***Original published in Crossroads This Week, February 22, 2019***
Rossburn RM Council Hears Pitch for Zero Waste Plant
Every municipality in the Province is grappling with the complexities of dealing with the waste that Manitobans generate. There are numerous strategies being considered such as the tried and true landfill, exporting to mega-dumps, ambitious diversion projects, and the new comer – gasification schemes.
Last week on February 13 at the Rossburn Library Drop-In, Rossburn RM Council held a Special meeting to receive information on a proposal related to a ‘Waste-To-Green Power’ solution for the town’s garbage and lagoon sludge. Caroline and James Hewson of JC7 Green Life Energy described their privately funded proposal for a Rapid Organic Convertor (ROC) thermal conversion unit to produce heat and electricity to fuel a Green Energy Park. Their goal is to turn Rossburn into a ‘zero waste’ community.
Specifically, in order to get the Hewson’s plans to moving forward, they are requesting the RM to lease their company approximately 40 acres of land in the vicinity of the town’s lagoon.
Mayor Kerry Lawless was pleased with the presentation and public interest in the project. He reiterated that Council was taking the proposal seriously. In fact, contrary to a recent Crossroads Letter to the Editor, ‘The assertion that Council’s decision was effectively “to reject the Hewson’s Gasification Plant Proposal” is a mischaracterization of the facts. A resolution was introduced at our January Council meeting authorizing the Municipality to enter into an agreement to lease property for the proposed Rapid Organic Converter Project. Some members of council, including me, felt that we did not have adequate details at the time to vote in favour of the resolution. We carefully crafted the resolution (declining the leasing request) to include the words “at this time” so that it left the door open to consider the lease request upon receipt of additional information.’
Mayor Lawless did concede that there has been some community confusion concerning the proposed lease agreement for the Hewson’s proposal. Complicating factors include the fact that the entire council is new as of the last election and they have been dealing with several other handover issues. But Council is determined to rejuvenate the community while balancing the need to conduct the process of due diligence.
There already seems to be strong community support for the ROC solution to the community’s waste issues. A Rossburn business couple, Keegan and Sarah Saley, had circulated a petition asking for support for the JC7 waste disposal concept. They collected 130 signatures and also gave a presentation to Council.
The desire to move forward with the leasing arrangement was generally echoed by the 30 plus concerned citizens in attendance. In a rare move for a Council meeting, the floor was opened for a Q & A session. Most people felt that Council needed to move on this issue sooner than later. They do not want to see their community wither because they were not proactive enough. The feeling was that Rossburn’s garbage issues should be dealt with in Rossburn and not exported along with the resultant economic benefits to other jurisdictions.
Although there was mostly positive agreement that the ROC plant would be a good solution for the RM, there were some cons associated with the project. To begin with, Caroline admitted this would be the first fully functioning ROC plant in the province. Tritec Concrete in St. Eustache runs a ROC plant using grain screenings but it is only licensed to convert biomass. Evergreen Environmental Technologies by Franklin will have their own pilot gasification plant running soon. There have been numerous Manitoba gasification plant pilot projects but a fully functioning ROC plant in Rossburn would be breaking new ground.
Other RMs have expressed interest in the concept but there have been no firm commitments. Some of the reasons for the trepidation have been the shaky reputation of gasification plants in other parts of the world, the perceived newness of the technology, the initial start-up costs, lack of enough waste as feedstock, and possible complications with licensing through Manitoba Sustainable Development.
Caroline and James are confident that the technological and regulatory hurdles can be surmounted. In their opinion, once the RM leases their company the requested land parcel, they should be able to have a working ROC unit converting waste within 18 months. From there, they have plans to attract more business to an adjacent ‘Green Energy Park’ which would run off the resultant gas created from the town’s waste. Later, if all goes well, and more communities send them their waste, they can build more ROC units to handle the inflow.
Mayor Lawless closed the meeting with a pledge to keep the proposal high on the Council’s agenda. It will be discussed again at their next Regular meeting. Meanwhile, the Hewson’s are open to answering all questions related to their proposal and eager for a positive decision on the land lease from the RM.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.