Concern mounts in High River, Alta., as neighbouring feedlot continues to seek approval for a facility to process manure
A proposed $70 million biodigester near High River, Alta., that has sparked opposition from town and area residents will be the largest of its kind in Canada if it gains provincial approval, said mayor Craig Snodgrass.
The project’s size, and because such developments are relatively new in Alberta, has heightened fears about the biodigester, he said.
“There’s a lot of concerns from people with what the biodigester actually means, and which brings us to the next question: nobody actually knows whether this thing will help with the existing current smells that we have from the feedlot.”
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Rimrock Renewables plans to build a biodigester on a site next to the Rimrock Feeders feedlot, which contains about 35,000 head of cattle. It will primarily convert manure from the feedlot into renewable natural gas for about 6,000 homes in Foothills County, along with a digestate that can be used for things such as fertilizer.
The project will be located about 5.5 kilometres west of High River, a town of nearly 15,000 people south of Calgary. An expert speaking as part of a presentation by Rimrock Renewables said earlier this year the removal of the manure by the biodigester will reduce odours from the feedlot by about 42 percent.
However, Snodgrass said residents in High River and area fear that adding the biodigester will make the conditions worse. Nobody knows for sure if it will remove odours.
“The problem is that if it’s built and then it doesn’t work, we’ve got a massive problem on our hands,” he said.
The provincial National Resources Conservation Board received slightly less than 1,300 complaints during the past nine months from 277 people about the smell in High River from the feedlot, it said in an email Sept. 22. There were 285 complaints during the same period last year, it said.
After many surprise visits this year to the town and feedlot, NRCB inspectors have found the feedlot is meeting the technical requirements of the Agricultural Operations Practices Act. Officials investigated practices ranging from feed additives to pen cleaning and manure stockpiling, said the email.
“NRCB inspectors have found that Rimrock Feeders is operating similarly to other feedlots in southern Alberta, including other feedlots that also have pens lined with roller compacted concrete.”
Snodgrass said odours can be subjective.
“Lots of us feel as though there have been definite improvements from last year, but I’m not going to say there’s no odour coming from the feedlot.”
Rimrock Renewables said in an email Sept. 21 that it could not comment about the biodigester project while it waits for a decision from Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, which is expected in the coming months.
Concerns about potential odour from the biodigester have included a proposed large pond for liquid digestate, which was to have been open to the air. Recent design changes have altered it into a two-cell pond configuration with mechanical aeration. That has reduced the pond to half the original design, said Rimrock Renewables’ website.
“Mechanical aeration in the first cell will remove approximately 95 percent of odorous emissions through oxidation. The second cell will be used for storage of the fully stabilized liquid digestate after aeration occurs.”
Manure from the feedlot will make up at least half of the total feedstock for the biodigester, said the website. The rest will come from “organic food resources such as food processing residues, kitchen and market residues, damaged and rejected grains, fats, oils, and greases from grocery stores, restaurants and cafeterias,” it said.
Snodgrass said opposition to the biodigester can’t be attributed solely to town residents or rural acreage owners unfamiliar with the realities and smells of agriculture.
Nearby farmers and ranchers are also concerned, he said.
“This is large scale, corporate stuff, and it is large-scale energy production with natural gas production, so it’s much different than a mom-and-pop ranching operation,” he said.
“It’s not even comparable, so I’m definitely not hearing the opposition from one specific group. It’s across the board, with most people’s concerns pretty equal.”
Snodgrass said biodigester projects must be regulated by Alberta Energy and Minerals, as well as the Alberta Energy Regulator rather than Environment and Protected Areas, which would require a legislation change.
He planned to meet with Environment and Protected Areas Minister Rebecca Schulz and Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean in early October where he intended to raise that and other issues.
The Alberta government announced Aug. 3 the Alberta Utilities Commission will impose a six-month moratorium on the approval of renewable energy projects greater than one megawatt. However, provincial officials have said Rimrock Renewables’ biodigester doesn’t fall under the moratorium because it will create renewable natural gas, not electricity.
The Western Producer did not receive a reply to an email Sept. 21 sent to Ryan Fournier, press secretary for Schulz’s office, requesting comment about details such as the expected timeline for the ministry’s decision about the project.
Snodgrass said he understood why companies want to construct biodigesters at feedlots.
“And I think anybody running a large feedlot will be looking at this because if they can make significant revenue out of the manure, why wouldn’t you, right?”
However, Rimrock Renewables’ biodigester will be located west of a town of nearly 15,000 people in an area noted for its strong westerly winds, he said.
“A lot of the controversy is, ‘why don’t you put this somewhere else that doesn’t have the potential of impacting a community like this?’ and I can appreciate that argument.”
