Re: “ How Hartland could become a natural-gas factory,” May 6.
On May 2, the Integrated Resource Management Advisory Committee considered renewable energy infrastructure options at the Hartland landfill.
The report recommended proceeding with development of a renewable natural-gas project plan to recover gas from the landfill, residuals-treatment biogas (from anaerobic digesters) and potential food-waste biogas to sell the gas to Fortis B.C. The Capital Regional District intends to fund the project from environmental resource management reserves. This proposal is not new.
Resource recovery, including landfill gas, biogas and struvite (phosphorus) recovery was included in the Core Area Liquid Waste Management Plan that was abandoned after rejection of the McLoughlin Point rezoning application by Esquimalt in 2014. A new planning process was initiated to develop a “better” (the right?) plan. Two years later, the new plan was approved.
The new plan appeared to cost less — $765 million versus $788 million. To achieve the lower capital cost, the scope of the project was reduced. Specifically, the initial capacity of treatment plant was decreased to 108 megalitres from 124 megalitres, and resource recovery at Hartland was deleted.
Consequently, funding from P3 Canada was reduced. Despite the reduction in the capital cost, the contribution by local taxpayers increased to $311 million from $288 million. The CRD is proposing to bring back resource recovery at Hartland but funded from environmental resource management reserves.
Taxpayers deserve cost transparency without such budget reallocations to disguise the project’s true cost.
Jack Hull, PEng
Victoria
