Review-Mirror

Editor, The ED-19 mega-dump issue that continues to test the patience of Counties Council and infuriates the majority of residents in Edwards- burg/Cardinal is getting an increas- ing amount of press as the contro- versy rages on. Simply put, Counties Council is determined to have closure on a 28- year-old plan to build a dump in the heart of Edwardsburg. Their posi- tion is well laid out on their web site. A newly formed, Citizens against the dump committee, CAD, with a membership of over 1300 residents, is convinced the proposed dump would have to be a mega-dump, to be profitable for the private sector operator. A mega-dump would kill all further economic development down the highway 416 corridor. As a consequence, we have com- batants with two dramatically dif- ferent visions for the future of Leeds Grenville. A County Council that wants a dump and the members of CAD that are determined to pro- tect the personal assets should a mega-dump appear in their respec- tive back yards. The CAD players have been quick to research the ED-19 plan in detail, in spite of Counties Council's best efforts to slow the process through their freedom of informa- tion rules. Nevertheless, CAD has been quick to learn that there is real- ly no need now, or in the foresee- able future, for a Leeds Grenville dump of any size: this reality is beginning to be recognized by Counties Council members as oppo- sition to ED-19 grows. In addition, the CAD research team recognises it is important that they come up with alternate use suggestions for the 500 acre ED-19 site to further strengthen their oppo- sition to a mega-dump. The results of this process quickly led the team to realize that what is really at stake is how to optimise the economic development down the 416 corridor. There is a St. Lawrence Corridor Economic Development Commis- sion that has been the economic dri- ver for that important area of eco- nomic interest for some time. They have made good things happen. Per- haps the time has come for the 416 corridor to have a similar Commis- sion to identify and market its enor- mous opportunities for economic development. In the meantime, CAD is com- mitted to remind Counties Council that the ED-19 initiative was born before there was a highway 416. For them to continue to champion the dump program is contrary to the best interests for job creation and the entire County's future prospects for prosperity. And if one questions the role highway 416 plays in facilitating economic development, just look at Kemptville and North Grenville. Their economy shifted from idle to full speed ahead the first day the 416 ramps opened into the area. And the growth wave continues. The 416 corridor is the primary driver of economic development for the entire County, just so long as its attractiveness is not shattered by the building of a mega-dump in Edwardsburg/Cardinal. Counties Council is rightfully concerned about the need to recover a return on the reported $5.7 million already invested in ED-19 by the Ontario government, the town of Prescott, Brockville, and Counties Council, whose share, over 28 years, is about $400,000. Surely, the real question before each of the investors to address now is, do we decide in favour of a mega-dump that is not required or a decision to optimise the economic development potential on the 416 corridor? Odds are, if Counties Council is fully committed to live up to its cur- rent motto, "where lifestyle grows good business" the right choice is obvious: focus on the economic development of the 416 corridor. Vic Allen Edwardsburgh OPINION PAGE Publisher/Editor– Howie Crichton hcrichton@review-mirror.com Advertising Sales – Bill Ritchie advertising@review-mirror.com Office – Louise Haughton lhaughton@review-mirror.com Reporter-Photographer - Margaret Brand mbrand@review-mirror.com 4 – June 22, 2017 The Review-Mirror 43 Bedford St. P.O. Box 130,Westport, Ont. K0G 1X0 Ph. 613-273-8000 • 1-800-387-0796 • Fax 273-8001 editor @ review-mirror.com • www.review-mirror.com • PAP Registration No. 01601 • Printed in Smiths Falls, Ontario • The Review-Mirror is published Thursdays. Subscriptions: $33.84 online; $44.50 locally; $55.00 elsewhere in Canada; $150 sin the U.S. We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada. Publishers ONTARIO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION 1893-1897 — H. E. Bywater 1897-1916 — W. B. Adams 1916- — Arthur Niblock -1967 — Jim Niblock 1967-1987 — F. Lea and Phyllis Hutchinson 1987-1988 — Bob & Sandy Runciman 1988-1993 — Phil Rutherford 1993- — Howie Crichton CANADIAN MEDIA CIRCULATION AUDIT Mirror The Review Letters to the Editor The Review-Mirror accepts Letters to the Editor. Letters may be edited for content, space and libel. Please include a phone number for confirmation. Letters to the Editor From time to time Westport council receives delegations at its meetings. The Committee of the Whole meeting held on June 19/17 heard from Kyle Johnston who was speaking on behalf of the citi- zens against the establishment of a land- fill in the township of Edwardsburg Car- dinal in Leeds and Grenville. Most readers can remember when the Westport landfill was operated on the mountain above the Village. Notwith- standing the best efforts of the people who worked at the landfill there were always issues around materials blowing off the site and odor. In addition site monitoring indicated that leachate from the site was migrating from the site putting wells at near-by properties at risk. There was very little or no opposi- tion to the closure of the landfill when it took place. To this day annual monitor- ing goes on at the site. There is almost as much work to close a landfill as there is to open one. As a result of the opposition and con- cern raised by Mr. Johnston and his committee, the United Counties has pro- duced a comprehensive history of the County landfill siting process followed before the site was chosen in the Town- ship of Edwardsburg Cardinal. The original plan was to have the landfill operated by the United Counties. After considerable research, and a full environmental assessment, the preferred site was selected. From the presentation made by John- ston it appeared that the major concerns of his group boiled down to two. First, all of the research was done almost 20 years ago and two, it now appears that the United Counties, rather than operate the landfill, might sell the land to a pri- vate waste management company which would operate it. Johnston is convinced that the infor- mation that resulted in the approvals 20 years ago is out-of-date and before any work takes place all the research should be updated to ensure that the proposed site for the landfill continues to be viable. The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change has indicated that, from its perspective, the Certificate of Approval for the siting of the landfill is still valid. What is going on between Johnston and his group and the United Counties is a classic example of NIMBY(not in my backyard). The significant difference in this case is that the landfill was approved for development 20 years ago and didn't proceed for a number of rea- sons. Although there are significant set- backs from the landfill, people have continued to move into the area and now may see an opportunity to prevent the development of a landfill that was approved 20 years ago. Johnston's concern is that the county is going to sell the land, and its approval as a landfill, to a waste management company that will set up a mega dump with waste coming from all over Ontario. Johnston is concerned that his group is not being listened to and it is difficult to get the information they need in order to satisfy their concerns about what is going to happen to the land. Anybody who has been involved in the siting of a landfill will know that if a site has approval that approval should be guarded with your life. Approvals are a long drawn out process that is very expensive and can, and have, torn com- munities apart. The writer's own experi- ence includes serving with an individual who was involved with trying to locate a new landfill for the city of Peterborough over a 10-year period. A long story short, a new landfill never was sited. For years communities sited landfills almost at will. Very little research was done and it wasn't until wells started to go bad that it was realized that frequent- ly leachate from the "dump" was the problem. The conditions and safeguards that are now in place for the operation of a landfill are mind boggling. Nobody wants a landfill within 100 miles of where they live. Everybody produces garbage and it has to be put somewhere. The United Counties had the foresight to undertake the work required in order to provide a place for the garbage created in Leeds and Grenville years ago. The United Coun- ties never did start up and operate a landfill because there was still capacity in the landfills within individual munic- ipalities. In addition there would have been upwards of a $20,000,000 price tag to get underway. At this point the coun- ties are looking at doing a deal with a private company that has the expertise and resources required to operate a land- fill. The private company probably doesn't have land for a dump and sees an opportunity to purchase a site that comes with approvals to operate a land- fill. It would seem like a "win-win", the United Counties get an opportunity to realize significant revenue and the pri- vate company gets a piece of property that has all the approvals for a landfill operation. From this corner it would appear that there was no attempt, on the part of the United Counties, to mislead anybody about the landfill. It was approved but simply didn't proceed. Anybody locating in the area approved for the landfill, while during their due diligence, had to be aware that there was an approved landfill near by. It is one thing to fight a proposed landfill with no approvals. It is quite another battle to prevent a landfill from being established when it has all the approvals that are required. Johnston and his group are fighting an uphill bat- tle. Mike McIntyre joymikechloe@gmail.com Dump fight an uphill battle Economic development or a mega dump?

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