Small community Biogas project
Attached is an interesting article. It is about some pushback on building an organic waste biogas plant in this community, but it would appear to be limited to a few residents. However, what is worth noting here is that the community where this project is being proposed is a town of 20,000, Brockville On. It is likely a good candidate due to food processing plants and proximity to the 401.
If a town this size is attracting investment in a $30 million biogas project, it would indicate that biogas plants are really catching on.
The would-be owners of a proposed biogas plant gave a spirited and forceful defence of their project before Augusta Township council this week, saying it would be state-of-the-art and odour-free, and claiming they were victims of a smear campaign by a vengeful resident.
Mary Fraser and Donald Duncan, partners in H&D Properties Ltd., said they were “shocked and concerned” by Mayor Doug Malanka’s opposition to the project, which they said appeared to be based on complaints from a single resident who sent numerous emails to the township over a six-week period this summer.
At a council meeting two weeks earlier, Malanka said he couldn’t support the proposed biogas plant near Maitland after receiving a “shower of emails” from residents who raised legitimate concerns about smells and increased truck traffic on County Road 2.
Malanka said the residents’ opposition, reports of foul odours from similar but smaller plants elsewhere in Ontario and other municipalities’ frustration at their inability to do anything about those biogas facilities give him “grave concerns.”
“It appears to be the wrong plant for the wrong site,” said Malanka at the time.
But Fraser said that almost all of that “shower of emails” came from one person who “bullied and bombarded” the township with “outdated and inaccurate information” and many “outright fabrications and lies.”
The same person also made bogus complaints to various government ministries about a brownfield site, hazardous waste and electrical connections, Fraser said. All of these were checked out by the agencies and found to be false, said Fraser, adding it was a waste of time and effort for the ministries involved.
Fraser said that the resident and Malanka were trying to “blacken” the project. “Our project is not black, Mr. Mayor, it’s green,” she told council. “Our project is a good project that should not be shut down by one man’s vengeful vendetta.”
Fraser said the biodigester project is the wave of the future, which will take organic waste and process it into natural gas and methane to power trucks and cars and to reduce greenhouse gases. The leftover from the production would be used as organic fertilizer.
She said she recognizes that residents have “rational and well-placed questions” about smell but those concerns are unfounded. The biodigester will meet all of the Ministry of the Environment regulations on odour, she said. Duncan said the trucks carrying the organic waste will be closed bathtub-load vehicles with the organic waste secured by airlocks.
His $30-million project would be clean and respectful of the neighbours, Duncan added. Fraser said residents point to news reports of complaints about odours from biodigestors in London and St. Isidore, near Ottawa. She said environmental investigations found the smells resulted from employee errors, and the companies were fined accordingly.
Those plants were built in 2010 and 2013, and the technology and regulations have improved a lot since then, she said. As for concerns of increased traffic on County Road 2, Fraser said the plant will have about 55 vehicles coming and going, not the 300-plus vehicles alleged by the resident. And she noted that the DuPont plant in its heyday had 800 employees and multiple trucks a day on the same road. The H&D project would have a fraction of that, she said.
Malanka said the council presentation was the wrong venue to debate the points made by Fraser and Duncan, adding he disagreed with many of them. But he said that he urged council at its last meeting to hire EVB Engineering to do an independent study of the proposed plant, including looking into the concerns raised by residents. Council agreed.
It is important the council’s decision be based on the facts, the mayor said. Deputy Mayor Jeff Shaver said he and other council members have an open mind on the biogas project, adding they will wait until they get the company’s site plan application and all available information before making a decision.
“My mind is not made up,” Shaver assured Fraser and Duncan, but added that the concerns of residents would be a factor in the decision. Malanka said the company should hold a public meeting to respond to residents’ concerns.
Fraser said COVID-19 protocols have made public meetings a problem. Duncan insisted that he is an open guy and willing to talk to anybody with concerns. If he can’t answer the question, he would refer them to his engineer, who can, he said.