CAP History
The CAP (Community Advisory Panel) provides a way for companies and community members to learn about and raise concerns related to the various companies and processes going on in Maplewood and the surrounding areas. The BCA has a representative attending CAP meetings and reporting back from time to time.
The area involved in the CAP is in the red circle on the map below:
The history below is from a news post on the BCA website last updated on January 13, 2016. Details may have changed since then. The DNV maintains a web page about the CAP, which is probably the best starting point for research related to it. Meeting minutes are stored on the same page.
The companies involved are:
- Chemtrade Logistics
- ERCO Worldwide
- GFL Environmental
- Univar Solutions
History: Back in the 60s, various chemical companies set up shop on what was at the time a sparsely populated river plain. The location was ideal for the production of chlorine gas and sodium hydroxide [caustic soda] via the chloralkali process, along with other industrial chemicals, because of the following factors:
- far from urban settlements
- access to sea (for importation of raw materials)
- access to rail (for distribution)
- access to fresh water
- cheap electricity (BC Hydro had to find uses for the electricity being generated by new hydroelectric projects)
- access to markets (pulp and paper, water treatment) in BC and eastern US
- access to people with technical expertise to staff the plants
Over time, as the area has experienced more development, people living nearby wanted more information about what was going on in the industrial area, so the North Shore CAP (Community Advisory Panel) was born.