City's solid-waste contract stretches like Mister Fantastic

Like the Fantastic Four's Dr. Reed Richards, there seems to be no end to the ability of Elementa Group Inc. to stretch out its solid waste contract with the City of Sault Ste. Marie.

Last night, City Council gave the superhero-rubbery deal a seventh deadline extension, allowing the company until May 1, 2016 to start construction on its full-scale commercial demonstration plant at 903 Base Line Road.

The most recent iteration of the contract required that the work begin no later than March 1 of this year.

Under the extension approved last night, Elementa will start accepting city waste on July 1, 2017.

It must complete its first year of production by December 31, 2018.

Beginning with predecessor company EnQuest Power Corp., previous deadline extensions were granted by the city on February 12, 2007; February 9, 2009; February 22, 2010; October 24, 2011; April 22, 2013 and January 20, 2014.

"Is everything progessing satisfactorily?" Ward 5 Councillor Frank Fata wanted to know at last night's meeting.

"We certainly have experienced some delays," conceded Jayson Zwierschke, Elementa's founding president and chief executive officer.

"Obviously, financing these projects sometimes is a challenge. This one is no exception.

"We're very excited about what's happened in the last 30 days. We're working with some major corporations.

"We've modified our strategy on financing a little bit. We've worked with some insurance groups to put together a unique transfer-of-risk product which has been of great assistance to us.

"We plan to make some major announcements with some major corporations. Some have already visited Sault Ste. Marie. I can't say their names until the agreements have been finalized. But the project is moving forward.

"And this extension, if council so agrees to provide that to us, would give us that final boost to move this project to full commercial implementation," Zwierschke said.

Last October, when Elementa closed a land deal to acquire 15 acres of city-owned land at 903 Base Line Road to build its energy-from-waste commercial plant, he was saying remarkably similar things.

“I haven’t been this excited about Elementa in a long time,” Zwierschke told SooToday then, indicating that over the next six weeks, the company planned to make announcements about new business partners and technological matters.

One of the announcements would be a “game-changer,” Zwierschke said.

No subsequent announcements were made by the company.

Last night, Ward 1 Councillor Steve Butland said people ask him why he continues to support the tardy waste initiative.

"Simply because the City of Sault Ste. Marie has invested a whole lot of time and energy. But we really haven't invested any money. If this were to be successful - when it is successful - we'll all be very happy."

Butland says that Elementa's chief competitor used to be Ottawa-based Plasco Energy Group.

But Plasco is no longer operating.

Its creditors include the Town of Blind River, which found itself holding more than $5,000 in bad debt for each of its 3,549 souls.

WIth its largest competitor removed from the playing field, Elementa is now in a position to move forward, Butland said.

"After 11 years, we remain optimistic that this can happen," he said.