Artist rendering of Residuals Treatment Facility. Photo credit: crd.bc.ca/
VICTORIA – The Capital Regional District (CRD) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ḰENES Transportation, a W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations partnership company, to contract the trucking of biosolids produced at its Residuals Treatment Facility (RTF) starting this year.
Under this agreement ḰENES, a new business created by the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council (W̱LC) and Sangan Resource Management, will transport dried biosolids to the Lafarge Canada cement plant in Richmond for up to five years while the CRD develops its long-term management plan for the continued beneficial use of this material.
“The W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council is proud of this accomplishment and feel that this is a good news story for everyone involved,” said Joni Olsen, CRD liaison for the leadership council. “The CRD has worked with W̱LC and our newly formed company, ḰENES Transportation, in a good way—creating an opportunity that has opened a door for our Nations. It is a true act of economic reconciliation and our first partnership with any level of government.”
Lafarge will coprocess biosolids produced from treated wastewater as an alternative fuel to non-renewable sources (primarily coal) in accordance with Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment guidelines.
All of the biosolids produced at the RTF will be transported by ḰENES under this agreement—approximately one load will be taken to the cement plant every two days. Additional smaller trucking contracts for liquid waste residuals have been consolidated and included as part of this service agreement.
“Seeking out economic development opportunities with First Nations communities is a strategic priority of the Board and a core part of our commitment to shared prosperity and reconciliation,” said CRD Board Chair Colin Plant. “This is the first time the CRD has approached a service contract with this lens, recognizing community capacity and vision in a way that makes good sense, meets our business need to transport this material and hits the triple bottom line of positive social, environmental and financial impact.”
“We’ve worked together with CRD and W̱LC staff to create an agreement that builds capacity and provides equitable economic benefit for participating W̱SÁNEĆ Nations,” said Kear Porttris, Director and Operations Manager with ḰENES Transportation. “We’re excited by the potential of this partnership and the employment opportunities we’ll bring to our community with this new business.”
During annual cement plant shut-down periods—approximately four to six weeks every year—the biosolids will be used at Hartland Landfill as a biocover to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve tree growth in reforested areas of the site.
The CRD’s short-term management plan, including this contingency plan, has been approved by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
With Provincial approval and these beneficial use contracts now in place, the CRD has started developing a long-term management plan for biosolids that will include public consultation.
For more information, please visit www.crd.bc.ca/biosolids.