Neighbours opposed to a manure-fed renewable natural gas plant proposed for the High River area say they’re devastated by the province’s approval of the project.
The huge plant planned for a spot five kilometres west of High River is known as a biodigester, which is to use manure from an adjacent feedlot and waste produce from Calgary, has been met with heated opposition by detractors who fear its resulting odours, and its effect on water, traffic and property values.
Opponents had hoped the province would slap a moratorium on its approval as it has on renewable electricity projects, but the province said that only applies to electricity generation.
After a review process that had been extended in March, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (AEP) has given a green light to the $70-million, 41.4-hectare project to be operated by Rimrock Renewables.
An approval document dated Dec. 11, due to expire in a decade, subjects it to numerous operating and monitoring conditions, many related to odour control and to cover reclamation costs before it goes online.
“As a condition of the approval, Rimrock is required to implement an odour control plan using global best practices and to develop an odour management and response program before the facility starts operating,” AEP spokesman Tim McMillan said in an email.
“Alberta has a clear and robust regulatory review process in place, and that includes the option to file an appeal with Environmental Appeal Board of this or any other decision.”
It still requires approval from Foothills County, which would host the facility — cold comfort to opponents.
“We’re all still reeling from the decision . . . (it’s) a sad day for our community,” project opponent Carrie Derish said Thursday.
After spending nearly two years campaigning against the application, a furious Benita Estes, who lives 200 metres from the site, said she feels betrayed and played.
“(Political leaders and company officials) went through the motions — ‘look at us, we’re meeting with the residents,’ ” said Estes, adding more than 2,000 people have signed a petition opposing the facility.
“It was in the bag as soon as (Rimrock) got the government grants. It’s about who greases pockets and lobbies the most.”
And she expressed little faith the conditions would be observed or enforced.
Using livestock waste from its adjacent, existing feedlot, Rimrock says it plans to produce 450,000 gigajoules of renewable natural gas (RNG) per year, enough to meet the needs of 6,000 homes in Foothills County.
Its parent firm, Tidewater Renewables, announced in fall 2022 it had reached an agreement with FortisBC to purchase the green credits of the RNG over the next 20 years.
Rimrock officials and its consultants have said the plant would reduce odours already produced by that feedlot by 47 per cent, and eliminate 95 per cent of processing odours, while its design will protect surrounding groundwater and the Highwood River, 2.8 kilometres away.
But critics say the lack of a cover on the plant’s effluent lagoon leaves open the problem of odours and wonder why it isn’t following the designs of other biogas plants that don’t have open-air ponds.
Project opponents fear possible contamination of local water supply
The CEO of Tidewater Renewables called local opposition “a small, vocal group” who’ll be proven wrong on the odours issue.
“I’m pretty confident it’ll reduce smells compared to the (existing) feedlot,” said Robert Colcleugh, adding plant operators are serious about meeting their approval obligations.
“We’ll obviously meet any regulatory requirements and we’ve been in dialogue with the government on that,” he said.
The project has received some provincial and federal grants but its main fiscal impetus is its contract with Fortis, with the project posing another piece of Alberta’s renewable energy puzzle, though with limitations.
“There’s not a lot of product to be able to scoop up and put in a biodigester but it’s an important bridge, an important mix in a portfolio of global energy solutions,” said Colcleugh.
Critics have said a more suitable location for the facility would be an industrial corridor just north of High River that hosts the Cargill meat processing plant.
Nearby neighbour Estes said if the plant becomes a reality, she couldn’t sell her property even if she wanted to move.
“Who’s going to want to come and live here?” she said.
“We bought here as country-residential, not next to industrial land.”
Estes said she and her colleagues will challenge the decision at the province’s Environmental Appeal Board.
Foothills County could withhold an approval of a land use redesignation but it would be pointless in the face of a provincial government that would ultimately prevail, said Reeve Delilah Miller.
And she said there is support for the plant and the possibility it would tame current feedlot odours.
“There are a lot of people on the other side saying ‘why don’t we try this?’ And I feel the province has placed a lot of regulator hoops on it,” said Miller, adding re-locating the plant would simply shift odours around the county and High River.
Rimrock has said, if approved, it expects to begin construction of the plant next year.
But Colcleugh said that without municipal approval and sufficient “commercial arrangement,” construction isn’t imminent.
X(Twitter): @BillKaufmannjrn
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