City of Powell River directed staff at the Thursday, March 16, council meeting to sign an agreement to share carbon credits and other environmental benefits that will come from a planned $8.8-million resource-recovery project at the former incinerator site across from Willingdon Beach campsite.
“It’s extensive work that’s going to be done in the first steps of the landfill closure,” said councillor CaroleAnn Leishman, member of the regional district committee developing Powell River’s solid-waste plan.
Powell River Regional District manager of community services Mike Wall said the reason the agreement has to be signed before the project is undertaken is local governments need to be able to prove that one of the aims of the work is to reduce greenhouse gases being emitted from the site.
“Once we finish the project, then we can start benchmarking what we are actually achieving in reductions, then we can claim them,” said Wall.
Under the agreement, the city and regional district will each take 50 per cent of any credits the project creates.
“What we do know is that if we don’t get this done and set this benchmark we will miss out on the opportunity,” said Wall.
Wall said the city and regional district will provide senior staff time to oversee the project. He added that a consultant will be hired to help them engage with BC Ministry of Environment.
Once the project is underway in the fall of 2017, it will be completed in two phases, with the closure and remediation of contaminated soils first, followed by a resource-recovery centre built on top of the former incinerator site, to be complete in 2020.
The regional district will pay for the entire project, with $6 million coming from a federal grant, $2 million from borrowing and the rest from its solid-waste service.
