A Further Report on the Class Environmental Assessment:
The Runaway Train Sidetracked

By Charlene Lowes

In the Spring and Fall 1996 issues of the Tiny Cottager, we reported on Tiny’s Class EA for Water Servicing and Sewage Servicing.

Much has happened since the autumn of 1996. The Federation met with Brian Nixon, Director of the Environmental Planning and Analysis Branch (Funding) of the MoEE; he met with us on behalf of the Deputy Minister. On November 8, 1996 and on February 19, 1997, Dr. Trevor Dickinson (Professor Emeritus of Hydrogeology), Charlene Lowes and Patricia O’Driscoll met with Brian Nixon to set out the serious concerns of the Federation with the ongoing Class EA Study in Tiny Township.

A Recap
The Class EA began in the spring of 1995. Its stated purpose was to address a health related concern in the Balm Beach/Ossossane area (BB/O) (Conc. 8, 9 and 10). An Open House to present alternative solutions was held on April 26, 1996. The application for funding for the Study included a request for money to do comprehensive testing. Study funding was granted and funds were available to do the comprehensive testing but the testing has NEVER been done. At our meeting with Mr. Nixon, Dr. Dickinson said many times: "without testing, we just don’t know."

In 1992, 219 wells from the approximately 1100 wells in the BB/O area were tested.

Results indicated that 43% of the tested wells were substandard. At that time, Ainley & Associates Ltd. (Township engineers and consulting engineers to the EA Study) recommended further comprehensive testing. However, when the second tests were done in 1995, Ainley recommended testing only the worst wells from 1992. Of the 89 substandard wells tested only 35% (31 wells) showed any problem. The second tests actually showed that there had been a dramatic increase in the quality of the drinking water between 1992 and 1995.

E.A. Committee say testing unnecessary!
Without comprehensive testing, no one has any idea just what problems exist in the area. Anyone can surmise or guess, but, without testing, no one knows.

Testing was brushed aside by the EA Committee (Deputy Mayor Taylor and Councillors Klym and Kronschnabl) as being "unnecessary". The EA Committee members seem convinced that the problem in Conc 8, 9 and 10 stems from faulty septic systems, a conclusion not substantiated by test results.

The EA Committee then focused its efforts on studying septage treatment facilities to be located some 7 1/2 miles from the BB/O area. A septage treatment facility has nothing to do with the quality of drinking water in Conc. 8, 9 and 10.

At the heart of the matter, there is one re-echoing fact. "Without comprehensive testing, no one knows what problems exist nor where they are."

After our November 8, 1996 meeting with the MoEE, Mr. Nixon wrote to Tiny Township Council and said that if the funds allocated for testing were not used for testing, Tiny Township would be unable to use them for any other purpose.

Committee recommends stopping Water portion of study
On November 28, 1996, the Clerk of Tiny Township wrote to the MoEE to advise that: (1) the "Water portion" of the EA would be closed off and that the EA Committee would continue to investigate a septage treatment facility; (2) the total Study budget would be reduced from $631,000 to $368,800. By letter, dated December 6, 1996, the MoEE confirmed acceptance of the reduced budget.

After our second meeting with Mr. Nixon of the MoEE on February 19, 1997, he wrote to Tiny Council and asked: (a) for a Council resolution to support the reduced budget set out in the Clerk’s letter of November 28, 1996, (b) that the problem now being investigated be defined since the scope of the study has changed and (c) if the Township was considering additional testing in the problem area.

Time for Council to decide
On March 16, 1997, the EA Committee met for the first time since October, 1996. Deputy Mayor Taylor and Councillor Klym were in attendance together with Mayor Lancia, an ex-officio member. Councillor Kronschnabl was absent. Mr. Nixon sent a member of his staff to observe this EA Committee meeting.

Mayor Lancia said he thought it was time for decisions to be made; the Committee had done its investigations and now Council should be part of the decision making process. He stressed that the EA Committee should have come to Council long before March 1997 to seek the input of all Council members regarding some decisions.

Mayor Lancia said that he had listened to the people who answered the questionnaires after the April, 1996 Open House; they wanted nothing done. He said that it is the taxpayers’ money Council is spending and that he respects their wishes. He stated that he would work to bring forward immediately a resolution to close off the Water and Sewage Servicing Class EA.

Later in the meeting, the EA committee passed a resolution (2-1, Councillor Klym opposed) recommending to Council that both the Water Servicing and the Sewage Servicing Class EA be brought to a conclusion.

Council decides - Water NO! Sewage YES!
At the April 1, 1997 Council meeting, the full Council discussed the EA Committee’s recommendation.

Councillor Kronschnabl said that she needed to meet with Ainley to "educate" herself. She continued to make the unsubstantiated claim that the problem was "from poor holding tanks and poor septic systems running into the water supply". As you know, there is no testing to support her statement. This Councillor also remarked: "This council will look incredibly poor for having spent all the money that was spent and not completing the project".

Councillor Klym, chose to ignore the fact that the MoEE had written twice to state that no provincial funding would be available for a septage treatment facility. She was counting on a new infrastructure program which has now materialized. However, Tiny is only eligible for a total of $63,776.00 from higher levels of government. At the April 1, 1997 meeting, Councillor Klym said: "we are talking a couple of million - to the homeowner, it is a minimal cost - and with funding, it is next to nothing." Really!

At the April 1, 1997 meeting, Deputy Mayor Taylor supported the recommendation to end both EA’s. He stated: "I don’t know why we persist. I understand why politically. What we are afraid of, I guess, is that FoTTSA [the Federation] is going to come out with their newspaper and say: ‘we stopped the runaway train’ etc. etc. and make political hay of it. Personally I think that would be regrettable but if that’s the case then I am going to be just as guilty if I continue to spend the taxpayers’ money to protect my political seat and that is my reason for voting to have this thing ended now. I have all the figures in and I am quite satisfied with what we can do and what we can’t do. I see no reason for prolonging it. It just doesn’t make sense to prolong it. It just doesn’t make sense."

Mayor Lancia also spoke in favour of closing both the Water and Sewage portions of the EA. He said: "This is not about politics. This is about economics. The economics of the situation is that this council is not going to spend $1.6 to $3.3 million on a sewage system. I doubt if you even want to spend $200,000 for the maintenance of a system. We don’t want it, why continue on?" … "This council will look incredibly stupid as a whole if we decide to continue to spend the money knowing full well that we have no intention of spending $2 million to $3 million dollars."

A Special Meeting of Council called for Monday, April 7
At the meeting, Council voted 4-1 to "leave open" the Sewage Servicing portion of the Class EA. And, turning his coat inside out, Deputy Mayor Taylor said: "I see no problem in continuing with the process or conversely, letting the process sit idle until those figures [Midland] are in and the Committee can make an informed decision at that time."

Mayor Lancia was the only member of Council who voted to close both the Water and Sewage portions of the Class EA. The Clerk was instructed to write to the MoEE and request that the funding for the Sewage EA be extended beyond the agreed deadline of December, 1997. The process could then be placed "on hold" until firm figures are available from Midland for septage treatment. The MoEE has refused to grant an extension and is requesting replies to the unanswered questions it posed in its February 19, 1997 letter.

In Summary:

On April 1, 1997, the Class EA project came before Council for the first time since April 15, 1996. During the interim, all decisions were made at the EA Committee level. On April 7, 1997, Council voted (5-0) to instruct Ainley to prepare the Report to close off the Water Servicing Class EA.

On April 7, 1997, Council voted (4-1, Mayor Lancia opposed) to "leave open" the Sewage Servicing portion of the Class EA pending receipt of concrete figures for treatment of septage from Midland and approval of the MoEE.

Council is in receipt of a second letter from the Director of Funding, MoEE, dated May 9, 1997, requesting: (a) a copy of the Council resolution to support the reduced budget set out in the Clerk’s November 28, 1996 letter, (b) a revision of the problem definition because the scope of the study has changed and (c) an indication of whether or not the Township was considering additional testing in the problem area.

Council has yet to vote to accept Ainley’s "Report on the Water Servicing Class EA" which will be closed off upon adoption of the Report by Council.

Box Score:
Deputy Mayor Taylor, Councillors Kronschnabl, Klym and Maurice are trying to keep the Class EA alive but the "Runaway Train" has been shunted onto a siding and its fuel gauge reads "empty".