Expanding on landfill issues.

In a recent article, I provided a look at financial auditor BDO Wood Gundy's 2017 report on Municipal finances, while zeroing in on what the report had to say about the Municipality's liability towards its landfill sites. As discussed, despite the current good condition of the Municipality's finances, the future costs of closing its landfill sites represents a huge, potentially crippling, liability. Covering this liability will be a big challenge even if the Municipality has many years ahead to factor it into its budgeting, never mind if it becomes necessary to settle it in the near-term. But where does this leave the Municipality in terms of options to meet its future waste disposal needs?

A recipe for landfill troubles: waste generation is
accelerating, recycling is in decline, while Neebing's
population remains roughly constant 
(3.5% growth 2011-2016).

To clarify a point from my last article, it has been pointed out to me that while the Scoble landfill (East Oliver Lake dump) does in fact have 0 years remaining under current approvals, the 33 year life-span used by the auditor to estimate the Municipality's liability was a purposeful assumption, and is based on the Municipality's recent intention to apply for expansion of the site. In researching this article, it seems clear that this issue is an old one that goes back more than a decade. Current difficulties in determining the best way forward have a lot to do with many previous years of apparent complacency on the issue. The increasingly greater rate at which the dumps are filling up (Neebing News page 2 "We must do better") has never been factored into budgetary decision making, and insufficient budgetary priority has been given to covering landfill closure liability. Neebing has done little to prepare for the future of its waste disposal needs, yet "the future" is here. As far as I have been able to determine, expansion is the Municipality's only practical and realistic option at this point. While there is still room for discussion about less conventional waste disposal options, these are not feasible within the time-frame demanded by Neebing's current waste-disposal situation.

While costly in terms of meeting regulatory requirements, estimates are that expansion represents a fraction of the cost of meeting the closure liability of existing sites and applying to open new sites. While there are no strict guarantees that an application for expansion will be approved, in a March 13th meeting (page 25 of .PDF) with officials from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), council was advised that given the alternatives (or lack thereof), existing landfill sites should be regarded as "gold" making the decision to expand Neebing's dump sites "the route to go". The same meeting concluded with comments that the MOECC was willing to cooperate with the Municipality towards a positive outcome, and that unless the Municipality did nothing, there would be no move to shut down the Scoble site. At council's meeting of May 9th, a resolution to proceed with the expansion of the Scoble site was passed so that work to meet the MOECC's regulatory criteria can begin. While the Sandhill site will also eventually require expansion, it is anticipated that it still has approximately 11.5 years of useful life remaining, leaving council some breathing space to defer that application and its associated costs.

The chief takeaway here is that it is going to cost a lot of money not only to expand our landfills for future needs, but also to fund coverage for the eventual end-of-life liabilities which will have been deferred but will always be lurking. These costs can unfortunately only be carried by the user and/or tax-payer. My own opinion is that it behooves the residents of Neebing to take interest in the care of their landfills. As funny as it may sound Neebing's landfills are it's greatest assets, and their proper management for the present and the future, probably its greatest legacy.

Biodiesel developer pulls the pin?

Concerning the proposed biomass to biodiesel production facility development adjacent to the Sandhill dump:
It appears that the developer, Orion Eco Solutions Inc, has withdrawn its application with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC).
No approval was issued, and the ministry closed the file on April 23. The "decision" was made public on the EBR May 3, and no appeals have been filed. There is no reason given on the Ministry's website as to why the developer decided to withdraw their application. Details will be published here as they become available.