Semiahmoo First Nation Harley Chappell has confirmed that the nation will be the owner of the biofuel plant planned for its land – and take full responsibility for its operation, once built.
Speaking during an online public information session hosted by project developer Andion Global Thursday night, Chappell was responding to a question from meeting participant Sheila Vataiki.
Following presentations from Andion outlining the project, which would transform garbage – including food waste – into renewable natural gas (RNG), Vataiki said it appeared from its corporate history that that Andion is “a builder not an operator.”
She suggested the plant could be sold to a third party, which might not be bound by assurances that Andion is giving that it can be operated safely, with minimal pollution or impact on the environment.
“What obligations will be conferred to the buyer?…who is going to buy it if it gets built?” she asked Daniele Chiodini, Andion’s chief technical officer and vice president of business development.
“We are the owners – it’s our facility,” Chappell interjected. “We are the majority owners.”
“So you will be the stewards of this?” Vataiki asked.
“100 per cent,” Chappell replied.
Chappell was also unequivocal in response to a written question presented later in the meeting.
The Clean Air Alliance wanted to know, given the site’s low elevation above sea level, and that it is in a tsunami warning zone, what measures will be taken to build the plant to withstand such an event.
“Our community emergency planners have told me this area is safe from tsunamis,” Chappell said.
“We will not get a large tsunami on Semiahmoo Bay, due to the San Juan and Gulf Islands,” he added.
“This site is safe from a tsunami threat.”
Chiodini added the plant would be constructed to all applicable building codes aimed at having buildings withstand earthquakes and tsunamis.
The subject of why the SFN site was chosen was raised by many questioners from the public, and by some who merely commented that they “can’t understand it.”
Some said they recognized the desirability of a biofuel plant as a means of producing energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but could not reconcile it with the environmental sensitivity of the location, and the possibility that air pollution from the plant could affect nearby residents.
The explanation, provided by Phillip Abrary, president and chief executive officer of Andion Global Inc., that it was convenient because it was near Highway 99, leading to the border, did not seem to satisfy most of those concerned.
Nor did Chappell’s opening remarks that he sees the proposed plant fitting in with “not only the needs of our nation but also the entire community” and that it would avoid shipping waste to “someone else’s territory.”
Some pointed to extreme incidents of air pollution associated with a biofuel plant in Italy that had nearby residents closing their windows due to the odour (Chiodini said he was familiar with the case – not an Andion plant – and said the biofuel operation was on the same site as a landfill and that authorities are still trying to identify the exact cause of the pollution).
Robert Pierson questioned the corporate structure of Andion’s 10 related companies, claiming that there is a credibility gap because two of them were recently incorporated (Andion North America in 2017 and Andion Global in 2019) and that a predecessor company, which pioneered the technology they use, had declared bankruptcy.
Abrary countered that “that was a matter of financial mis-management – nothing to do with the good work that was done (by people working for that company).”
Chappell, Abrary and Chiodini were at pains to explain to those who joined the three-hour forum that due diligence has been done in examining the viability and safety of the project.
They pointed out that the proposal had received third-party environmental assessment, including vetting by Indigenous Services Canada, and Environment Canada, and had been submitted to Metro Vancouver’s air quality permitting process by SFN to ensure that all regulations are met and that input would be received from the public.
“We have done our work and will continue to do our work and get advice,” Chappell said.
Kathy Preston, director of environmental regulation and enforcement at Metro Vancouver, explained that she is the ‘statutory inspector’ as far as the air quality application is concerned.
She said that her decision will be made in line with Metro Vancouver’s air quality management bylaw, which prohibits discharge of air contaminants. Some exceptions to the bylaw can be made, she said, typically for a 10-year term, but with finite limits depending on the “quantity, frequency and nature of air contaminants.”
She said she can continue to receive comments from those concerned about the application, provided they are in writing (sent to andioncomments@metrovancouver.org), “up until I make a decision.”
Any new information received, she said, automatically starts a new 30-day period for commenting.
She noted, however, that concerns about the choice of location, or potential noise complaints, do not fall under her purview.
Chiodini said the plant is designed to be a clean, closed-door operation that will help avoid odour by processing waste quickly without allowing it to pile up, and through ongoing cleaning and housekeeping practices.
“Everything happens inside the building,” he said. “We will keep doors closed, they will be only open when trucks arrive.”
All odours will be collected and bio-filtrated he said, while the liquid effluent from the methane gas production will be ammonia-stripped, before being introduced into the Metro Vancouver sewer system.
“No leachate and no effluent will reach the Little Campbell River or the surrounding environment,” he said.
Nitrogen-oxide emissions will be equivalent to that coming from home heating systems except for the plant’s ‘flare’ which is designed to combust 100 per cent of the bio-gas in case of operational shutdown – reckoned for a maximum of 30 per cent of each year.
The plant aims to remove 30,000 tones of C02 from the environment each year, he said – which is the equivalent of the output of 6,676 gas-powered vehicles or the emissions of 3,781 homes in the same period.
By contrast, emissions from the plant are projected to be some 40.41 tonnes per year, of which 35.80 tonnes will be methane emission (CH4).
CH4 emitted from the plant’s ‘stack’ will be some one per cent of excess gas, which Chiodini said will be the equivalent of the “carbon footprint of 67 people in one year.”
Between 2o and 25 trucks are expected to haul waste to the plant each day, which he compared with 11,000 vehicles passing nearby each day, or 3,500 cars crossing at the Peace Arch border each day, or a daily 1,000 trucks travelling to Blaine through the Pacific Highway crossing.