Lambton County council is calling on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reconsider his decision and fulfill a promise to require a full environmental assessment of a planned landfill and recycling site near Dresden.
On Wednesday, the county council voted to urge the provincial government to reinstate the requirement for an extensive environmental review of the proposed project, located on Irish School Road near Dresden, close to Dawn-Euphemia Township in neighboring Lambton County.
In April, the provincial government announced a proposal to remove the environmental assessment (EA) requirement for the landfill project, under the “Protect Ontario By Unleashing Our Economy Act.”
Dawn-Euphemia Mayor Alan Broad expressed frustration, recalling how Premier Ford had initially promised an environmental assessment, only to reverse that decision. “It’s funny how you call it ‘Protect Ontario’ and then pull the EA away. It doesn’t make any sense,” Broad said. He emphasized that Lambton County council should support efforts to push the province to subject the project to a full environmental assessment.
Broad also raised concerns about the potential impact of the project on local infrastructure. “There’s talk of 700 trucks per day coming in, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said. “We’re not able to handle that kind of traffic.” Many of these trucks could travel through Lambton, affecting local roads and communities.
The company behind the project, York1, applied last year to develop an eight-hectare landfill with a capacity of 1.62 million cubic meters of waste on a 35-hectare site. The project also includes a regenerative recycling facility to process up to 6,000 tons of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste daily, along with 30,000 tonnes of unprocessed soils. Initially, York1 sought approval to amend an existing environmental compliance approval granted decades ago for the site, which allowed it to operate on a smaller scale.
In March of the previous year, then-Ontario Environment Minister Andrea Khanjin announced that a “comprehensive environmental assessment” would be required for the project. However, a recent notice from the province suggested that the EA process would no longer apply.
Todd Case, mayor of Warwick Township, also voiced concerns about the removal of the environmental assessment process. “What happens when the EA process is removed? All the consultation trickles,” he said. “It’s so important that this EA process takes place.”
Broad added that he believes the proposed site, located near a creek and the Sydenham River, is unsuitable for a landfill. “It should be a no-brainer,” he said.
At a public meeting on Monday in Dresden, local officials urged residents from Dresden, Chatham-Kent, and across Ontario to oppose the province’s plan to drop the required environmental assessment.
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