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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
BIOSOLIDS
MINE RECLAMATION
More than they bargained for
APPLICATION DENIED
Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
Despite incurring some unexpected costs, the City of Merritt says operating its own biosolids composting facility is still expected to be a net-zero venture. The city will need to spend about $250,000 to replace a broken compost loader at the biosolids composting facility it recently paid $300,000 to acquire. The loader turns over and moves piles of the city’s biosolids. “It’s an integral part of the operation,” City of Merritt chief administrative officer Shawn Boven told council at a January budget meeting. “We can’t operate without a moving loader,” he told the Herald Despite needing to spend nearly the same money on a single loader as it did acquiring the entire operation, Boven said this will all still cost the city less than what it cost to have the site contracted out. He said the projected expense to operate the site for 2016 is $193,845 — including $33,000 for equipment financing. By comparison, when the Sunshine Valley Good Earth Company operated the com-
The city is dealing with an unexpected expenditure at its recently-acquired biosolids composting site
The city paid $300,000 for the composting facility. David Dyck/Herald
posting site, the city was budgeting about $230,000 annually in tipping fees to have its biosolids composted. The city intends to finance the loader over a 10-year-lease at an annual cost of about that $33,000. A request for proposal for the new loader, which will replace two other pieces of equipment on site, will be made in the spring after council’s budget process. NOT WORTH IT TO FIX The old loader is nearly 40 years old and to repair it would
cost at least $35,000. Public works superintendent Darrell Finnigan said he had anticipated having this piece of equipment for a number of years, however, one of the drive shafts broke off and wrecked the bottom of the transmission. “It’s just not worth it [to fix],” Finnigan said. The city paid the Good Earth Company $300,000 in 2015 to acquire the biosolids composting site, along with its inventory and composting equipment. Coun. Linda Brown said she was “having difficulty” with the request for a new loader.
“I thought we were going to have a few years without having purchase a new piece of equipment,” Brown said. Merritt Mayor Neil Menard said this kind of problem comes with the territory. “My dad sold a car to a friend and he drove two blocks and blew the motor, so that kind of stuff happens,” Menard said. “I don’t know that this is something we couldn’t anticipate … it was an old piece of junk to begin with and we paid top dollar for it,” Brown replied.
See ‘City’ Page 8
Nicola Mines’ request to spread soil on the Craigmont Mine site was not approved by the province David Dyck THE MERRITT HERALD
Last year, Nicola Mines Inc., applied for a permit to spread contaminated soils on the Craigmont Mine site near Lower Nicola. That request was denied last month, the Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed. “The Chief Inspector of Mines denied Nicola Mines Inc.’s application to use contaminated soils in the reclamation program for the Craigmont Mine,” a ministry spokesperson said in an email to the Herald. “The chief inspector determined that the proposed use of contaminated materials was not consistent with the existing approved reclamation plan and end land use for the Craigmont Mine.” The permit would have allowed up to 300,000 tonnes of contaminated soil to be spread on the mine site. Peter Espig, president of Nicola Mines, told the Herald at the time that the levels of contamination on the soil he planned to bring in were well below the required limit. He also said there would be rigourous testing done on whatever soil came on the site in the future. However, the plan was met with opposition from Lower Nicola Band chief Aaron Sam, as well as TNRD representative Randy Murray. “Who’s to say that if they get approval maybe they start with this lower grade, responsibly measured dirt and then — business is driven by profit — who knows what might come in the future?” he asked.
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