Comment
No reason to be happy over Site 41
by Bruce Haire

We weren't happy when the County was trying to put a landfill site in Adjala and there is no reason to be happy now that the County of Simcoe has won draft approval to put a landfill in the south end of Tiny Township known as Site 41.

People around here weren't happy the County was trying to foist a waste site on AdjalaTosorontio. Do we have a double standard? Is it more acceptable to put a site in Tiny where the local residents are also opposed?

They are concerned about their water primarily.

Landfill technology is old thinking. Just the idea of burying garbage is old thinking - something out of centuries past. Even this process is over 20 years old.

The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario has called for a full review of the site.

The peer reviewers hired by the County found problems which are seemingly ignored.

Minister of the Environment Lauren Broten seems to have backed down under political pressure from the County from her previous position of calling on the County to look at other technologies other than landfilling.

That is certainly the position of local residents. They want the County to look at emerging technologies.

How does burying garbage fit in with the province's current push on source water protection? It doesn't.

It even weakens the drive to provide the generating stations creating by using garbage to fire waste plants.

New technologies have vastly reduced emissions and Peel Region has such a plant operating right beside Toronto.

The County may be patting itself on the back over working its way through this process but for the residents of Simcoe County this is no victory. Where will the County want to place the next landfill? In whose backyard will this one be?