Lafarge Canada Inc. has filed an application for industrial approval to launch a one-year pilot program to burn tires as fuel at its cement plant in Brookfield, N.S.

The provincial Environment Department is reviewing the application. Assuming it is complete, staff will have 60 days to make a decision.

The department approved the company's environmental assessment in July. Industrial approvals are permits relating to daily operations and can contain conditions that outline record-keeping and monitoring requirements.

The Colchester County plant has been burning coal to power its kilns. Because the tires would be used as a fuel replacement, it says the process will reduce the company's energy costs.

Some local residents have previously expressed concerns about whether tire-burning could affect the surrounding area's air and water quality.

One group known as CABOT, or Citizens Against the Burning of Tires, launched a court challenge in August, asking a Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice to review the environmental assessment. A judicial review has been set for early March. A motion to address new evidence is scheduled for Dec. 14.

Lydia Sorflaten, a member of the group, said in an email that it makes no sense for the government to approve the pilot project, given the way the recycling industry has developed.

"This is the third time this multinational company has made application to government of Nova Scotia to burn tires. Ten years ago, when Lafarge tried for the second time, the recycling industry was just beginning to emerge.… To grant approval for Lafarge to go ahead is opening the door to destroy our well-established recycling, local industry."

Lafarge previously won a five-year tender to access 30 per cent of the tires in the province. As a result, the company is paid for taking and disposing of the used tires. Funding for the province's tire recycling program comes from the disposal fee customers pay when they purchase new tires.

The company already burns tires at another kiln in Quebec and said in its environmental assessment that allowing it to burn tires in Nova Scotia would reduce emissions.