The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has declared that the Edwards Landfill is not ready to receive waste and has asked the operator to comply with required conditions. If he does not do so by Dec. 15, the ministry will take enforcement steps.
According to a Dec. 3 ministry letter, water has not been removed from the 30-acre property as set out in a revised leachate management plan. Required for dump operation, the plan includes collection of water in the landfill site both before and after it is in use.
In the letter issued by Geoffrey Knapper, district manager of the ministry's Hamilton office, he recognized receiver Brahm Rosen's efforts to address liner and leachate issues.
Even so, the district manager added, "Continued non-compliance with other aspects of the certificate of approval is unacceptable. There have been numerous discussions about these matters and they remain outstanding."
Knapper issued the letter after Rosen's lawyer provided notification on Dec. 2 that the receiver was ready to bring in garbage in two days.
This notice period was set out in a court order issued by Ontario Superior Court judge Wilton-Siegel in November. In his order, he said the receiver can give notice that the ministry has stated it has no opposition to waste delivery or Rosen can make an independent decision to bring in garbage.
Rosen was appointed receiver after the dump company, Haldimand Norfolk Sanitary Landfill Inc, went into receivership last year.
His intentions to deliver waste were sent in his lawyer's letter to citizen group, Haldimand Against Landfill Transfers, as required in the judge's order.
After receiving the news, members of HALT, founded to fight reactivation of the landfill, met to discuss their options. According to chair Anne Vallentin, they decided to give the ministry a chance to do act on its contention the landfill is not ready. Members were concerned about increased costs related to court action and were considering a political approach.
HALT member Jody Orr said the group has made an urgent request to meet with the Ontario environment minister.
She also said the receiver felt he was in a position to bring in waste on Dec. 5 but delivery may not occur until some time in the week of Dec. 8. Further information was unavailable at press time.
According to Knapper's letter, the receiver and its environmental consulting firm, Conestoga Rovers Associates (CRA), failed to send the ministry logs recording quantity of water pumped out of the site. This protocol was agreed to in a Nov. 17 meeting with the ministry.
"Recall that CRA agreed to undertake this action to provide assurance to the local community that in fact there was no ground water seepage into the cell," Knapper wrote.
As well Rosen was required to resume environmental monitoring on the site as set out in the ministry's approval certificate for dump construction and operation. Knapper asked for an update on this requirement by Dec. 5.
Knapper also pointed out that an updated schedule for financial assurance was not sent by the end of November as agreed upon. Financial assurance is collected over the operation of a landfill and is used to deal with issues once it is closed.
In a related action, Bill Bardswick, ministry regional director for west central Ontario, provided notice to Hazel Hill of the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) and to Six Nations band chief Bill Montour. In his letter, the director said garbage could arrive as early as Friday.
Bardswick sent the letter to ensure both Hill and Montour had copies for their records.
HDI was established by the Confederacy council to oversee development issues in the Haldimand Tract.
According to acting supervisor Jason Ryan, Hamilton ministry staff members met with representatives of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs council (HCCC) on Nov. 21.
Those representatives asked questions and the ministry shared technical reports and other Edwards Landfill documents.
"The ministry is hopeful that a follow- up meeting will be scheduled in the near future to build upon the good discussion that took place during the Nov. 21 meeting," an.
HALT members remain concerned about rising water levels behind a berm surrounding
the historic toxic waste section. Ryan said the ministry is monitoring the water level.
Before construction of the new landfill cell, the historic waste section was delineated and marked by a berm to ensure it was not disturbed, he stated.
According to HALT members, potentially contaminated water is 30 centimetres (12 inches) away from flowing over the top of the berm. Behind it is 35,000 tonnes of old waste including barrels in shallow trenches and on the surface.
In an earlier interview, landfill owner Don Courtney said barrels contained hazardous liquid waste from the now-closed St. Lawrence resin plant in Cayuga. He also said no one knows how much material was dumped in this section or what exactly lies in it.
HALT members are also concerned about the frequency of water tests on the dump site. According to Ryan, both surface and groundwater were sampled in September and ground water samples met provincial standards. Surface water samples results were unavailable last week.
At a Nov. 27 HALT meeting, local residents expressed frustration over ministry inaction and voiced concerns about the environment.
"The ministry is not there to protect us," said HALT member Rob Gerrie. "If we don't take care of ourselves, we are (lost)."
People at the meeting brain stormed about raising more interest, funding and support in the community. People are welcome to volunteer in any way, said Vallentin.
Bruce Armstrong suggested HALT approach the Ontario ombudsmen office which works to right wrongs committed by ministries. The vice-president of the Haldimand Federation of Agriculture said farmers who were pressured to cap natural gas wells went to the ombudsmen and received assistance.
Orr suggested people write letters to the ombudsmen office and the the environment commissioner of Ontario's office. Janet Fraser suggested environmental groups form a network to improve communications and to react quickly when something comes up.
In an attempt to seek a win win for all parties, Vallentin called a representative of a mortgage company that has $13 million invested in the landfill. She reported that the firm needed to find a way to get money out of the site.
If a fight continues between the parties, no good will come out of it, said Vallentin. She put forward a new suggestion. To identify longer range strategies, she proposed asking an outside facilitator to oversee discussions between county residents, Rosen, environment ministry officials, and members of the Haudenosaunee Development Institute. "Why not dream?" she asked.