June 30, 2013

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ACTIONS:
 
**BIG NEWS: CRD BOARD MEETING WEDS WEIGHS VIEWFIELD SURVEY AND MOTIONS

AUDIO AND VIDEO OF ACTIONS BY SABP AND ALLIES
ATTWELL ON CBC - AUDIO
GREAT PHOTO SUITE OF TRESTLE-WALK "SLUDGE-TRUDGE" BY KERI COLES!
CTV NEWS STORY OF ESQUIMALT DEMAND FOR BLACKWELL RESIGNATION
CHEK NEWS SPOT ON SELKIRK TRESTLE MARCH
CHASING MR HULL - THE MISLEADING CRD DISCUSSION GUIDE GAMBIT 
STAG: REJUVENATED AND ROARING BACK TO FIGHT THIS PLAN!

CRD SEWAGE NEWS-LINKS
 
CHEK TV: SEWAGE REVERSAL
CRD BACKTRACKS ON BUILDING SEWAGE SLUDGE PLANT IN ESQUIMALT; POLITICIANS VOTE NEXT WEEK
- ESQUIMALT RESIDENTS TO HAVE SAY ON SEWAGE PLANT LAND REZONING
MAYOR DESJARDINS ON CFAX - AUDIO
TIMES COLONIST EDITORIAL DON'T MAKE IT PERSONAL
METAL RECYCLING SITE COURTS CRD FOR GREATER VICTORIA BIOSOLIDS SITE
ESQUIMALT COUNCILLORS VOTE TO CENSURE CRD'S DENISE BLACKWELL
ESQ COUNCILLOR MORRISON ON CFAX - AUDIO
CTV NEWS STORY OF ESQUIMALT DEMAND FOR BLACKWELL RESIGNATION
- CRD LETTER REJECTING BLACKWELL RESIGNATION
CRAIGFLOWER PUMP STATION PROPAGANDA
CTV NEWS VIDEO CLIP OF SCHNITZER STEEL SITE ANNOUNCEMENT
- SCHNITZER STEEL OFFERS HALF ITS LAND TO MAKE ROOM FOR VICTORIA SEWAGE-TREATMENT PLANT
BROWNOFF CFAX AUDIO WITH RICHARD'S COMMENTS
CRD SEWAGE COMMISSION'S MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT FOR 28 JUNE
CRD: GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND HOLD A REFERENDUM
DOWN THE DRAIN

LETTER & BLOG -LINKS

SEWAGE-PLAN BROCHURE MISREPRESENTS VIEWFIELD (Ash)
BIOSOLIDS PLANT DISPLAY WAS MISLEADING (Baigent)
REAL COMMUNITY BENEFITS NEEDED FOR SEWAGE PLANT (Bellefontaine)
HEAVY-HANDEDNESS SEEN IN SEWAGE ISSUE (Grey)
- CRD BIOSOLIDS PLANT SURVEY MISLEADING: RESIDENT (Griffin)
PUT SEWAGE-PLANT FUNDS TO BETTER USE (James)
ESQUIMALT PUSHED AROUND FOR TOO LONG (Klassen)
THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED – A SEWAGE TREATMENT CONCEPT (Low)
BLACKWELL'S COMMENTS LIKENED TO THREATS (Morrison)
CRD TRYING TO BUY OFF ESQUIMALT RESIDENTS (Pepper)
SLUDGE-PLANT IMPACT IS VERY PERSONAL (Pittman)

 - SEND IN YOUR LETTERS!
 
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ACTIONS:
 
CRD's sludge plant public consultation survey questions did not clearly allow for rejection of land-based sewage treatment and sludge plants per se, but rather constrained responses to choosing preferred sites of Hartland, Viewfield (online), or Hartland, Viewfield, no response, neither (in-person). However, a significant number of comments must have been submitted for the report authors to state that, "There continues to be voices in opposition to the need for secondary sewage treatment for our region..." (page 6).

**BIG NEWS: CRD BOARD MEETING WEDS WEIGHS VIEWFIELD SURVEY AND MOTIONS

This particular CALWMC meeting might be of interest as it has results of recent CRD survey on Viewfield sludge plant site versus Hartland, and has motions related to it:

4.1 Biosolids Energy Centre Siting Process - Public Consultation Interim Summary Report
• a) That the Interim Public Consultation Summary Report be received;

• b) That the Viewfield Road site no longer be considered as an option for the Biosolids Energy Centre; and

• b) That the full consultation report, including verbatim comments, be presented to the Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee and Board at a later date.


Submit online form before Monday, 4:30pm. State that you're speaking to item 4.1, Biosolids Consultation Process. 


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AUDIO AND VIDEO OF ACTIONS BY SABP AND ALLIES

SABP Selkirk Trestle ("Sludge Trudge") March promo:

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ATTWELL ON CBC - AUDIO

Here's the archive of Richard's CBC Radio (90.5 FM) interview with Khalil Akhtar of CBC:
http://stopabadplan.ca/media/130625_CBC_Richard_Atwell.mp3

Length: 8m43s

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GREAT PHOTO SUITE OF "SLUDGE-TRUDGE" BY KERI COLES!

Great suite of photos in "March Against the Viewfield Rd Sludge Plant": 


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CHEK NEWS SPOT ON SELKIRK TRESTLE MARCH

June 25, 2013 CHEK Video of the Selkirk Trestle March:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0FamchFyvM

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CTV NEWS VIDEO CLIP ON SELKIRK TRESTLE MARCH

June 25, 2013 CTV Video of the Selkirk Trestle March:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS-M-f6qJak

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CHASING MR HULL - THE MISLEADING CRD DISCUSSION GUIDE GAMBIT (Pittman)

Misleading CRD Discussion Guide (Pittman video)


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STAG: REJUVENATED AND ROARING BACK TO FIGHT THIS PLAN!



STAG big half-page adverts were in June 23 Times Colonist, in  Victoria/Saanich/Oak Bay News & Goldstream Gazette. Here is advert from 30 June's Times Colonist, page D10.

About: 

"The Sewage Treatment Action Group is a group of citizens from the Capital Region who have significant concerns with the ongoing sewage treatment planning and with the public consultation efforts around the Capital Regional District's Core Area Wastewater Treatment Project."

READ MORE ABOUT THIS GREAT GROUP: http://sewagefacts.ca/

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CRD SEWAGE NEWS



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CRD BACKTRACKS ON BUILDING SEWAGE SLUDGE PLANT IN ESQUIMALT; POLITICIANS VOTE NEXT WEEK

Angry residents have voiced strong opposition; CRD staff recommend abandoning the idea despite buying land for $17 million.

ROB SHAW
TIMES COLONIST 
JUNE 28, 2013

The Capital Regional District is backtracking on a plan to build a sewage sludge facility on Viewfield Road in Esquimalt.

CRD staff are recommending politicians vote to abandon the idea, after angry residents voiced strong opposition to the Viewfield location during recent public consultation sessions.

“I think that they heard loud and clear that this was not a good, well-thought-out idea and that they need to take it off the table,” said Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins.

The public overwhelming prefers to build the sludge facility at Hartland landfill in Saanich, according to 441 online and in-person responses collected during eight open houses this month.

That led senior CRD officials to recommend to the CRD board in a staff report Friday “that the Viewfield Road site no longer be considered as an option for the Biosolids Energy Centre.”

Politicians, however, could choose to ignore the advice or pick an alternative action, such as scheduling another meeting that would allow for community delegations to present directly to the CRD.

The issue will be put to a non-weighted vote of the CRD board on Wednesday, which means several communities — such as Highlands and Metchosin — that aren’t part of the sewage project will nonetheless get to vote on the decision.

“I don’t know how the vote is going to shake out,” said Denise Blackwell, CRD sewage committee chairwoman. “It will be interesting.”

The CRD has been struggling with significant public blowback from the Viewfield proposal since it abruptly announced in late March that it had, in secret, spent $17 million to acquire the 4.2-acre Wilson Foods warehouse site as a potential location for a biosolids plant.

Esquimalt’s mayor and town council blasted the regional government for the move, saying the site is close to schools and homes, and would leave the town with both of the region’s planned sewage treatment facilities.

A treatment plant is already proposed for McLoughin Point in Esquimalt. The project, budgeted at $783-million, also requires a second facility to handle the leftover biosolid sludge, turning it into biogas and fertilizer.

There’s also a push from people who live near Hartland landfill to oppose a sludge site at that location as well, said Blackwell.

If the CRD votes to reject Viewfield, it will have to figure out what to do with the newly-purchased property.

The site, which is comprised of two properties, has a value of $12.9 million, according to B.C. Assessment records. The CRD paid $17 million, which is $4.1 million over assessed value.

READ MORE: 

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ESQUIMALT RESIDENTS TO HAVE SAY ON SEWAGE PLANT LAND REZONING

Don Descoteau
Victoria News
June 26, 2013 3:04 PM

With the Capital Regional District hoping to break ground soon on a sewage treatment plant at Esquimalt's McLoughlin Point, residents are preparing to give council their thoughts on the required rezoning of the land.

Proposed bylaws relating to the treatment plant site will be discussed by residents at an 11th-hour public hearing scheduled for July 8 at Archie Browning Sports Centre.

Providing input on a decision that is pivotal to the progress of the Capital Region's largest-ever infrastructure project – one mandated by the province and reinforced by new federal sewage treatment legislation – is clearly the most far-reaching opportunity ever for Esquimalt residents.

Mayor Barb Desjardins said the 2007 deliberations around whether to save or demolish the sports centre is the only issue that comes close to the significance of the upcoming discussion for her community.


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MAYOR DESJARDINS ON CFAX - AUDIO

Mayor Desjardins was on CFAX with Stephen Andrew (Tue June 25) to discuss the previous night's council meeting:

http://stopabadplan.ca/media/130625_CFAX_Barb_Desjardins.m4a

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TIMES COLONIST EDITORIAL DON'T MAKE IT PERSONAL


See a response to editorial in Pittman letter below: SLUDGE-PLANT IMPACT IS VERY PERSONAL

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METAL RECYCLING SITE COURTS CRD FOR GREATER VICTORIA BIOSOLIDS SITE

Daniel Palmer
Victoria News
June 27, 2013 5:34 PM

As if the Capital Region's sewage treatment plans needed another wild card.

This week, Schnitzer Steel - a scrap metal yard located on Victoria's upper harbour - revealed it was willing to vacate half of its leased heavy industrial property to make way for the Capital Regional District's biosolids processing plant.

The company said it wanted to offer an alternative solution to the controversy surrounding properties at Esquimalt's light industrial park on Viewfield Road and at Saanich's Hartland landfill for the biosolids plant. A separate wastewater treatment facility is slated for McLoughlin Point.

In the 11th-hour announcement, Schnitzer said efficiencies in its recycling process mean 1.6 hectares of its 3.2 ha property at 307 David St. are up for grabs, if the CRD offers the right purchasing price.

Property owner Fred Berman is also on board with the plan, but negotiations with the CRD already fell apart once when neither party could agree on a purchase price, said Michael Geoghegan, media spokesman for Schnitzer.

Complicating the proposal is the need to remediate the soil, which has been used for industrial purposes for more than a century.


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ESQUIMALT COUNCILLORS VOTE TO CENSURE CRD'S DENISE BLACKWELL

Times Colonist
JUNE 24, 2013

Esquimalt council is demanding that Capital Regional District vice-chairwoman Denise Blackwell resign from all her positions with the CRD because of comments she made in a story published in the Times Colonist last week.

Blackwell, who is also a Langford councillor, told a reporter that she was disappointed by the Esquimalt advisory planning committee’s position that Esquimalt council should not change its land use rules so that a wastewater treatment plant can be built at McLoughlin Point.

“I knew Esquimalt was going to try to put up roadblocks,” said Blackwell.


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ESQ COUNCILLOR MORRISON ON CFAX - AUDIO

Councillor Tim Morrison was on CFAX this morning (Tue June 25) with Ryan Price:

http://stopabadplan.ca/media/130625_CFAX_Tim_Morrison.m4a

Councillor Morrison relates the happenings from last night's blockbuster council meeting in Esquimalt.

Tim speaks about the upcoming public hearing for McLoughlin (July 8,9,10), the CRD, the flawed process to date and why he motioned for the council to ask Blackwell to resign which passed unanimously.

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CTV NEWS STORY OF ESQUIMALT DEMAND FOR BLACKWELL RESIGNATION

Video link to CTV News story regarding Esquimalt demands for CRD Vice-Chair Denise Blackwell's resignation:


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CRD LETTER REJECTING BLACKWELL RESIGNATION


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CTV NEWS VIDEO CLIP OF SCHNITZER STEEL SITE ANNOUNCEMENT

June 24, 2013 CTV Video of the Schnitzer Steel site announcement:


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CRAIGFLOWER PUMP STATION PROPAGANDA

June 12, 2013 CRD Video:

Coming soon to a sludge plant neighbourhood near you: a mailout showcasing the Craigflower pump station upgrade in View Royal...

This suggestion so enraged an audience member attending the last sewage committee meeting, she walked out while Dead Fortin was speaking and Denise Blackwell had to bring out the gavel of silence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCCIubUYsM0&hd=1

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Schnitzer approached CRD "a while back with this offer”, but CRD says that no options in Upper Harbour available without expropriating. However, in 2012, CRD Sewage chair Blackwell said "There is no suitable land available in the upper harbour for a biosolids facility". So who is right?:
http://www.wastewatermadeclear.ca/media/documents/2012-06-03-crd-defends-its-choices-on-sewage-treatment.pdf

- A lot of housing and businesses could come within 500 metres of a Schnitzer Steel sewage plant site: http://goo.gl/maps/CR3PH

- Also ironic that close to Schnitzer Steel, CRD map shows 3 storm sewer discharges (#0634, 0635, 0636) have High Environmental Rating & Recommended for Action but sewage plant wouldn't be treating storm sewer discharges: http://goo.gl/chysB

SCHNITZER STEEL OFFERS HALF ITS LAND TO MAKE ROOM FOR VICTORIA SEWAGE-TREATMENT PLANT

TIMES COLONIST 
JUNE 24, 2013

Schnitzer Steel said Monday it has “a mutually beneficial solution” that could help end the controversy surrounding the location of the CRD’s sewage-treatment plant in Esquimalt.

The metal recycler is offering to vacate half of its leased land on the Inner Harbour in Victoria to make room for the plant.

“We’ve been looking for a site partner for the past year or so, and approached the CRD a while back with this offer,” said Mark Mossey, regional director for Schnitzer. “We’re bringing the idea forward again now to see if it helps resolve the current controversy — and we feel the CRD plant is a great fit.

“Thanks to substantial investments and increased efficiency of our Western Canadian operations, we no longer need the entire site,” added Mossey.

Schnitzer’s proposal is to vacate enough land on their site to make room for the CRD’s biosolids treatment plant and to offer use of their recently rebuilt dock facility. This would give the CRD the option of barging solid waste rather than having to truck it through already congested streets.

Considering that its site proposal is comparable in cost to Esquimalt and far less controversial, Schnitzer is hoping to spark sufficient interest to warrant the CRD taking a second look at their site-sharing idea.


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BROWNOFF CFAX AUDIO WITH RICHARD'S COMMENTS

Judy Brownoff went on CFAX this morning with Ryan Price for an extended interview to defend Denise Blackwell who is apparently on vacation.


Brownoff is now promoting barging when staff has been telling us all along that it's up to the 3 project bidders to decide whether or not they want to barge in construction materials yet there has been no provision for building a dock in any of the CRD plans, and staff has told residents they have been avoiding a dock so as not to set off an environmental review of the whole project.

When we dug into this detail, what came up was that a dock built onto the foreshore on McLoughlin Pt. would NOT force an environmental review which is a pity in reality because the entire project needs one, badly.

Maybe, last night's mega-amendment from Esquimalt council requiring barging so as to minimize disturbance of the community has something to do with Brownoff's timely promotion. :-)

If you are familiar with the history of the Haro Wood fight, you may not want to listen to the last half of the recording...

What Brownoff calls a small wastewater treatment plant that was formerly destined for Haro was described last night at Esquimalt council by staff as a tertiary treatment plant which you can see in the photo below as using a massive chunk of Haro land that belonged to QA Foundation.

Engineers who live in the Cadboro Bay neighbourhood have previously disclosed that the CRD's numbers that justify the construction of the tanks are incorrect. When they brought the figures to the CRD they were ignored, as per usual. Both sets of figures should have gone for peer review and/or examined by the technical and community advisory committee (TCAC).

What do you think about the Haro tanks?

Take a look at this map of the system. Does it make any sense to catch I&I rainwater near the END of the system? Haro woods is on the right of the diagram, where Saanich Municipal Trunk (1) meets CRD NE Trunk (4) at Finnerty overflow outfall (dotted line).

Most of the eastern trunk system is BELOW these attenuation (rain water/sewage storage) tanks. Wouldn't it make more sense to put tanks someplace (or several places) in Oak Bay instead of this urban forest?

Just another reason, why I call this project "the McTavish Interchange of Sewage Treatment": lots of dollars but not a lot of sense.


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CRD SEWAGE COMMISSION'S MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT FOR 28 JUNE

CRD Sewage Commission's Monthly "Progress" report (link below), introduced at their meeting this morning, 28 June: 

Couple of notes: 

- Between Aug/12 and 31 May/13, total of $17 million costs. However, that $17 million does not include many millions of costs on the sewage plant between 2006 through July/12 (add another $20 million or so...).

- CRD sewage commission legal advisor is Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP, retained for $950,000, and insurance broker is AON Reed Stenhouse for $250,000 (page 11). So if anybody wants to challenge the diktats of the CRD's sewage empire, or to get compensation for damages, they better have deep pockets...

- It has been confirmed that the project is not subject to a CEAA permitting process (5.10.1 page 13). CRD says thank heavens that this mega-sewage plant and sludge plant complex won't get an independent, rigorous analysis under the federal Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (nor under BCEAA), because who knows what a CEAA could turn up? Egads!

2013-06-28 Item 4 Core Area Waste Water Treatment Program Monthly Progress Report (CAW 13-19): 

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CRD: GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND HOLD A REFERENDUM

LESLIE CAMPBELL
FOCUS MAGAZINE
JULY/AUGUST 2013

Healthy democracy is more critical than secondary sewage treatment.

The CRD has spent $50 million towards planning the area’s liquid waste treatment facilities, and the most obvious thing they have to show for it so far is a distrustful, angry public. Perhaps it’s time for an intervention—in the form of direct democracy.

I attended a couple of the recent open houses the CRD hosted about the Biosolids Energy Centre component of the plan. CRD bureaucrats were out in force, explaining the pros and cons of the Hartland vs Viewfield sites. So were citizens from Esquimalt and Victoria West who feel victimized by the possibility of a large sewage plant in the midst of their family-friendly neighbourhood. Councillor Shellie Gudgeon described the situation as “an issue of social justice.”

Yet the Hartland site poses other issues, including those incurred by sewage making a 36-kilometer round trip through pipelines. The “choice” between two highly problematic sites for biosolids treatment within the larger plan involving a massive liquid waste plant at the entrance to Victoria’s harbour, with a $783 million price tag, is causing those of us who’ve long been in favour of sewage treatment to demand a change of course.

On the same evening (June 24) that over 200 protesters marched from Victoria West to the open house at Burnside Gorge Community Centre, Esquimalt council unanimously called for Denise Blackwell to resign as chair of the CRD’s sewage committee and as vice-chair of the CRD. They also agreed to proceed to public hearings (July 8-10) to consider the CRD’s application to rezone land at McLoughlin Point to allow for the liquid waste treatment plant.

Will these open houses and hearings make a difference—or is it all just elaborate window dressing—faux consultation? Have decisions already been made? Will all those survey sheets and letters and presentations to the CRD carry any weight? Many doubt it. But citizens are not giving up, and they are a force to be reckoned with. At the open houses I met many residents who have bloomed into activists and sewage treatment researchers. Their words and numbers should make a difference.

Most of those I spoke with at recent events are not (as Blackwell has suggested) opposed to sewage treatment. They just don’t like the plan as it stands. 




Who is that woman wearing Stop A Bad Plan yellow t-shirt and carrying a STOP The Madness sign?? None other then fantastic Victoria councillor Shellie Gudgeon! 
Photo appeared with Campbell's FOCUS article.
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DOWN THE DRAIN

Gene Miller,
FOCUS Magazine
July 2013

Scroll down to read: 

6.

When Dockside Green—the now world-famous LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) Platinum development across the Blue Bridge—was being undertaken in 2006, one of its bold environmental features was on-site wastewater treatment. If you’ve visited Dockside Green, those decorative ponds in front of the harbour-facing townhouses are the final ‘polishing’ stage of the wastewater treatment process.

To win CRD engineering approval and to opt out of regional wastewater fees, Dockside Green had to turn somersaults to prove that its on-site system was capable of treating wastewater to CRD standards.


7.

When Chris Corps talks, he plays all the voices. He’s a natural non-fiction storyteller. Corps, a land economist and valuation consultant, brings formidable forensic skills to spreadsheet analysis, and can turn “Total Stabilized Capital Cost Comparison” into a spellbinder. I haven’t met anyone better able to untangle and illuminate the idea that capital investment choices have ecological impacts and consequences for the energy future...in fact, the future at-large.


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LETTERS & BLOGS

SEWAGE-PLAN BROCHURE MISREPRESENTS VIEWFIELD (Ash)

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BIOSOLIDS PLANT DISPLAY WAS MISLEADING (Baigent)

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HEAVY-HANDEDNESS SEEN IN SEWAGE ISSUE (Grey)
http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/heavy-handedness-seen-in-sewage-issue-1.330738

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CRD BIOSOLIDS PLANT SURVEY MISLEADING: RESIDENT (Griffin)

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ESQUIMALT PUSHED AROUND FOR TOO LONG (Klassen)

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THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED – A SEWAGE TREATMENT CONCEPT (Low)

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BLACKWELL'S COMMENTS LIKENED TO THREATS (Morrison)

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