INFOBOX:

WHAT: Rail Ties, Real Issues, public forum hosted by Kamloops Chamber of Commerce.

WHEN: Tonight, 7 p.m.

WHERE: TRU Grand Hall.

WHO: Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp. and Ministry of Environment officials.

AND: A protest rally on campus grounds starts at 5:30 p.m.

A proposed gasification project in Mission Flats does not require a federal environmental assessment, MP Cathy McLeod said Wednesday.

And a separate internal opinion from the B.C. government's legal services branch obtained by The Daily news recommends the provincial Environmental Appeal Board reject an appeal from local environmentalist Ruth Madsen.

Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp. intends to burn creosote railway ties at a Mission Flats gasifier to produce energy in a commercial test plant. Its plans have come under fire from groups including Kamloops council and city physicians.

McLeod said staff from the federal Ministry of Environment reviewed her request that a full environmental assessment should be triggered due to a $2.7-million subsidy from Ottawa's Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) fund.

“We went to two separate legal opinions,” McLeod said. “They concluded jurisdiction is provincial and it (federal funding) didn't trigger an environmental assessment (from Ottawa).”

McLeod, who will attend a Kamloops Chamber of Commerce forum on the issue tonight as well as a rally by opponents beforehand, said it's clear the B.C. Liberal government is in charge despite the federal money.

On the provincial side, the legal opinion counters arguments from Madsen and urges the provincial Environmental Appeal Board to dismiss her bid to overturn the company's emissions permit given in March.

“Ms. Madsen fails to provide any actual medical evidence to corroborate her health-related claims in relation to the permitted activities,” states the letter from Livia Meret, a lawyer with the provincial legal services branch.

The letter is written to Environmental Appeal Board chairman Alan Andison. It asks him to reconsider allowing Madsen's appeal to move forward.

Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp. president Kim Sigurdson, who will appear at this evening's forum at Thompson Rivers University's Grand Hall at 7 p.m., said the letter from the legal services branch “is everything we've been saying all along the way.

“We don't believe Ms. Madsen's aggrieved and we stand by our technology.”

The legal services branch, relying on information from Ministry of Environment and Interior Health, noted the gasifier “has the most stringent air emissions within Kamloops....

“Any contribution from the proposed source would be miniscule in comparison to other point sources.”

The legal services branch also advised the Environmental Appeal Board to reject a late appeal by Skeetechestn Indian Band asking for the ACC permit to be overturned. Meret's letter said the band also did not respond to earlier letters from the Ministry of Environment asking for input.

Local resident John McNamer, who earler called for a boycott of tonight's forum, said Wednesday “there will be no further mention of boycotting the chamber of commerce ACC forum” because his point about lack of proper “community consultation” has been made.