The volunteer organization (the CCCTE) has been growing in numbers and strength.  A dedicated group of talented people have rallied to this important cause.  If you care about the environment here is something that you can DO about it.

It is so great to be joined by the new, assertive and creative members. Many of us have been fighting the dump expansion for a decade or more.  When we go to meetings with the  Ministry of the Environment (MOE) or Waste Management we often know more about the file than anyone else in the room.

Since the end of 2006 when the Environment Minister denied the first expansion proposal, our main focus was on having the Richmond Dump ordered closed (which happened in 2011) and reviewing the monitoring plans after it closed.  Waste Management dragged it’s feet on closure by reducing the flow of garbage to a trickle and have put forward a deficient monitoring plan. In 2010 the MOE finally ordered closure. We have retained expert advice to make specific recommendations on how to improve the monitoring and these were ignored.

We have decided to use Ontario’s Environmental Review Tribunal to challenge this monitoring plan. You can read about the many concerns we have in documents posted here. The Tribunal has agreed with us that there is serious risk of harm to the environment and will hear the case in the Napanee Area. Hearings will be open to the public. The first public hearing is  scheduled for June 25 at 10:00am in the Selby Community Hall.

We also have to deal with a new proposal for a mega-dump at the same site. (Please read and sign our related petition.) Given the overwhelming scientific opinion that document the risks it is hard to believe they think they can get away with it.  A billion dollar business opportunity distorts the corporate mind. Waste Management is encouraging people to trade the long term health and reputation of Napanee for short term financial gains. In addition to the health risks, there is a real question about how these perceived financial gains will hold up. Will people and businesses still want to move here? Will real estate values keep pace?

Where is the MOE in all of this? Well we wonder the same thing.  The MOE scientists tell us they share our concerns about the risks and yet their management issued approval of the deficient monitoring plan. There is no question that the MOE staff are over worked.  We believe that our vigilance will lead the MOE to make the right decisions about the future of the Napanee dump. There are many people working hard to make that happen. Please join us by becoming a member of the CCCTE. Don’t take anything for granted.

Please click here to sign the petition, and then ask everyone you know to do the same.

More Info:

The Richmond Dump has been called “arguably one of the worst sites in Ontario to ever locate [a] landfill” by Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. He went on to say “It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to monitor this site.” In 2006 the Ministry of the Environment denied an application by Waste Management Canada Corp. (owner of the existing Richmond Dump) to expand the landfill. In 2010 the Ministry ordered that same landfill closed.

“An expansion of Waste Management’s Richmond Landfill, adjacent to the proposed BREC site, was not approved in 2006 after a seven year environmental assessment process. The Ministry did not approve the expansion in part due to the finding that the site’s hydrogeology and geology make it highly susceptible to groundwater contamination. It would be inappropriate for the Ministry to allow a proposal to proceed that has already been substantively rejected on the basis of a transparent, comprehensive science-based review.” Mark Mattson, President of the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.

Since the area is not serviced by a municipal drinking water system, local residents, farmers and businesses rely on wells for their drinking water and other water needs. Only the top layer of groundwater is potable. The lower layer, which begins beneath approximately 30 metres of bedrock, is naturally saline and not potable. If the top layer of groundwater becomes salinized or contaminated with leachate, the wells cannot be deepened to access new fresh water. Moving the wells may not be an option since the entire area has the same geology.

In fact, numerous expert reports have confirmed that the hydrogeology of the site is characterized by thin soils, fractured bedrock, complex groundwater flow, vulnerable aquifer, no natural attenuation, and contaminant transport pathways that are unpredictable and difficult to track.

In 2005, A.C. Goddard-Hill, B. Sc, M.D, acting Medical Officer of Health in Belleville wrote:

“the expanded dump may ultimately leak hazardous liquids and gases into the already highly-polluted Bay of Quinte watershed water and air for many generations to come. Collected hazardous leachates may be disseminated to Bay of Quinte watershed tributaries, or to regional farmlands. These products may be detrimental to the health of those who drink the water, breathe the air and eat the food of the region.”

“The Richmond landfill site is located in the very headwaters of the Marysville Creek, and is immediately adjacent to the headwaters of Sucker Creek to the south, and to the Salmon River to the north. All three of these streams are source waters for the Bay of Quinte, which in turn is a source of drinking water for Deseronto, Belleville, Trenton and the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. (Napanee takes its drinking water from Lake Ontario.)”

In 2005, Waste Management [formerly CWS] submitted an Environmental Assessment which indicated that the contaminating lifespan of the existing Richmond Landfill is 300 years;

In the subsequent Government Review of the Environmental Assessment, Ministry of the Environment staff concluded, among other things, that “the site has a history of odour complaints”, and “given that the landfill is a potential source of groundwater contamination in a susceptible subsurface environment … there are significant environmental risks associated with expanding the landfill;”

The evidence is abundant and indisputable. Greater Napanee is an unsuitable location for ANY new landfill, or landfill expansion.

Please take a moment right now and sign the petition.

Thank you for your support.