About 30 beehive burners remain in BC despite government edict to shut them down

But its shutdown will still leave about 30 of them across the province, meaning British Columbia has only managed to close 50 of the burners despite promises they would all be closed before the end of the last decade.

Like the others, the Tolko burner is often blamed for contributing to poor air quality in the area.

Once it has shut down, Lou Bouwmeester, area manager of Tolko Industries, said it remains to be seen whether the air quality will improve.

"I think 1/8the burner is 3/8 one of many contributors," Bouwmeester said. "If you look at the data, taking the burner away isn't going to resolve the air quality problem in Merritt. But will it help? Yes."

There were 80 of the burners - which look like giant badminton birdies and have been used for years by sawmills to burn wood waste - in 1995 when the then NDP provincial government concluded they caused a major health risk for nearby residents.

The government gave operators two years to shut the burners down, but no date has been set for the retirement of the 30 or so that are still operating.

According to a report from the Environmental Law Centre in Victoria, the relative health costs annually are more than $70 million in B.C.

"Beehive burners cause increased deaths and hospitalizations," the report states.

Dr. Amir Attaran, Canada's research chair in law based at the University of Ottawa, has gone so far as to argue the burners are unconstitutional because their pollutants affect young and elderly people disproportionately and are therefore discriminatory.

Kate Thompson, a spokeswoman for the provincial environment ministry, said the government has set out timelines for companies that still operate the burners.

"Burners are something that we are working on," she said.

She said it's high on the priority list of a government that has been crusading on a green agenda to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Merritt city council formed an air-quality committee about 18 months ago after viewing air quality reports from the environment ministry.

The Tolko burner has run only twice this year, far less frequently than in previous years.

According to the air quality report of readings this past January and February that were submitted to a laboratory in Burnaby B.C., no changes were noticed when the burner wasn't operating.

"No indications (exist) of a single source involved. The most likely explanation was the use of woodstoves for space heating combined with other dispersed sources of smoke in the community."

Ironically, the report found air quality readings near the Tolko yards were generally lower than the readings from the centre of the town.

The report also noted the air quality in Merritt is, on average, twice as bad as that in Kamloops, even though the population of Merritt is one tenth that of Kamloops.

"The smoke levels in Kamloops and Merritt are relatively the same, but Merritt has much higher dust readings," said air-quality meteorologist Ralph Adams.

But, he said "it's hard to tell the relative contributors," Adams said.

The Tolko sawmill is able to shut down its burner after reaching a deal with the Domtar pulp and paper mill in Kamloops to send its wood waste there.

Domtar burns the waste in a controlled environment which is more environmentally friendly.