LAST NITE'S PUBLIC WOOLWICH BIO-EN MEETING

The CLC or Citizens liason Committee met last evening in the Lion's Hall to discuss Woolwich Bio-En business. On the Agenda were construction scheduling, removal of a couple of requirements such as flare temperatures as well as the mechanics of the CLC. The meeting was chaired by Earl Brubacher with Earl Martin beside him and Chuck Martin sitting in the gallery with the small audience. Also around the table were Gerry Heidiburt, Michael Purves-Smith and I'm embarassed to say both a gentleman and lady whose names I failed to obtain. In the audience with Chuck were Bob Jonkman, (Dr.) Dan Holt, (Dr.) Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach and myself.


At the risk of sounding corny and from the position of not being a member of the BFCC let me offer this overall observation. I've been involved with two other Liason Committees in Elmira over the years as well as having sat in on other Liason Committees within the Region of Waterloo. Those were and are excercises in being on the receiving end of the mushroom treatment. That was not my impression of last night's meeting. In fact I would go so far as to suggest that what I saw and heard were two good faith parties attempting to breech their differing perspectives and concerns.

We were advised that the start of construction, which would be things like installation of underground services, is tentatively set for April 2, 2013, weather permitting of course. There were brief comments about past serious attempts to relocate Woolwich Bio-En out of Elmira. The sticking point is not Woolwich Bio-En, it is the Ontario Ministry of Energy. In theory a miracle could still happen although as stated over two years have been spent trying to change the location unsucessfully and construction start up is now less than three weeks away.

The next public meeting is set for Tuesday May 7, 2013 at 7 pm.. The location may be set for a smaller venue than Lion's Hall and will be announced as soon as possible.