Notes from the CLC Meeting of 1 April 2014

The minutes for the CLC meeting of 4 March 2014 have been posted on the Bio-en Meeting Minutes page and mirrored on this site, but the minutes for the meeting of 1 April 2014 have yet to be posted. Fortunately, Alan Marshall has posted his comments from that meeting, and here are the notes I took.

  • This meeting was well attended by members of the public, and an attendance list was circulated.
  • Earl Brubacher asked for questions arising from the minutes of the last meeting (but nobody had yet received the minutes from the meeting on 4 March 2014).
  • Michael Purves-Smith raised questions arising from the minutes (below).
  • Natural Gas production will reduce the electrical output of the plant.
    • Is this to maximize profits?
    • It’s Public Relations — reduce the emissions of diesel trucks
    • It’s a pilot project
  • Expansion of facility — 50 acres, 3 landowners.
    • Bio-en owns 20 acres of that area
    • “Dry Industrial” zoning
  • Truck traffic — large amounts of truck traffic during startup
    • Is not a problem (? I’m not sure who made that statement, Michael Purves-Smith or Earl Brubacher)
    • “80 trucks” was changed to “80 movements”
    • Emergencies (eg. ice storms, backlog, digester needs to be emptied) may need larger numbers of trucks
    • “There’s a good chance of bumping into 40 trucks”, but Chuck Martin says the plant can’t sustain 40 trucks per day
    • Additional use of facility (eg. gas generation) increases the need for trucks
  • Michael Purves-Smith asks about a truck bypass
  • Gas generation — Q: Will there be gas transport by trucks? A: No, gas will be pumped into the existing pipeline
  • Concern about odour (from trucks). Trucks must be closed, covered by tarps or mesh.
  • Road condition at Arthur Street is bad, won’t handle much additional traffic.
  • The Biogas Association is looking for a showcase facility (? for gas generation, or just as an electrical generation plant?)
  • Gas generation will require the removal of Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide, Ammonia and Water before it can be pumped into the pipeline.
  • 20% of the plant’s capacity could be used for gas generation.
  • Is gas generation efficient? Woolwich Bio-en is a small plant for gas generation; economies of scale won’t apply.
  • Gas scrubbing will take place in the generator facility.
  • Gas purification will use the pressure swing method, with CO2 extracted by cooling.
  • There is no natural gas refuelling at Elmira Trucks yet.
  • Earl Brubacher doesn’t know what will happen with the waste material extracted from gas purification.
  • The spent digestate coming out of the reaction tanks is more like liquid manure than crumbly soil.
  • The minutes from the meeting on 4 March 2014 were accepted.
  • Construction update:
    • Construction is at the point of installing doorknobs and painting
    • Engine commissioning on
    • The biofilter is commissioned
    • The software to control the plant is being rolled out
    • Construction is winding down; digestion is accelerating
  • There was concern about the chemicals in paper pulp
    • Paper pulp is wood fibre
    • Inputs are tested for contaminants
    • This is part of the Renewable Energy Approval amendment
    • The feedstock testing is done before it arrives at the Bio-en plant
  • Other business:
    • Running the generator is still six weeks off
    • The generator has been run long enough for the Waterloo North Hydro tests
    • The power produced will not be part of Ontario’s base power, but that has been proposed
  • Chuck Martin was lamenting the complexity of the project…
  • Next meeting will be scheduled for 6 May 2014 at the Library.

Michael Purves-Smith circulated this document:

Business Arising from the March 4 CLC Meeting

Questions arise out of Bio-En’s requests to the Ministry of the Environment for changes to the REA. These questions are complex because the ramifications of the changes requested are complex and far reaching. These ramifications come from changes not only in the proposed operations of the facility, to the types of feeder stock, and to the intended customers for the methane produced, but also to the number of truck movements and to the potential uses of the land on which the facility is located.

Answers to the following overall questions will provide a basis for more cogent supplementary questions so that some of the complexities noted above can be dealt with in a clearer and more understandable manner.

  1. Water:
    Are there any plans (present or future to increase the use of municipal water? And do any of the plans that you will be presenting to the MOE for modification of the REA involve increasing water usage? &#91What about groundwater? –Bob.]
  2. Biological materials:
    1. Woolwich Bio-en has indicated that it will be looking for a modification to the REA with respect to allowable feeder stocks. The examples given at the March 4th meeting and listed in the minutes would appear to be permitted already under the current REA. If this is not the case, could you please explain why not? [I requested an exhaustive list of requested feedstock –Bob.]
    2. Will any of the requested new feeder stock contain SRM or human excrement? [This was quickly answered “No” –Bob.]
    3. What is meant by industrial and commercial input?
    4. WHat is meant by institutional waste?
  3. Gas for Vehicle Use:
    Producing gas for vehicle use suggests a new commercial stream is envisioned. Can that be achieved while maintaining the base electricity output of the plant? Will you need to increase input and or infrastructure? [Purification, compression, additives (mercaptans), pressurizing to 160psi –Bob]
  4. Expansion of Facility:
    Does the company’s plans for expansion in the 50 adjacent acres to which it has access include an expansion of current operation, and will it mean an increase in truck traffic>
  5. Increase to Truck Traffic:
    Given that the company has repeatedly insisted that there would be an average of 30 trucks per day (15 for delivery and 15 for removal), and when citizens expressed concern about the number of truck movements potentially reaching 160, the company insisted that the 80 listed in its Design and Operations Report referred to truck movements, please explain why the company will now be requesting twice that number of movements.
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Bio-en CLC Meeting, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 at 7:00pm in the Library

The minutes of this meeting are now available

The next Bio-en Community Liaison Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 6 May 2014 at 7:00pm iCal in the Elmira Public Library meeting room Map. The agenda is available from the Bio-en CLC Agendas page.

Woolwich Bio-En CLC Meeting

When: May 6, 2014
Time: 7:00 to 8:30pm
Where: Meeting Room at the Elmira Branch, Waterloo Region Library
Agenda:

  1. April 1st meeting minutes
  2. Woolwich Bio-en update
  3. Other Business
  4. Schedule next meeting

Note:
This meeting is also open to the public.

CLC Members

Earl Brubacher, Chair
Doug Thomas, V chair
Marg Tassy Kreller
Robert Musselman
Earl Martin
Jerry Heidbuurt
Bob Gray
Micheal Purves Smith
Kevin Martin

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CLC Meeting, 1 April 2014

No fooling, there’s a Community Liaison Committee meeting tonight. There’s still no agenda on the Bio-en Communications page; hopefully it will be available later today. Also, the minutes from the last meeting are not yet on the Bio-en CLC Minutes page either.

Some interesting issues were raised at the last meeting, notably the change in scope of the MOE REA to include a wider range of feedstock, a doubling of the allowed truck traffic to 160 “movements” per day, and use of the generated biogas as a vehicle fuel. This has raised a number of questions which will be put forward by the CLC to Bio-en tonight.

I’ll be at the meeting; see you tonight!

–Bob.

What: Bio-en Community Liaison Meeting
When: Tuesday, 1 April 2014 starting at 7:00pm (iCal)
Where: Meeting Room 1, Woolwich Memorial Centre, 24 Snyder Avenue South, Elmira (Map)

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Notes from the CLC Meeting, 4 March 2014 by Alan Marshall

I was unable to attend the Bio-en CLC meeting on Tuesday, 4 March 2014. Alan Marshall of the Elmira Advocate has kindly given me permission to re-post his meeting notes here.

–Bob.

Woolwich Bio-en Citizens Liaison Committee

Last evenings 7 pm. meeting was held in meeting room #1 at the Rec Centre on Snyder Avenue in Elmira. The next meeting is scheduled for the same time and location for April 1, 2014. The biggest change in attendance last evening was the asppearance of three local Ministry of the Environment officials namely Jane Glassco, Amy Shaw and Jackie Lamport. To my surprise the M.O.E. were on the receiving end of a very pointed criticism late in the meeting by Earl Brubacher.

We were advised that the construction is essentially completed. One engine was test fired Monday and the other one yesterday. The power plant should be finished by the end of the week. I’m going out on a limb here but I believe I understood that the digester tanks will be filled by either the middle or the end of this month. Jackie Lamport of the M.O.E. suggested that depending on wind direction Woolwich Bio-En might wish to wait a day or two for favourable conditions before either agitating or filling tanks with odourous material such as manure. Chairman Earl Brubacher politely advised her that they do have a deadline from the Ontario Power Authority of May 4/14 to get into production.

There was a discussion again in regards that a Letter of Credit to the Citizens liason Committee from Bio-En would require them to be either incorporated or somehow a legal entity. Chuck Martin had looked into this for Woolwich Bio-En. it was agreed that Robert Musselman of the CLC would do further investigating of this matter.

Earl Brubacher discussed at length several amendments to the REA (renewable energy act) that Woolwich Bio-En will be seeking. These include the option of selling the gas produced, for use in natural gas vehicles. Arrangements have been made for Elmira Truck Service to be the retailer for Bio-En. Some trucks come from the factory ready to go with natural gas and others require a conversion kit.

Another amendment required deals with another new 250 KW local farm customer. There are also plans for the selling of heat possibly for a future development on 50 acres just to the east of the Bio-En location.

Changes to feedstocks into the process also require REA amendments. Things like paper sludge, industrial/commercial/institutional wastes, wet wheat, elevator grains and even mushroom waste are being considered.

It was at the end of the meeting that the Chair raised his concerns about what he viewed as a “not very ethical” change put into Bio-En’s operating conditions by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. This change was in regard to the number of truck movements on site per day. Earl quoted the number of 80 truck movements per day. As I understand it there are a couple of different ways to interpret 80 truck movements and clearly Earl Brubacher felt that a misinterpretation had taken place. Later in the evening, after the meeting, I received a call from a local citizen who had a different understanding than Earl Brubacher’s. I am hopeful that this issue will be fully aired and clarified sooner than later.

This post was copied from the Elmira Advocate: Woolwich Bio-en Citizens Liaison Committee with permission from Alan Marshall

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Agenda for CLC Meeting, 4 March 2014

The Community Liaison Committee (CLC) meeting minutes from 6 January 2014 were posted on the Bio-En CLC Meeting Minutes page last week. The PDF files on that page don’t contain text, but images of scanned documents. This makes it difficult for them to be read by people who use text-to-speech readers, and impossible for them to be indexed by search engines. So, as a favour to others, I’m mirroring them in an accessible format here on the Stop The Stink in Elmira | Bio-En CLC Documents page.

The CLC Agendas published by Bio-en have the same problem; to make them accessible I mirror them here.

Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the CLC meeting on Tuesday, so if anyone takes notes and wants them published here let me know.

File: Mar4_2014meeting.pdf (14.1 KBytes, PDF file)

Woolwich Bio-en CLC Meeting

When: March 4, 2014

Time: 7:00 to 8:30 pm

Where: Woolwich Memorial Centre
24 Snyder Ave S
Elmira ON N3B 2Z6
Meeting Room 1 (WMC)
Location to be confirmed

Agenda:

  1. January 7th meeting minutes
  2. Woolwich Bio-en construction update
  3. CLC letter of credit
  4. REA amendments
  5. Other Business
  6. Schedule next meeting

Note:
This meeting is open to the public.

CLC Members
Earl Brubacher, Chair
Doug Thomas, V chair
Marg Tassy Kreller
Robert Musselman
Earl Martin
Jerry Heidbuurt
Bob Gray
Micheal Purves Smith
Kevin Martin

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Notes from the CLC meeting on 7 January 2014

Official minutes of the CLC meeting will be posted on the CLC Meeting Minutes at Bioen Elmira page.

A mirror of the minutes is on the Bio-en CLC Meeting Minutes, 7 January 2014 page.

There’s a copy of the CLC Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, 7 January 2014.

I arrived a few minutes late to the Bio-en Community Liaison Meeting meeting on Tuesday night, by which time most of the discussion on the construction update had completed. Earl Brubacher remarked on the large number of standards bodies and regulatory agencies involved in the construction, including the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture (regulating the incoming feedstock), Department of Weights and Measures, and the Department of Labour. Earl mentioned that Woolwich Bio-en is the first biogas plant to require TSSA approval.

The lightning protection on the gas domes has created some controversy. Woolwich Bioen is the first biogas plant to require lightning rods. The controversy is whether the lightning rods will protect the gas domes by conducting lightning away, or whether they will attract the lightning and create a greater hazard than an unprotected dome. Earl said that alternative placement of lightning rods at the edge of the property is recommended by some engineers.

All the operational staff has been hired (two people), and have received training.

A tour of the plant could take place during construction, before the the feedstock has arrived. That would allow people to view the insides of the tanks. During a tour after operation has started visitors can see the process, but not the interior. The tour for Bio-en CLC members only will take place on Saturday, 1 March 2014 at 9:00am, before the tanks are filled. The tour is limited to CLC members because of the proprietary technology on display. Chuck Martin hinted at an Open House with “educational tours” sometime in the future.

There was discussion on Bio-en’s $25,000 letter of credit, which needs to be made out to a legal entity. It was felt that the CLC is not a legal entity, and that the CLC would need to incorporate in order to set up a bank account, or to set up a trust fund. It seems to me that the Community Liaison Committee was established by the arbitration settlement conducted by Province of Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal, making it a perfectly legal entity already. Of course, incorporating the CLC might be a prudent move anyway, in order to hold its members harmless from any judgments against it. Robert Musselman reminded us of the Centre Wellington Citizens Coalition (opposing the Elora Racetrack), who were sued by their own Wellington Township Council for $86,000 to recover legal costs after the CWCC lost their appeal.

Bob Gray asked about landscaping of the Bio-en property. The ice storm brought down some trees so that the sight lines from residential properties now have a full view of the biogas buildings. Earl Brubacher said that the damaged trees were on the Elmira Pet Food property, but that there would be some tree planting and berming on Bio-en’s property as well.

It was discussed if the CLC should raise funds for matching the letter of credit. Woolwich Council didn’t refuse the request to provide matching funds, but didn’t contribute either. I suggested that the CLC get the costs for an odour or noise study so that they’d have a precise figure to present to Council if they go back to ask for funding.

Finally, it seems that even people in Elmira don’t know about the biogas plant, although they may have heard about it or read something in the paper. Although I think the CLC believes that to be a bad thing, they haven’t yet established a communications strategy.

The next CLC meeting will be on Tuesday, 4 March 2014.

Alan Marshall of the Elmira Advocate has another writeup of this CLC meeting.

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CLC Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, 7 January 2014

The agenda has been posted on the Bio-en CLC Agendas page for the Community Liaison Committee meeting at 7:00pm on Tuesday, 7 January 2014 in the Woolwich Memorial Arena.

File: Jan7_2014meeting.pdf (14.1 KBytes, PDF file)

Woolwich Bio-en CLC Meeting

When: January 7, 2014

Time: 7:00 to 8:30 pm

Where: Woolwich Memorial Centre
24 Snyder Ave S
Elmira ON N3B 2Z6
Meeting Room 1 (WMC)

Agenda:

  1. November 6th meeting minutes
  2. Woolwich Bio-en construction update
  3. CLC letter of credit
  4. Other Business
  5. Schedule next meeting

Note:
This meeting is open to the public.

CLC Members
Earl Brubacher, Chair
Doug Thomas, V chair
Marg Tassy Kreller
Robert Musselman
Earl Martin
Jerry Heidbuurt
Bob Gray
Micheal Purves Smith
Kevin Martin

Posted in Agenda, Citizen's Liaison Committee, Committees, Meetings | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment