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October/November
2000 Newsletter
Shoddy
1980's Assessment
The
Region should have known about the Rennie problems BEFORE
the expressway route was formally selected in 1979. However,
there is no mention of Rennie in either their 1982 environmental
assessment submission, or during the 1984-85 Consolidated
Board Hearings.
The Region also found it convenient to not mention the existence
of either the Upper Ottawa Street landfill, or of the Brampton
Street landfill in their 1982 "environmental" assessment
submission. This was despite the fact that the 1980s version
of the expressway was proposed to go right through the middle
of the Brampton dump and come within a few feet of the Upper
Ottawa dump. The Upper Ottawa Street dump had been closed
in 1980 because of public protest and strong evidence of
negative effects on nearby residents (which were confirmed
by a blue-ribbon provincial task force report in 1986).
The
Region's submission was examined in the 1984-85 Consolidated
Board Hearings. The vice-chairman of the Ontario Environmental
Assessment Board sat on the Consolidated Board. In his dissent
of the approval of the expressway by the two other members
of the Board (who were from the Ontario Municipal Board),
he reviewed the issue of the Brampton and Upper Ottawa landfills.
He stated:
"For
reasons which I fail to understand, little attention was
given in this assessment to an investigation of any potential
problems relative to the said landfill sites and it appears
that the Ministry of the Environment was either unaware
of the location of these landfill sites relative to the
proposed roadway or, alternatively, was unconcerned with
respect to any adverse environmental impact which might
arise from the construction of the roadway." He noted that
the Ministry didn't even comment on this and "this issue
was raised solely by those in opposition".
He
also stated: "Surely it is incumbent upon a proponent, and
indeed the Ministry of the Environment, to investigate and
adequately assess the impacts on a proposed roadway of a
landfill site situated in close proximity thereto, and which
contains hazardous chemical waste, PRIOR to the completion
of the environmental assessment leading to the choice of
a particular alignment."
This
underlines the shoddy nature of the 1984-85 examination
of the expressway, but didn't seem to have any effect on
either regional officials or those in the Ontario Ministry
of the Environment who blithely granted the 1990s version
of the expressway an exemption from further provincial assessment.
More
than 15 organizations wrote to the Ministry in 1995 asking
for a proper assessment. One was the Bay Area Restoration
Council whose report specifically mentioned Rennie and
noted the existence of "several leachate flows from this
area".
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