27 June 2007

Good afternoon all,

I know many of you will by now have learned of the result of yesterday's County of Simcoe vote on preliminary works at proposed Dump Site 41. In the event you haven't heard the news, County Council voted 16 to 15 in favour of proceeding with the development of the dump. Wasaga Beach Deputy Mayor David Foster was absent from yesterday's vote as he was out of the country. Deputy Mayor Foster, has in the past, made his opposition to the proposal known.

Admittedly, I would have much preferred the vote to have been a resounding NO to the development of Dump Site 41. Nevertheless, the vote did send a very clear message that half of the members of the County of Simcoe Council are unconvinced that the development of Dump Site 41 is in the best interests of the County. This is a remarkable number when you consider that those members who voted in opposition to the site's development, reached their conclusion notwithstanding the unrelenting lobbying efforts of other members of Council, the influence of the Warden's Office, and what I view as the biased and prejudicial information presented by County staff. Even those in support of developing Dump Site 41, I think will have to admit, that this decision falls far short of a clear mandate to open yet another dumpsite.

I found several of Warden Guergis' comments following the vote troubling, including his assertion that the direction he chose in supporting development of the site , was in the best interests of the Corporation of the County of Simcoe. The inference of course being that the 15 members of County Council who voted in opposition to the site's development, had something other than the County's best interests in mind. It is my honest belief that every member of County Council who cast a vote, did so with the best interests of the County in mind, albeit some with a deficit of information.

Warden Guergis also stated that if residents would stop putting out two bags of garbage to the curb for pick up, the County would stop opening additional dumps. I think that is exactly what we, those opposed to the development of site 41, have been suggesting. We know that the County has 9.3 years of capacity in existing landfill sites. Further, we know that the County is awaiting approvals for an addition 11.4 years of capacity in those same sites. The net result is over 20 years of capacity with a diversion rate from landfill at only 32%. If the County were to focus their efforts on extending an enhanced recycling/diversion program similar to the South Simcoe pilot project, we could easily meet this challenge. The question is, why has Warden Guergis chosen to open another dump instead of facilitating development of the very programs that would serve us all and meet this objective? It is interesting to note that South Simcoe avoided the opening of a landfill around the same time their enhanced organics diversion program was introduced.

Yesterday morning I received a letter from Ms. Doris Dumais, Director of the Approvals Program at the Environmental Assessment & Approvals Branch of the Ministry of the Environment. This letter of response was on behalf of Minister Broten. I had earlier written to Minister Broten with regard to assertions made by certain members of County Council, including Warden Guergis, that the Ministry of the Environment was compelling the County of Simcoe to open Dump Site 41. In this letter, Director Dumais confirmed that, "in Ontario, municipalities have the responsibility to develop waste management solutions on behalf of it's residents." The letter goes on to state, "These solution include landfilling, incineration, and other energy from waste technologies, as well as diversion, composting and recycling projects aimed at diverting materials from landfills. In this particular case the County of Simcoe has selected landfilling at Site 41. I have responded to Director Dumais thanking her for taking time from a busy schedule to confirm for me that at no time did the Ministry of the Environment, through any of it's branches, direct the Count of Simcoe to develop Dump Site 41.
There remain many outstanding issues with this proposed development including, the loss of prime class one and two agricultural lands in direct contravention of the 2005 Provincial Policy Statement, the uncertainty surrounding the affects of climate change and how that relates to the safety of the site. There remain a number of technical construction concerns including dewatering regimes and slope stability issues. I would welcome the opportunity to comment further on these, or any other points in relation to this decision specifically, or Dump Site 41 in general. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Ray Millar
Site 41 CMC Chair