Although current stack emissions are much improved over what they were at start-up of operations at the Pinnacle Pellet plant near 亚洲天堂 Lake, they are not currently within the permit requirements established by the B.C. Ministry of Environment.

According to the B.C. Ministry of  Environment, Pinnacle Pellet failed to meet its emissions permit requirements on a  on a stack sample taken on Jan. 18, 2013.

Pinnacle Renewable Energy is working with the province to achieve compliance, although no date has been given for when compliance can be expected.

Stack emissions are sampled quarterly, with follow-up samples taken if a quarterly sample fails to meet permit requirements.

Details of the pollution levels associated with not meeting emissions requirements, and any possible negative effect on air quality were not available at press time. What consequences there are for failures to meet emissions requirements were also unavailable at press time.

Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. president and chief operating officer, Leroy Reitsma, was unable to give a timeline for when stack emissions could be expected to fall within permit requirements.

鈥溠侵尢焯� Lake was one of the first pellet mills built to meet new more stringent guidelines for dryer emission control,鈥� said Reitsma. 鈥淲e have recently completed a program of significant investment in the scrubbing technology which underpinned the expectation of meeting the more stringent guidelines.鈥�

Pinnacle Pellet has experienced problems with stack emission controls since it began operation on Jan. 27, 2011.

As described by Lorne Davies, Pinnacle Pellet environmental officer, the plant was having difficulty implementing 鈥榩ioneering鈥� scrubber technology. According to Reitsma, Pinnacle Pellet continues to work through the process of balancing the system to optimize the results of this investment.

In the meantime, the B.C. Ministry of Environment says that the appearance of the plume of smoke coming out of the plant chimneys is not necessarily and indication of the emissions content of the discharge.

鈥淐hanges in the appearance of the plume do not necessarily mean any significant change in the emissions content of the plume,鈥� a ministry spokesperson said. 鈥淚f the plant is operating consistently the appearance likely varies because of meteorological conditions such as location of the sun relative to the plume, air temperature, inversions, [and/or] venting.鈥�

However, as it does not appear that the plant is operating consistently, at least in terms of meeting quarterly emissions sampling, further details to come at a later date.