St. Albert will not be releasing unused funds for a waste-to-energy pilot back into its capital reserve just yet, though the process of getting the project off the ground has been a struggle.
The pilot is intended to explore the design and construction of a temporary gasification facility to evaluate waste-to-energy for St. Albert’s brown-bin waste. The budget of $1 million — approved by council in November 2019 — is conditional; the city needs to secure 75 per cent of the funding from third-party sources.
To date, only around $56,000 of the budget is used up — enough for 60 per cent of the facility’s design, and permitting obtained from the City of Edmonton.
City administration has been rejected for three of the grant applications they have submitted, according to an administrative backgrounder detailing the project’s progress
“Feedback received has been that waste to energy is not a provincial or federal priority for grant funding and the temporary nature of the project also made it less of a match for grant programs,” Regan Lefebvre, senior manager of utilities, said in the backgrounder.
St. Albert also approached other municipalities in the Edmonton region to partner on the project. Only Edmonton expressed support in the form of in-kind contributions: $150,000 of land space, office space, and utilities at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre.
Coun. Sheena Hughes put forward a motion to return the waste-to-energy pilot funds to St. Albert’s capital reserve as part of the city’s 2022 budget process.
During a Dec. 2 budget meeting, Hughes told council she didn’t want St. Albert tying up funds for a project it hasn’t been able to secure support on.
“We should call a spade a shovel here and let it go,” Hughes said. “If there is an alternative solution … it can be brought forward to council at that time.”
Mayor Cathy Heron said it might be premature to abandon the pilot, noting there is still the possibility of a Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) grant.
“To get [the] FCM grant we need to have skin in the game ourselves,” Heron said. “This money is not going to be spent until there’s actually something we need to spend it on … I’d rather wait to hear what the region thinks.”
Conversations and policy work at the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board this fall indicated renewed interest in waste to energy from regional partners, Stovall said in the pilot backgrounder.
Chief administrative officers from the region are meeting to discuss the pilot program further on Dec. 21.
Heron said waiting for this meeting will give council a clearer picture of the project’s direction.
The motion to return the funds failed 4-3, with Hughes, Coun. Shelley Biermanski, and Coun. Mike Killick in favour.
