial emissions reduction goals, city council adopted the Corporate Energy Emissions Plan, which took a close look at what the city generates in greenhouse gases and to explore what can be done to mitigate those emissions and perhaps save money. ◆ See ‘NEW’ /4
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