With only one councillor in favour of proceeding, a controversial proposal for the District of Sechelt to begin planning for a biochar research project died a quick death at the May 6 council meeting.
The motion had been defeated at the committee level in a tie vote, but Coun. Darnelda Siegers moved that council reconsider that decision. No other councillor seconded the motion, however, and the committee’s recommendation stood.
“The biochar project will not be proceeding,” Mayor Bruce Milne said.
The project was intended to determine whether the biochar process could effectively remove hormones, pharmaceuticals and other organic contaminants from reclaimed wastewater and biosolids.
Council had been asked to approve $15,000 for the preparation of a work plan and cost estimates, and funding had been approved last year from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Green Fund to cover half of the project costs up to $169,000.
Appearing as a delegation at the start of the meeting, resident Marc Nixon urged council to hold a town hall meeting on reclaimed water use and experiments involving biochar before any further public funds are spent on the initiative.
“We are here,” he said, “to express our outrage for the continued disregard for public input and engagement on what has been the single most divisive issue our community has probably ever faced.”
Nixon said he was not against the concept of reclaimed water as long as it is safe and economically feasible, but added there’s “an overwhelming amount of documentation that suggests the District of Sechelt’s approach to biochar has many risks.”
A glaring omission from reports and presentations, he said, has been the disposition of heavy metals during the process.
In rejecting the proposal at the committee level, councillors argued the municipality was not mandated to undertake scientific research projects.
An April 30 letter from lead consultant on the project, Golder Associates, noted the current plan is for Salish Soils to compost the excess biosolids from the treatment plant to produce a soil amendment material that can be reused for landscapes and gardens.
“However, members of the public have expressed concern regarding pharmaceuticals and other contaminants that may be present in the compost, and their concerns could affect the commercial viability of the composting approach to managing Sechelt’s excess biosolids,” the letter said.
It said the University of California Davis has proven that biochar can absorb organic contaminants from water and describes it as an “environmentally sustainable and cost-effective absorbent.”
