Oshawa Harbour Commission Chair Gary Valcour says you can’t rush to judgment on the proposed ethanol plant at the harbour.

You can’t make an informed decision until you are informed.

Valcour says the Harbour Commission has been watching the events unfold when it comes to the City’s ‘No Ethanol’ plant campaign and says it’s disappointing to see how the City has gone about making its stance known.

“The City folks have to do whatever they think they had to do,” he says. “I was disappointed that the campaign was launched before the Environmental Assessment reports were finished. A more balanced approach…would be to see what the findings are.”

He also says there are multiple sides to this story, including the stance that not everyone is opposed to the proposed facility, which seems to be the assumption.

“I challenge that. There is another side,” he says, adding as far as he can tell there is no inherent risk or danger from an ethanol plant and the federal government will make sure of that.

His comments come after a series of letters were sent back and forth between the City and the commission, which are posted on the City’s website.

The first letter asked that the City and a consultant be allowed a site visit to the proposed lands in question where the plant could be built.

A July 19 response from Harbour Commission CEO Donna Taylor denied the request stating, “Under all the circumstances I am at a loss to understand how a site visit conducted by your newest consultants at this time would add anything to the discussion.

The City of Oshawa, through Council motions and statements by Mayor Henry to say

nothing of City officials taking the lead in active petition and letter-writing campaigns, has made its position quite clear – it opposes this project…That sequence of events would suggest that the City had all the facts and evidence required to make an informed decision on the position it would take on this proposed project and had no need of a new site visit.”

Oshawa Mayor John Henry wrote another letter on July 20, asking that the commission be transparent, asking for comment on a variety of issues relating to the plant.

“On behalf of the residents of the City of Oshawa, I insist that the Oshawa Harbour Commission (OHC) be transparent and accountable,” it reads, listing several areas where the Harbour Commission should release information relating to license agreements or other legal instruments pertaining to the ethanol plant.

On July 26, a letter was written in response from Valcour, giving the commission’s view on Mayor Henry’s requests.

“I do not believe there is anything to be gained by a detailed commentary on each of the points your letter raises. As you are well aware; your office and the City Council as a whole are creatures of the Ontario Municipal Act. The OHC is a creature of and governed by Federal statutes and regulations. Under the circumstances it is unclear by what legal authority you feel you can ‘insist’ that the OHC do or refrain from doing anything,” a portion of it reads. “We respect your right and that of Council to comment regarding certain activities proposed to be undertaken on lands owned by the Crown and operated by the OHC. Your comments are duly noted.”

Valcour says this correspondence was a step in the wrong direction, considering the City, the commission and the feds signed an agreement in July 2010 encouraging a mixed-use port and that includes industry. That agreement also stated that eventually the Harbour Commission would be transformed into a Canada Port Authority.

“The City Council…that very council signed an agreement with the federal government and the Harbour Commission that put to rest a lot of issues. They acknowledged that it’s an industrial port. It was federal lands,” he says. “The process that we’ve agreed to…and whether it be a Canada Port Authority (CPA) or not, is that the City would have the opportunity to comment. It’s not to write letters saying we ‘insist.’ I found that a little offensive. They know better. We’re operating as we always do. It’s not that we’re trying to be obtuse.”

Valcour says the Harbour Commission is doing its due diligence just as it would if any other business wanted to build at the harbour.

“These people (FarmTech and others who want to pursue business at the harbour) have an absolute right, in my opinion, to pursue a business venture,” he says. “We always made it clear that we’re not going to do things that are going to fly in the face of environmentalism…you can’t rush to judge.”

The Harbour Commission is waiting to see what comes back from the Environmental Assessment, he says, adding he “didn’t start campaigns before talking to anyone.”

“The reality is that there has been a thorough Environmental Assessment that has been done.”

Valcour says some people he has discussed the issue with don’t have valid enough points to suggest that an ethanol plant would necessarily be a detriment to the harbour.

“What is the issue? I think reasonable people have to present a reasonable case,” he adds.

“Then maybe we can talk about those things. There are people that don’t want a thing at the port. There are people that don’t want an industrial port at all. If people would just want to fess up and say that they don’t want anything down at the harbour.”

But Mayor Henry says he is disappointed that the commission hasn’t truly listened to the people of Oshawa.

“When you talk about disappointed…last council had a meeting. The public made a statement,” he says. “We find out without a courtesy call that Agriculture Canada put that notice (for comment) in the paper. We didn’t start this. That started that action. There has not been information going back and forth. We were forced to take a position to go forward with this. Why doesn’t the Harbour Commission invite me to sit in their meetings so I can have an idea of what’s going on?”

He says this campaign is just reiterating the fact that the City isn’t opposed to industry at the harbour, or biofuels in general, but the location just isn’t right.

“We don’t grow corn at the harbour. We have on the north side of Harbour Road an area that could be developed,” he says of proposed condos or a possible residential area.

“That’s the kind of harbour we want. I support whole-heartedly a mixed-use port. I have no problem with them shipping corn in and shipping to Brock Township (the municipality that has expressed interest in the plant). The residents of Oshawa have a right to say what they want at their harbour.”

And when it comes to the campaign, he says he wants to make it clear that it isn’t costing the City much and is hitting the point home.

“It hasn’t cost us very much at all. So far we’ve got a little bit of printing costs,” Mayor Henry explains, adding it is between $10,000 to $20,000. “If it’s even that much. We didn’t sign on to build a refinery. Would you buy a house or a condo if you’re going to face an ethanol refinery?”

For Valcour it comes down to equal representation. He says the mayor needs to see all sides of the issue and listen to what everyone has to say.

“He is the mayor of all the people,” he says. “He’s not just the mayor of the people who agree with him.”

Residents have two more days to get their comments in, as the deadline is noon on Friday, Aug. 12 as no further extensions were filed as of The Oshawa Express’ deadline.

Since the campaign launched on Canada Day, more than 2,000 signed opposition letters have been collected.

For more information or to comment visit www.oshawa.ca/harbour.