Province Sidesteps City Request for Assessment of Incinerator
August 30, 2005

A huge new incinerator in east Hamilton is only undergoing a perfunctory environmental assessment, despite requests for a full examination from city council and a community organization. Liberty Energy plans to burn sewage sludge from the Greater Toronto Area in a facility it hopes to build on Strathearne Avenue.

The SWARU incinerator was closed at the end of 2002 and the 16-storey stack at the Solid Waste Recycling Unit was pulled down on July 19, 2004. The proposed facility will have a daily capacity three times greater than that of the SWARU incinerator. Photo by Hamilton Spectator photographer, John Rennison.

The proposed facility, which Liberty spokesmen argue should not be called an incinerator, will be the first of its kind in Ontario. Its daily capacity is three times greater than the controversial SWARU incinerator closed two years ago because of its air pollution impacts. Liberty estimates it will require 28,700 truckloads per year of sewage sludge and waste wood, and will produce enough electricity for 8000 homes.

City Council unanimously asked for a full "category C" environmental assessment of the project on July 18, about 10 days after Environment Hamilton had forwarded a similar request to the provincial Ministry of the Environment. However, the ministry wrote back in late July revealing that it has let Liberty decide for itself to do a much less rigourous self-assessment.

"Through information provided to the Ministry by the proponent, it is our understanding that Liberty Energy is proposing to develop a facility with a name plate capacity of 10 megawatts of energy or more using waste biomass as its primary fuel source. As a result, the proponent has determined that this project is subject to the Environmental Screening Process for a 'Category B' project as described in the 'Guide to Environmental Assessment Requirements for Electricity Generating Projects'," says the ministry letter.

The community group Environment Hamilton, in its letter to the ministry, had cited this same guide as requiring that a full assessment take place for projects that "incinerate greater than 100 tonnes per day of municipal waste". Liberty plans to burn 920 tonnes a day of sewage sludge and 300 tonnes a day of other materials.

The group also noted that " municipal sewage sludge contains a host of contaminants such as mercury and other heavy metals, and organic chemical contaminants. A plant that will process such vast quantities of sludge needs careful evaluation prior to approval. For instance, on average, sewage sludge contains approximately 3x the levels of mercury typically found in coal."

The ministry's response was addressed to Environment Hamilton and copied to the city. It states that the "Environmental Screening Process is a proponent driven, self-assessment process" and that "the proponent is responsible for determining if the process applies to its project and for determining when to formally commence the process."

Liberty is organizing a public event on Tuesday, September 13 from 5-8 pm at the Museum of Steam and Technology on Woodward Avenue. After it completes the screening process, citizens and others will have 30 days to ask for a bump-up to a full assessment. The ministry letter notes that "if no elevation requests are received . then the requirements of the Environmental Screening Process have been met." However, requests for a bump-up are very rarely agreed to by the ministry, suggesting that a full assessment is unlikely.

Council has already approved the zoning for the incinerator in a 6-5 vote also taken on July 18. Mayor Di Ianni and councillors Bratina, Ferguson, Kelly, Pearson and Samson supported the zoning change, while councillors Collins, McCarthy, McHattie, Merulla and Morelli were opposed. The other five councillors were absent.

The approval was originally discussed at the June 21 planning committee meeting where Merulla and McHattie unsuccessfully attempted to have it delayed until after the environmental assessment. Staff pointed out that the city will be able to comment on some provincial regulatory approvals required for the incinerator, but decisions on those approvals will ultimately be made by the province.

That led councillor Whitehead to declare: "So the real hammer that we have, from what I'm hearing, is the zoning. If we don't want it, we can just say no to the zoning." In response, staff advised that Liberty could appeal that to the Ontario Municipal Board and "would have a very good chance of being successful".

A copy of the Ministry's letter is posted on the CATCH website at
http://hamiltoncatch.org/pdfs/MOEresponseLibertyEnergy.pdf.

The letter from Environment Hamilton can be viewed at
http://hamiltoncatch.org/pdfs/LibertyEnergy-EHLetter.pdf.