Government may sell Swan Hills plant

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News that the Alberta government may sell its stake in the Alberta Special Waste Treatment Centre at Swan Hills has delighted Indian bands in the area.

"Selling it, getting it privatized, is about the quickest way to get the thing shut down," said Richard Secord, lawyer for the Lesser Slave Lake Tribal Council and the Indian Association of Alberta.

"It's our view that this thing can't make a go unless it's heavily subsidized by the taxpayer."

The Alberta government has already sunk $250 million into the plant, which it owns jointly with Bovar Inc. Yearly subsidies total $25 million and were projected to reach $379 million by 2008.

Bovar, which owns 60 per cent of the plant, is guaranteed a rate of return on its investment, regardless of the plant's performance. The plant, which has never made a profit, has been paid $34 million as a return on its investment to date.

The plant, which has just received approval from Alberta's Natural Resources Conservation Board to impact toxic waste for treatment, sits on part of the traditional lands of Treaty 8 First Nations.

According to studies released by Chem-Security, which operates the centre for Bovar, highly toxic PCBs and other contaminants have been found in soil, sediments, fish, plants and small animals in the area, where a number of Aboriginals hunt and trap. The levels of PCBs being released are 10 times the legal limit allowed in Ontario.

The provincial government hoped the NRCB approval, which still has to be approved by Cabinet, would help the plant finally turn a profit. But Bovar's subsidiary told the NRCB hearing the plant would continue to lose $101 million by 1999 even if waste is shipped from other provinces for treatment.

Even if the joint venture is terminated, Bovar will be reimbursed its net investment of $81 million, which will bring the loss to the taxpayers to a total of $277 million.