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Absurd to say there won’t be odour from biogas

2 biogas plants on the mainland are both set on hundreds of acres unencumbered by close neighbours
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Absurd to say there won’t be odour from biogas

I read with interest the article in the Aug. 30 Citizen regarding the proposed biogas installation at 675 LaFortune Rd.

Mr. Larson’s assertion that there will be no odours is patently absurd. Managing the trucking, dumping and processing of 40,000 tons of manure and food waste will result in foul odours that can emanate up to two kilometres with the prevailing wind.

Facilities like this may be in close proximity to schools and hospitals in some parts of the world but the international biogas organization strongly reccommends against this and has published a lengthy list of places not suitable for such an installation.

Mr. Larson is correct regarding Cowichan Valley farms being situated among residential areas. It is one of the finest features of the Valley. An industrial biogas facility among a residential area is, however, not to be confused with the bucolic farming operations we now enjoy. The two biogas plants on the mainland are both set on hundreds of acres unencumbered by close neighbours or the fire risk of forested land. His proposal would undertake a much larger amount of waste material than either of those facilities on a comparitively tiny piece of land, surrounded by neighbours and forest.

The long term effects on two major aquifers is difficult to quantify but it is a certainty that this proposal will put our drinking water at risk.

It is strange, indeed, that Mr. Larson protests he had no idea this would upset the neighbours. When this proposal leaked back in May, he immediately contacted all the neighbours to let us know that as it had “unfortunately” leaked he would like to invite everyone to his home to hear his presentation about biogas. If ever there was an attempt to put out a neighbourhood fire, that was it. Since that time the opposition has grown and continues to spread as people do their research and due diligence regarding the biogas industry.

Kate Morrow

Mill Bay