One of the documents we have which was issued by the MOE on Sept 30, 2010 is Condition 35 of your Certificate of Approval which orders you to close the Landfill by June 30, 2011.  The complete order can be viewed here(pdf). It states:

‘ The Owner shall ensure that no waste is received for disposal at the Site after June 30, 2011 and the site is capped with final cover material in accordance with the timelines presented below.’

Given that this order has been issued, Randy, we were surprised that you would state in your open letter to the public:

‘The Ministry of the Environment did not order the closure of our landfill’

As part of our request for an Environmental Tribunal Review of the monitoring of the closed landfill, we have affidavits from Waste Management and the MOE. In his affidavit sworn on Feb 17, 2012, Kyle Stephenson, MOE Hydrogeologist states:

‘The current work includes an assessment of impacts identified directly south of the landfill in the area of a particular group of domestic wells. These wells have been included in the monitoring program. In addition to sampling these wells in an ongoing monitoring program, the ministry has also required provision of bottled water or whole house water supplies.‘

Given that the MOE has required you to provide the water supply we are surprised that you imply that you have voluntarily done so.

In the same letter ad you claim:

‘At Waste Management, we believe it is essential that we are open and transparent with the community..’

This reminds us that your company refused to make public their recent Financial Assurance Calculations for the Richmond Landfill on the grounds that they contained ‘competitive information’. We were only able to obtain this information from the MOE through a formal Freedom Of Information request.
What we found when we finally accessed their calculations was that the company had reduced the contamination life span from 300 years (their own calculation in the previous EA) to 39 years. There was no explanation offered for the change. This had the effect of reducing the Financial Assurance funding that is required by law for the operator to set aside (among other things) to fund future remediation efforts (if required).

We are very disappointed that you were not entirely open and transparent in the public letter that you posted in the local Napanee papers (with statements that contradict the public record).  It certainly raises questions about other claims made by Waste Management.

None of this inspires confidence in your ability to manage the well-documented risks of landfilling here.  The first important step to risk management is to truthfully acknowledge that the risks exist.

- “There are potential groundwater quality problems evident on all sides of the Richmond Landfill, with anomalous water quality results at distances of up to hundreds of meters from the landfill” (page 4);

- “In my professional opinion, the most likely cause for many of the cases of anomalous water quality is leakage from the nearby Richmond Landfill” (page 18); and

- “Table 2a confirms that the landfill was certainly impacting surface water quality in 2006-2008… Iron and copper exceeded the [Provincial Water Quality Objectives] level in the 2006-2008 period, and in previous years as well. Un-ionized ammonia was over the PWQO limit in November 2006 and occasionally in prior years” (page 6).

“We are alarmed and shocked by Mr. Ruland’s findings, which substantiate our grave concerns about leachate leakage, detection and remediation at this vulnerable setting,” stated Mike Bossio, Chair of the Concerned Citizens – Tyendinaga & Environs (CCTE), which retained Mr. Ruland to conduct his independent review of recent WM documentation.

“Our clients are calling upon the Ministry of the Environment to immediately act upon Mr. Ruland’s 17 recommendations regarding the Richmond Landfill,” said Richard Lindgren, an environmental lawyer who represents the CCTE. “Moreover, it is our opinion that Mr. Ruland’s report raises serious questions about whether WM should be proceeding with its proposed Beechwood Road Environmental Centre landfill beside the existing Richmond Landfill.”

For more information, please contact:  

Richard Lindgren – CELA (613-385-1686)

Mike Bossio – CCCTE Chair (613-396-6784)

Related Information:

Nov 03 2008

Richmond Landfill: Chronology of Environmental Concerns

Media Release By: Canadian Environmental Law Association