Local News - Kirkland Lake:

Proponents of the Adams Mine proposal are rejecting a call by MPP David Ramsay for public hearings into the landfill site.

Gordon McGuinty, managing director of the Adams Mine Rail Haul company has rejected a call by Timiskaming Cochrane MPP for a new review of the Adams Mine Landfill Certificate of Approval, stating that Mr. Ramsay used the issue for his reelection without giving people the facts.

“Mr. Ramsay’s call for a review of the Adams Mine Certificate of Approval is unacceptable to our company, and he has failed to inform the people that the Adams Mine landfill is the only landfill in Ontario that has been subjected to independent public hearings before the environmental Assessment Board of Ontario since 1995, over 20 landfills have been approved without a public hearing” said McGuinty.

In looking at the bigger garbage issues McGuinty says: “Ontario is in a garbage crisis, Mr. Ramsay is taking a very short sighted view of a major environmental issue facing the new Liberal government. Should the Michigan border be closed to Ontario garbage, the Adams Mine is the only approved site that can provide a partial solution to the problem.

“We can only take about one million tonnes a year, which is about 30 percent of what is going to Michigan. Ontario needs three landfills the size of the Adams Mine to solve the problem.”

Ontario is currently shipping three million tonnes of garbage to Michigan. Michigan legislators have introduced bills that will either stop or restrict Ontario’s ability to ship garbage to Michigan. Senator Debbie Stabenow, has released the results of her ongoing petition drive in Michigan to stop the 200 Toronto trash trucks per day going to Michigan landfills. The petition has collected 165,000 signatures since June 2, 2003.

Stabenow is now calling on the EPA Director in the USA to enact a provision that will stop Ontario garbage.

According to information released by McGuinty the following landfill sites have been approved without undergoing an independent environmental assessment hearing since 1995; Lafleche Waste Disposal Facility, capacity 8,000,000 tonnes, approved May 5, 1999; Laidlaw hazardous Waste Landfill, capacity 1.9 million tonnes, approved May 8, 1997; and Targo Aggregates Ltd East Landfill, capacity 10 million tonnes, approved July 15, 1996.

His information also includes the following landfill sites that have expanded without an environmental assessment hearing: Green Lane Landfill, expansion capacity 5,850,000 cubic metres, approved Aug. 13, 1998; Regional Municipality of Sudbury, expansion capacity 2.1 million tones, approved March 10, 1999; and Lanark County Landfill, expansion capacity 664,000 tonnes, approved Sept. 30, 1998.

McGuinty says that no other landfill has undergone a greater degree of environmental due diligence prior to approval than the Adams Mine project.

“There is no justification for any review of the Adams Mine Certificate of Approval. In the event the Liberal Government reviews the EAA approval of the Adams Mine Landfill, all of the above landfills should be subject to the same review process. The Adams Mine Landfill had an independent Public hearing, the approval process was transparent and the project has been supported by the Town of Kirkland Lake since 1990,” explained McGuinty.

ID- 45366

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