Biomass project moves forward: Emo seeks funding partners to develop waste-disposal plan.

Phase 2 of the proposed biomass waste disposal project in Emo Township is underway with an application to FedNor and to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines for funding.

"Our proposal is being reviewed as we speak," Brenda Cooke, administrator and clerk treasurer says.

Cooke, along with community consultant Roger Dolyny, need to secure funding from public-sector partners to begin an environmental study on the proposed project.

"What we need now is direction from leaders both federally and provincially who can assist us in streamlining our project," Dolyny says.

Doug Hog and Gary Judson, municipal councillors in Emo, travelled to Ottawa for three days in an attempt to sell the project to the government. The second phase covers operational and waste-flow analysis, test and sample drilling, market and contract development within a 200-kilometre radius and renewable energy market expansion studies. The expansion studies will look at the options the town has to develop methane gas once the disposal site is in production. It will cost approximately $381,106 to complete Phase 2.

The final cost of developing the project is pegged anywhere between $12 million and $20 million, Dolyny says.

The town is also seeking financial partnerships with the private sector to assist in the funding process.

The plan is to develop about 10 biomass waste disposal cells in a 320-acre area. Shaped like a bathtub, each unit will have 10-foot walls consisting of clay and plastic liners. Four-inch-thick material will cover the cell when dumping is not occurring. This will dissuade any rodents from entering the site. Gases, specifically methane gas, which seep from the rotting garbage, are diverted into pipes and used for electricity and gas grids, or sold to major companies.

Woodland Meadows biomass waste disposal facility located in Michigan sells the gas to Ford Motor Co. and is said to generate 2.4 megawatts of electricity, which in turn is sold to Detroit Edison, an electrical supply company in the area.

In 1991, the United States implemented an environmental act called Subtitle D, which bans open-pit dumps for communities with 100,000 people or more. Instead, biomass waste disposal dumps have taken their place. In one particular part of Michigan, called Riverview, they have not had a boll-water advisory for 15 years, yet they have a biomass plant about three kilometres from the Detroit River, in a very populated district, Dolyny says.