By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Pushback against York1’s proposed expansion at the Dresden landfill continues to grow.
Lambton County has officially joined the opposition. At its May 7 meeting, county council voted 16-1 to approve a motion calling on the province to reinstate the environmental assessment it plans to remove from the dump development located only one kilometre north of the town.
Councillors had sharp words for Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
“Our wonderful premier had decided that there was going to be an environmental assessment done and now he’s changed his mind,” Al Broad, mayor of Dawn-Euphemia Township, told council, by introducing Bill 5 – Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act.
“It’s funny, how you call it ‘Protect Ontario’ and then you pull the EA away,”, Broad stated. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Broad pointed out that York1’s plan will see 700 trucks carrying construction waste to the site each day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“They (the trucks) could be running by this facility right here,” he said of Lambton County headquarters in Wyoming. “I think county council needs to get behind this.”
Warwick Township Mayor Todd Case, whose municipality hosts the large Twin Creeks landfill, agreed an EA process is critical, as “public consultation trickles” when it isn’t part of the process.
“It’s so important that an EA takes place,” Case said, noting an EA currently underway at the Twin Creeks site is 50-per-cent complete.
Lambton County’s action comes on the heels of a townhall meeting hosted by the Municipality of Chatham-Kent regarding the York1 proposal May 5. Close to 500 people turned up at the Ken Houston Memorial Agriculture Centre in Dresden to vehemently oppose the development.
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Steve Pinsonneault did not attend the meeting, but a chair with his name on it was put out for him.
In an email statement, the MPP said he is disappointed the province has removed the EA for the landfill proposal, but explained that Bill 5 must be used to enlarge Ontario’s landfill capacity in case Trump’s levies tariffs against Canadian garbage. Currently 40 per cent of Ontario’s waste is trucked to landfills in Michigan.
The action by Lambton County is the latest development in a 15-month saga against the proposal by Mississauga-based York1 Environmental Solutions to expand the dormant landfill and build recycling and soil washing infrastructure. Opponents say the project could contaminate the Sydenham River watershed; spoil farmland and destroy quality of life in Dresden.
In another twist this past February, part of the property changed hands from York1 to Whitestone Fields Ltd. However, Brian Brunetti, York1’s chief operating officer is listed as one of the owners of Whitestone Fields.
Lambton County will forward its request to various government officials, including Ford, Minister of Environment Todd McCarthy, Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey and Pinsonneault.
