City landfill targeted for greenhouse gas controls

City officials are weighing the merits of a possible deal with a not-for-profit corporation owned by Federation of. Canadian Municipalities that would allow emission-capture equipment to be installed at the City landfill.

Doug Salloum, general manager of Green Municipal Corp., has been in town this week to pitch officials on a scheme to take advantage of the federally regulated offset market for meeting emission reduction targets.

Salloum says the City of Sault Ste. Marie could sell offset credits earned by capturing greenhouse gasses at the landfill, and thereby reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) or CO2 equivalent emissions.

"If you want to address the issue of greenhouse gas reduction, the landfill is the best place to start," said Salloum. "Other opportunities could be found in the recapture of industrial gasses and composting."

The City could either burn those greenhouse gasses at the landfill or use them to generate electricity, generating revenue both from selling the electricity and selling the offset credits.

"You clearly have a great opportunity here," Salloum says. "The project can be paid for in three to five years." In pitches this week to City Council and the Sault's Municipal Environmental Initiatives Committee, Salloum said that accessing the carbon market would be environmentally and economically beneficial to the municipality.

"Basically we help municipalities take advantage of the federal offset market that allows big emitters to purchase offset credits so they can comply with federal CO2 emission intensity reduction targets."

Green Municipal Corporation can assist municipalities with feasibility studies, project executions, monitoring and offset credit sales, Salloum said.

"We can manage the validation, verification, certification and registration processes required by the federal government," he said. "Then we aggregate these offset credits with those from other municipal projects across the country and sell them to large emitters."

Salloum said the municipalities can enter agreements with Green Municipal Corp. for up to eight years and can begin to sell their offset credits this year.

Green Municipal Corp. will be ready to sell these offset credits for municipalities on December 31, 2008.

Although the base price per tonne for the offset credit has not yet been set, Salloum says six municipalities have already signed up.

"[I] will send a term sheet with an offer to buy those emission reductions early next week so you can make a decision based on those numbers," he told councillors. "It will be about $8 to $9 per tonne initially and anything we make above our costs will be shared with our partners. So it could be more."

Salloum expects it will be more.

He says proposed CO2 intensity reduction legislation in the United States will be much tighter than Canada's and he expects we'll bring ours in line shortly after the Americans tighten theirs.

Industry accounts for 51 percent of greenhouse gasses produced in the world.

As regulations tighten, the industrial sector will be more eager to buy offset credits, Salloum argues.

"It's a growing market," Salloum told City officials.

When asked what sort of difference projects like the one proposed for Sault Ste. Marie's landfill can make on a global scale, Salloum responded that everything helps.

He believes China and India will also begin to reduce their emissions to save money on energy costs and to improve air quality in their countries.

At yesterday's 'green' committee meeting today, Mayor John Rowswell suggested those countries could be pressured to reduce emissions more quickly if Canada were to impose carbon taxes on products from those countries.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Ward 1 Councillor Steve Butland, chair of the green committee, said it will take a close look at Salloum's proposal and some of other possible projects for the landfill site, bringing recommendations back to City Council as soon as possible.