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January
2001 Newsletter
The
Rennie Dump, the Expressway and the Provincial Environmental
Protection Act
The
Rennie Street Landfill case has facilitated more than the
unearthing of a serious toxic contamination problem. Activists
have recently discovered that the new city of Hamilton may
have to go through a provincial environmental assessment,
complete with public hearings, before the Red Hill Creek
Expressway can be built through the Rennie site.
After
the city of Hamilton pleaded guilty, in September of last
year, to allowing PCBs and other hazardous chemicals to
leak out of the landfill directly into Red Hill Creek, citizens
filed a Freedom of Information request to gain access to
Ministry of Environment investigation files on the site.
Information contained within these files includes a fascinating
record of correspondence between the MOE and the Region
during 1998. In August of that year, at the region's request,
a meeting took place between local MOE representatives,
the region, and the city in order to determine whether any
provincial approvals were required to allow the region to
plow the expressway through the Rennie landfill site. At
that time, the MOE's Hamilton District Manager indicated
that the region would have to provide more detail regarding
the proposed alterations to the landfill before the MOE
could respond.
In
September of 1998, Dillon, the consulting firm hired by
the region to identify any contaminated sites in the expressway's
path, provided a more detailed description of the alterations
that the region planned to make to the landfill. The roadway
would run underneath the CN rail line and literally slice
through Rennie, requiring the removal of a 70,000 cubic
metre chunk of the landfill. At that point in time, it was
acknowledged that at least 1,200 m3 of that 70,000 m3 was
contaminated with PCBs and would have to be trucked off-site
for proper disposal. The remaining soil would be piled at
the north end of the site, out of the way of the expressway.
The local MOE office, after consulting with the MOE's Approvals
Branch, confirmed that the proposed landfill modifications
would indeed require approval under Part V of the Environmental
Protection Act and, therefore, a provincial environmental
assessment, because the proposed modifications would significantly
alter the contours of the site. Part V of the Environmental
Protection Act deals with waste management and waste management
sites. The alteration of a waste management site can not
only require that an environmental assessment be completed,
but can also require that a public hearing take place if
there is significant public concern and/or significant potential
for negative environmental impacts.
But
the MOE's September response was apparently not what the
region wanted to hear, and so, another meeting was arranged
by the region in November of 1998, this time directly with
staff from the Ministry's Approvals Branch in Toronto. At
this meeting, the region again asked whether any approvals
would be required to build the expressway through the landfill.
Regional staff emphasized that they wanted to begin roadway
construction in the late summer or fall of 1999 and that
the possibility of a public hearing under Part V of the
Environmental Protection Act would interfere with this schedule.
Staff also assured Approvals Branch representatives that
the construction of the expressway through the landfill
was part of the original 1985 assessment and was also addressed
in the Exemption Order. Approvals Branch staff indicated
that they wished to see documentation that demonstrated
that construction of the expressway through the landfill
was in fact addressed in these two assessment processes.
They also suggested that, if the proposed alterations had
been appropriately assessed in the past, then a December
application for approval could certainly be approved by
April of 1999 and, therefore, in time for roadway construction
to begin. Interestingly enough, the Ministry's Rennie file
contains no further correspondence from the region on this
issue after that November meeting.
Mr.
John Percy, District Manager in the Hamilton office, confirmed
in writing at the end of December 2000 that the MOE has
'had no further dealings or submissions on behalf of the
proponent. He also reinforced the MOE's 1998 position, stating
that '(T)he extent and nature of the proposed works as presented
in 1998 was clearly subject to Part V'. The MOE's position
appears to have been contradicted by city staff working
on the roadway project at the most recent Rennie Landfill
Community Liaison Committee meeting. At that meeting, staff
were invited to provide CLC members with a better understanding
of the impacts the proposed expressway will have on the
landfill. CLC citizen members, having obtained more insight
into the situation through the Freedom of Information request,
asked staff whether all necessary provincial approvals were
in place to build the road through the site. Staff responded
that, yes, approvals were in place, and pointed to the 1985
hearing and the 1996 Exemption Order. Citizen members challenged
this response, indicating that the MOE seemed to disagree
with city staff's perspective on the need for approvals.
The debate over this issue led former councillor Geraldine
Copps, present at the meeting in the public gallery, to
suggest that the city and several appointed CLC members
arrange to meet with MOE Approvals staff to determine once
and for all whether provincial approvals are required to
run the expressway through Rennie. Scott Stewart, the new
manager of waste management for the city of Hamilton, agreed
to arrange such a meeting.
Certainly,
if there is a need for a provincial assessment of these
plans, citizens have a right to know this, and to participate
in such a process in order to ensure that all of their concerns
are appropriately addressed. We will keep Friends of Red
Hill Valley members updated regarding the outcome of the
city/Rennie CLC/MOE meeting.
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