Charles Dickson, editor
Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative
MRC Pontiac warden Jane Toller paid a visit to the Jan. 31 meeting of Renfrew County Council to make the case for Pontiac’s garbage incineration project and invite its mayors to consider becoming partners.
In her approximately 30-minute talk, entitled Opportunity for an Ontario-Quebec Partnership, the Pontiac warden covered many aspects of the proposed project already familiar to readers of THE EQUITY’s coverage of this issue over the past nine months, but also provided some new information.
By way of background, the warden laid out MRC Pontiac’s position on waste management.
“We’re against landfill, but we do support energy-from-waste – since 2011. We’ve had four councils vote unanimously for it, including the current 18 [mayors],” she said.
“Now, you may have noticed that six weren’t sure they wanted us to take a hundred thousand [dollars] from our surplus, but that was the only thing they were voting against,” the warden explained.
Making reference to a provincial public consultation on waste management, she said, “Not only did the people of Quebec approve incineration, it is recommended. Currently, today, there is no municipal incinerator in Quebec, so MRC Pontiac – we’ve worked on this since 2017 – will be the first.”
Warden Toller said that energy-from-waste is among the options being considered by Ottawa in dealing with its growing garbage problems.
“I think it could be difficult to locate an energy-from-waste facility within the borders of Ottawa because there’s a term NIMBY – ‘not in my back yard’ – and I was surprised, but in the article that was in The Ottawa Citizen, they called me a YIMBY – ‘yes in my back yard,’” she said with a smile.
Toller explained that household waste from Ontario had previously not been permitted for transfer to Quebec because of limited landfill capacity in Quebec. “But if it can be transformed into energy, not just burned to the air, but transformed into electricity and steam, it will be permitted,” she explained.
“In this case, 400,000 tons [of waste] will produce 450 megawatts of electricity and steam heat – we’re hoping to even heat our hospital 26 km away – the steam can be carried 53 km,” she said.
“The technology choice that we have chosen is incineration. The closest example is the Durham York Energy Center which is operated by Covanta. It was built by Covanta.”
“So, the facility could be built by Covanta, but the technology is not Covanta. The technology will be the best in the world and the cleanest,” she said.
Business plan “just completed”
Warden Toller made several references to “an initial business plan” for the venture which she described as “just completed”.
“MRC Pontiac has completed the initial business plan, with Deloitte and Ramboll from Denmark evaluating various technologies, looking at business models, partnerships, quantifying tonnages, travel distances, tipping fees, price of electricity production and funding.
According to the MRC’s communications officer, the “draft business plan” has been shared with the Pontiac mayors who sit on the MRC’s Energy-from-Waste Committee, and with staff, who have been asked to give comments on the draft report before it is finalized, with the plan to share it with the rest of the Pontiac mayors this Wednesday “if the report is by then officially finalized.”
In her January presentation to mayors of Renfrew County, Toller highlighted the key findings of the draft report:
• excellent and clean technologies are available
• a 25/75 private-public partnership is the best option
• a 300,000-ton, less-expensive facility could suffice (in light of new information on lower garbage tonnage availability)
• DBOM, as Deloitte calls it, is the best plan where we have a company, for example, Covanta, design, build, operate and maintain the facility
• it will last for 30 years, then it is renovated and can be in operation for another 30 years.
Regarding capital costs, the warden explained that “a 400,000-ton private-public partnership costs 450 million [dollars] to build, and I want you to know right now that we do not see, if you become a partner in this endeavour, you will not be asked to provide capital costs.”
She said that private investors are already in place and have given expressions of interest totaling $150 million of the $450 million cost.
“But we’ve been cautioned by the consultants that you don’t want too much private money because private companies want to be reimbursed at double-digit interest, and it will affect the operating cost and increase the tipping fee, which we don’t want,” she said.
Regarding the administration of the facility, she said an administration board would be created composed of all the users.
“So, the users would be the owners of this facility, although it’s located in Pontiac, so it could be made up of Ottawa, Pembroke, Renfrew County, Pontiac and Outaouais. The waste management is paid by a user pay based on tonnage and tipping fees.”
The warden also addressed the question of First Nations support for the project.
“We’ve spoken to Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, who are our Algonquin people who actually own the land where this will be built, and they much prefer a technology like this to landfill which can affect the air, the soil and the water,” she said.
In enumerating various of the environmental benefits of the envisioned project, the warden said, “For every ton of waste processed by energy-from-waste, it equals one ton of greenhouse gas avoided.”
Minister to visit
The warden added that she’s excited that the Quebec environment minister will come to the Pontiac next month, saying, “He’s made an arrangement – we know what day he’s coming in March – because he wants to stand on the site, and he wants to hear all about our plans, which he supports.”
In terms of next steps, the warden said she would want to have an in-depth business plan developed, funded by interested partners and government grants.
“Public consultation will follow – that’s the environmental assessment which is done through the Ministry of Environment, and that’s where everybody can have their say,” she said.
“But, just to give you some feedback, of our 14,700 people, only less than 3 per cent have been very vocal, and they have a petition on change.org, which is for all of Canada, not just the Pontiac.
“And, actually, I’m thankful for all of their questions and concerns being raised because it’s shown me two things. One, that they are talking about a project that we’ll never build. They’re talking about the old-style incineration. Number two, it’s always important to understand what the objections and concerns are, and do our best to meet all of them and reassure people,” the warden said.
At the end of her presentation, Warden Toller played a three-minute promotional video produced by Covanta providing a virtual tour of a waste-to-energy plant.
A video recording of the warden’s presentation may be viewed on the Renfrew County website at https://www.youtube.com/watch?…