Realtor-turned community activist Arnold Shuchat has one message to Richmond residents who continue to endure the foul odours of Harvest Power’s composing facility in east Richmond.
“We have to stay on the petition and we have to stay on the complaints. We have to keep a diary. And we should keep an eye on our property values,” said Shuchat, a co-founder of Facebook group, Stop the Stink in Richmond and the eponymous Change.org petition that calls for closure of the facility as it continues to produce the omnipresent odours, described as a combination of rotting eggs, foul meat and sour milk.
Since enforcement measures of the facility’s new Metro Vancouver air quality permit came into effect Jan. 1, official complaints of Harvest Power have tailed off, compared to last fall. To date, Ray Robb, Metro’s district director for air quality, has logged 365 complaints for the month. In November, there were 1,042 complaints, which are seen as important for the Environmental Appeal Board appeal process of 24 citizen appellants who seek to stop Harvest Power.
Shuchat feels the lower numbers in December (405) and January are due to the holidays and people staying inside due to the cold weather. He also fears people are fatigued from the situation.
Harvest Power has not been forced to stop taking organic waste, to date, although it has come close, said Robb.
To date, the five Metro Vancouver air quality officers assigned to Harvest Power have determined the U.S.-based company was violating its five-kilometre radius in which odours are permitted, on three occasions.
“If our officers observe odours outside five-kilometres, for more than 10 minutes in any hour, on four days of a 14-day window, then we can tell them to stop taking food waste,” said Robb.
Roughly speaking, the radius extends to near Ironwood, up Garden City Road, then across the East Cambie area.
On Jan. 10, 13 and 16, Metro Vancouver concluded Harvest Power was in violation. Had there been another violation inside a 14-day window, Harvest would have been ordered to stop taking waste until a new 14-day window was clear of four violations.
Proving the stench is coming from Harvest Power is not easy, said Robb.
First, the officer observes a smell for 10 minutes. Next they follow the odour back to the facility and ensure it is getting stronger as they approach. Then, they ensure there are no other sources of odour.
Officers may track a smell at two different locations to qualify a violation, said Robb.
But often, especially with changing wind patterns, officers lose the scent (determined by their trained noses).
On Jan. 18, Robb said officers came close to shutting the facility down, if it were not for swirling winds.
“The wind is usually blowing from the northeast, so it ends up in Steveston,” said Robb.
“We have observed less odours than we did in August and September,” said Robb.
Harvest Power maintains it is working on facility improvements.
That’s not good enough, however, for Mayor Malcolm Brodie.
“There have been numerous times, as recently as last night and this morning, that I could detect a strong odour,” said Brodie.
But Shuchat’s group has expressed much frustration over Brodie’s handling of the situation. Specifically, Shuchat questions how the City of Richmond’s contract with Harvest Power can be held in secret for business purposes given the pollution that is occurring.
Resident Don Flintoff filed a request for the contract, which was redacted in many parts.
Brodie maintained there are legal reasons for not revealing the entire contract.
The city has begun diverting organic waste from multi-family units, to a compost facility in Delta, noted Brodie. However, Richmond only contributes about eight per cent of the total amount of waste bound for Harvest Power.
Meanwhile, Brodie has called on the federal Port of Vancouver to exert pressure on Harvest Power, as it is the landlord. He wants the port to “exercise any remedies they have under their lease” to Harvest Power.
The company, for its part, is calling for the provincial Environmental Appeal Board to terminate the air quality permit (issued by Metro Vancouver) based on the argument that their operation is regulated federally.
“We operate on federal land and that raises certain complicated issues of which rules apply,” stated Harvest Power spokesperson Stephen Bruyneel.
Steveston-Richmond East MP Joe Peschisolido was expected to run a town hall meeting Thursday night on the matter.
“We are not a direct decision maker on the regulatory side. There’s no official role for the Government of Canada to play,” said Peschisolido Thursday morning.
However there is a federal role “to be helpful to resolve” the issue, said Peschisolido.
