Dear Editor,
Sometimes Albertans living outside the bigger cities are considered to be country bumpkins.
Western Feedlot ran its operations for years, and even though there was an occasional odour problem, its management did work with the community to minimize the causes.
In the two years that Rimrock Feeders has operated the feedlot, the animal head count has risen to 35,000 and the air pollution has tainted our enjoyment of our own backyards and any outdoor activities. (You know it is excessive when ammonia not only curdles your nose but burns your eyes.)
The Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) has received hundreds (maybe thousands) of complaints and has installed an air quality monitor in High River; but has not yet censured the management practices and procedures of manure and water handling. The Agricultural Operation Practices Act states that non-compliance issues will be dealt with within five business days – yet the odour problems continue unabated.
Us bumpkins, in the meantime, continue to live under the veil of odours, now starting to affect land and house values as more citizens decide to sell and move. Several potential buyers have also decided that this flood prone community has another unnatural hazard – smell.
Now the bumpkins are under an even bigger potential threat. Rimrock has partnered with Tidewater Renewables to build an industrial-scale biodigester complex (the largest in North America). The corporate pitch is to create renewable natural gas and lower the odors by 42 per cent, yet the 12 acres of open lakes and the 39-foot-high flare stack will add numerous toxic compounds (hydrogen sulfite, carbon dioxide, methane, etc.) which can cause many health issues.
And our governments sit or stall, except for the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre, which has given this large multinational corporation two grants totaling $13.4 million, and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, which has authorized a $150-million five-year credit facility. Maybe Alberta taxpayers are not just bumpkins – but better idiots.
Corporations usually operate with high standards and ‘professional’ management like Union Carbide or Pacific Power and Gas. Just ask the citizens of Bhopal or East Palestine, Ohio.
John Blake
