City of Powell River staff appear poised to rush through a draft liquid waste management plan (LWMP), the first phase of which calls for treating the city’s sewage at Catalyst Paper Corporation’s Powell River mill.
Staff presented a draft report outlining phased consolidated treatment at two meetings last week. The report, which could become the city’s LWMP submission to the provincial government, outlined two phases, number one being co-treatment, followed by a stand-alone consolidated plant sometime in the future.
Co-treatment was the hot button issue throughout 2011, as it attracted strong community opposition. Results from two public consultation events documented overwhelming opposition to co-treatment. As well, the joint technical-local advisory committee voted to proceed with an innovative, consolidated, publicly owned and operated treatment facility.
The issue reached a crescendo just before the November 2011 local government election. The city’s former mayor, Stewart Alsgard, tried to bring forward a resolution committing the city to a referendum question on the ballot. No one supported him, however, and his resolution never saw the light of day. Subsequently, Dave Formosa, now the city’s mayor, and councillors Debbie Dee, Maggie Hathaway, Chris McNaughton and Jim Palm all committed to support a binding referendum on co-treatment. Formosa and Dee stood by that commitment at a Catalyst community stakeholder committee meeting after the election. Formosa said there would be a referendum before the LWMP was sent to the province for approval and Dee said co-treatment was dead if the city’s grant application to the Union of BC Municipalities’ Innovations Fund was unsuccessful.
The grant application was unsuccessful and Catalyst went into bankruptcy protection a short time later. Co-treatment appeared to be dead. However, unbeknown to all councillors, staff have been working on the plan in the background. A meeting with ministry of environment officials led to a new LWMP draft.
Much more information needs to come before the public before this plan can be approved. In particular, a thorough analysis of the costs of co-treatment, which includes higher annual maintenance costs because of the estimated $500,000 per year paid to Catalyst for the service, compared to the costs of a consolidated plant owned and operated by the city, must be made available to the public.
While Powell River has the record for the longest LWMP process in the province, that is not a reason to rush through a divisive proposal that needs more airing in the public as well as a reckoning of political promises.
