BY BILL PHILLIPS Daily News Public input is being sought on a second refinery proposal for the Kitimat area. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has started an environmental assessment and is inviting public comments until August 12, 2016 on the proposed guidelines for the preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement on the Kitimat Clean refinery proposal. The Environmental Impact Statement specifies what should be examined during the environmental assessment. Kitimat Clean Ltd. is proposing the construction, operation, decommissioning and abandonment of a new oil refinery located approximately 13 kilometres north of Kitimat. As proposed, the Kitimat Clean Refinery Project would include a refinery, a power-plant, a rail yard, a marine terminal and a bitumen storage facility. A new pipeline would also be constructed to deliver fuel to the proposed marine terminal, located approximately 12 kilometres south of Kitimat. The project is expected to process approximately 400,000 barrels of bitumen per day over a lifespan of at least 50 years. The cost is estimated at $22 billion. It will be one of the ten largest refineries in the world. To protect the land environment, only solid bitumen will be shipped to the refinery by train.  The bitumen will be melted out of the train cars at the refinery. The project is the brainchild of Black Press owner David Black, who owns 100 per cent of Kitimat Clean. However, according to the Kitimat Clean website, work is underway to form an owner syndicate including experienced pipeline and refinery businesspeople and corporations from Canada. Before construction occurs, major oil companies, including a refinery operating company, will likely purchase shares, it adds. During the heated debate over the Northern Gateway Pipeline, which has been denied its request for a three-year extension on meeting 209 conditions set out by the National Energy Board, Black suggested Canada should be refining oil in this country and formed Kitimat Clean. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is also seeking public input on a proposed oil refinery project near Kitimat. The agency must decide whether a federal environmental assessment is required for the proposed Pacific Future Energy Refinery Project, located on Dubose Flats, approximately 32 kilometres north of Kitimat.

Public input sought on 2nd oil refinery