Residents concerned about biogas facility 0 Evan Careen TIMES REPORTER Friday, August 14, 2009 11:43:00 MDT AM A new facility in the Tongue Creek area west of High River has some residents up in arms. EcoAg Initiatives was recently approved to build a biogas generation facility in the area and some people are concerned. Weve been living here for 14 years and never had any problems when they were a cattle feedlot (Tongue Creek Feedlot), said Ingrid Vipond, an area landowner and member of the Friends of Tongue Creek Landowners Association. We started having problems last summer with smell and flies. We had heard about this biogas thing and didnt know much about it and then we saw the approval on June 23. Thats when we started to get concerned with what was going on here. Vipond said she complained to Alberta Environment numerous times about the smell and a meeting between the landowners and Peter Morrison, the owner of the operation was set up. By then they already had the building constructed and everything, she said. This whole thing went form zero to 60 in no time. Vipond said one of their concerns is the potential environmental impact. Our biggest concern is that this will take place only 400 metres from Tongue Creek, she said. That feeds into the Highwood River and if there was a problem it could be significant. Peter Morrison, the owner of EcoAg, said the property is 400 metres from the creek, not the facility, and that there are very tight controls placed on this type of operation. Were monitored heavily by NRBC (Natural Resource Bioenergy and Climate Change Unit) and from Alberta Environment, he said. There was a lot of work that went into the whole permitting process to make sure that all of those issues were looked after. Vipond said another concern is the process whereby the plant was approved. There was only one notice in the local paper, which didnt give a legal land description, and it gave a date by which affected parties must reply if they have any concerns, she said. We didnt reply because we didnt know where it was or that it was Tongue Creek Feedlot. Other people in the MD have to put it in the paper three times, even if youre building a shed, this doesnt appear to have to follow the same regulations. Harry Riva-Cambrin, municipal manager of the MD of Foothills, said since the building is part of an agricultural operation it does not fall under the same regulations as other development and is handled by Alberta Environment. Trevor Gemmell, a spokesperson for Alberta Environment, said the notice was circulated in the High River Times on Nov. 9, 2007 and in the Western Wheel on Nov. 14 of that same year. The requirements to publicly advertise this project were followed, he said. We know residents were aware of the project at that time because we received correspondence regarding those operations at that time. Gemmell said Alberta Environment followed all regulatory concerns and took the residents feedback very seriously. The environmental protection enhancement act approval sets out to ensure environmentally safe operation of facilities such as this, he said. The process is thorough and intensive and this approval was no exception. Gemmell also said by moving the facility indoors it will address the odour concerns residents have been having. The approval has been appealed by the residents, and they are currently awaiting more information regarding the time and place.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 21:59:20 +0000
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