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July 5, 2004
ANOTHER WAY TO STOP THE EXPRESSWAY
The Red Hill Expressway faces at least one more major legal hurdle and it may be the most crucial. The entire project essentially rests on the project approval granted in 1985 by a Consolidated Hearing Board. The Lake Ontario Waterkeeper has challenged this approval to the Ontario Minister of the Environment, and the Minister is waffling on her response. We are asking you to help!
Last August, Mark Mattson, an environmental lawyer and president of the Waterkeeper, wrote to the Minister about section 11.4 of the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act. That section allows the Minister to reconsider any approval in the light of changed circumstances or new information. Waterkeeper pointed out that nearly everything about this project has changed since 1985, including that the City has been convicted of several environmental crimes such as knowingly allowing the toxic Rennie Street dump to pollute Red Hill Creek. The city was hit with the largest muncipal environmental fine in Canadian history.
The provincial government changed in October and Waterkeeper repeated its request to the new Minister of the Environment, Leona Dombrowsky. On November 7 a Ministry spokesperson told the Hamilton Spectator: " We've agreed that we'll review it [Waterkeeper's request]. I think it's important that we allow our technical people to review this new information and the minister will announce her decision by the middle of the month."
When that didn't happen, Waterkeeper wrote again, and on February 11 received another Ministry response assuring them that an answer was pending. They are still saying the same thing at the end of June. Now Waterkeeper is asking members of the public to help them get the Ministry to keep its promise of a response.
The pressure is critical for the future of the valley. So far, the Ministry's response has been to avoid making a decision - apparently because the decision will stop the expressway project. If the Ministry accepts Waterkeeper's request, the expressway will face a renewed environmental assessment. If it turns it down despite overwhelming evidence of changed circumstances and facts, Waterkeeper can challenge the Ministry in court. Hence the reluctance of the Ministry to reply at all, and the critical need for public pressure. Waterkeeper is demanding that the Minister of the Environment enforce the law.
Friends of Red Hill Valley has collected and posted all of Waterkeeper's letters and the responses on our website. We've also posted several sample letters sent by members of Friends. You can view all of this material below.
Please write a letter to the Minister and demand that she answer Waterkeeper. Her address is:
The Honourable Leona Dombrowsky
Minister of the Environment
12th Floor, 135 St. Clair Avenue West , Toronto , ON M4V 1P5
Tel: 416-314-6790 Fax: 416-314-6748
Email: ldombrowsky.mpp@liberal.ola.org
Also copy your letter to your MPP, especially to Andrea Horwath, the newly elected anti-expressway MPP for Hamilton East and to the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. Their addresses are:
Andrea Horwath
720 Main St. E.
Hamilton ON L8M 1K9
Tel: 905-544-9644
Fax: 905-544-5152
Email: ahorwath-co@ndp.on.ca
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MPP Gord Miller
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
1075 Bay Street, Suite 605
Toronto ON M5S 2B1
Tel: 416-325-3377
Fax: (416) 325-3370
Email: inquiry@eco.on.ca |
Background Material (pdf files)
- Waterkeeper letters to the Minister of the Environment (MOE):
- Waterkeeper Letter to Dominic Agostino, M.P.P. Dec 19, 2003
- MOE responses to Waterkeeper
- Other letters to the Minister in support of Waterkeeper's initiative
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