Local leaders and citizen activists in Oxford County say they’re ready to go to battle over proposed mega-dumps all over again. This, as the province considers changes that would allow large landfills without a willing host. “The community rejected the idea that people would bring a dump and bring stuff into our water table and poison our water. That was pretty clear, and that thinking hasn’t changed,” said Bryan Smith, an activist with the now disbanded Oxford People Against Landfills (OPAL). Six years ago citizens groups and civic leaders won a drawn-out battle preventing a proposed mega-landfill on Ingersoll’s doorstep. Walker Environmental would eventually walk away from plans to convert a limestone quarry into a dump designed to hold 17 million tonnes of waste. But a new battle over refusal is about to start. The province is considering rolling back Bill 197. A legislation that gives municipalities the right to approve or deny landfills in their own communities, or within 3.5 kilometres. “Industry hasn’t really responded by reducing the quantities of garbage. They’re hauling it, and right now they’ve got a problem with where they haul it. Hauling it to Michigan is problematic now,” Smith said. Proposed changes to the Environmental Assessment Act were made public Oct. 27, the day after province-wide municipal elections. Mayors of Oxford County, including those newly-elected have issued a statement calling on the province to maintain the rights of municipalities to approve future landfills. “I wish there was more time to comment, but frankly, we’re ready,” exclaimed Oxford County Warden and Zorra Township Mayor Marcus Ryan. “We’ve been ready on this from the time we got this legislative change years ago. This was always going to come back at some point. Because again, the industry was not going to let it lie,” he said. Landfills across Ontario are getting closer to reaching their capacity. The government points out that there hasn’t been a new large landfill approved in Ontario in 20 years. The province also says no other jurisdiction has a mandatory municipal support requirement for landfills. Other proposed changes include pushing out some organic waste diversion targets, along with changes to recycling for the Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional sector. “Some of the changes are potentially going to make less items recyclable,” said Ryan. “When it comes to incinerating waste, philosophically, not probably a bad thing to try and recover some energy from that waste,” he added. The comment period on the proposed changes is 30 days, closing Nov. 26. “This is not really a fair process. This is loaded so that they can push it through fast,” Smith said.
