East Luther Grand Valley has approved the master plan for Dufferin Eco Energy Park (DEEP), but there might be a few wrinkles in Ministry of Environment (MOE) approvals, and there remain some issues with the Alter NRG memorandum of understanding (MOU).

Meantime, York Region is close to completion of the request for proposals (RFP) for a composting facility. Dufferin Public Works Director Trevor Lewis says it is likely to be issued in December and awarded in May or June, 2010.

DEEP would be sited on the 200-acre tract the county purchased for a conditionally MOE-approved landfill site more than 10 years ago following another more than 10 years of studies and a costly Environmental Assessment. County council then abandoned plans for the dump, partly because of the need for more studies to meet the conditions of approval, and opted to initiate discussions of a composter of some sort.

Now the same ministry that had virtually no problems with the concept of burying garbage at the site wants an Environmental Screening Report (ESR) before approving an official plan amendment for a composting facility it wanted built as a dump condition 10 years ago, and then possibly another ESR for an environmentally friendly thermal treatment plant smaller than the ones it has approved for Plasco at Ottawa.

The proposed thermal plant would use Westinghouse Plasma Technology provided by Alter NRG Corp. to create energy from waste. The agreement with Alter NRG was discussed in a closed session of the Community Development Committee (CDC) last Thursday, apparently because the county solicitor was commenting on it.

(Calgary-based Alter NRG was incorrectly associated with a U.S. company, NRG Energy, last week because the two companies had both been named in the same investor news release. Last week's story did point out that the shares of the two companies are traded separately on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges.)

Although ELGV has approved the master plan for the park, it requires an official plan amendment (OPA) which must be endorsed by the ministry of municipal affairs and housing (MAH).

Mr. Lewis told CDC that the ministry has amended the OPA in a manner that would restrict the county to one composter. "Staff has concerns with some of the proposed changes and our consultant is preparing a response letter identifying those concerns. The major concerns are with paragraph 5.1.7.2. In point (a) the County is being limited to one composting facility, the word "facilities" has been changed to "facility".

There has been interest by some firms for anaerobic digestion (Bulrush Clean Energy). In point (b) and (c), the ministry has deferred the OPA approval to the Environmental Screening Process (EA). The consultant and staff are at a loss as to why the ministry would defer the decision on a policy issue when there are other MOE requirements, i.e. a Certificate of Approval required," he said in his written report.

DEEP still required an archaeological study, Mr. Lewis reported.

Interestingly in view of unrelated recent rulings on conflict interest, Mr. Lewis noted that the development of the Dufferin Eco Energy Park "will have a direct impact on the Township of East Luther Grand Valley, as well as some impacts on the Townships of Amaranth and Melancthon."