Dresden and area residents, and everyone else in the municipality, including councillors, deserve a heartfelt pat on the back for digging in their collective heels and saying no to a proposed recycling depot/landfill just outside the North Kent community.
But please take note that the fight to oppose York1’s plan to establish the 24/7 operation on Irish School Road is not over.
Just look at what people in and around Ingersoll had to endure.
Your fight is months old. Theirs lasted a decade.
The people of Oxford County prevented a massive landfill from locating in their community.
Bryan Smith, leader of O.P.A.L. – Oxford People Against the Landfill – said the groundswell of support from area residents who joined together to oppose Walker Environmental’s efforts to establish the landfill, which started in 2012, caught the company off guard.
We have a feeling York1 was just as surprised here.
However, that’s something we don’t understand. Landfills are generally not welcomed with open arms, especially when the proposed sites are about a kilometre away from a community.
In Ingersoll, the landfill was proposed to go into a quarry two kilometres away from the community’s downtown.
Sound familiar?
Here we have C.A.R.E.D. – Dresden Citizens Against Reckless Environmental Disposal. The group seems just as organized as O.P.A.L., which is a good sign.
But the fight has to continue day in and day out.
In Ingersoll, O.P.A.L. received regular donations to fuel the fight. It has to happen here too. And keep sending letters to your Members of Provincial Parliament, remind your councillors how important the issue is to you and remain united.
One thing working in C.A.R.E.D.’s favour is Bill 197, an omni-bus bill from the Ford government which passed in 2020. Thanks in no small part to the pressure felt from O.P.A.L., legislation was passed that requires communities located within 3.5 kilometres of a new landfill to be willing hosts.
We in Chatham-Kent are not willing hosts.
York1’s application has not been denied. They are to pay for an Environmental Assessment on the property, but that does not mean the fight is over.
Remember, the overseeing provincial ministry is the Ministry “of” the Environment, not “for” the Environment.
Stay united, oppose the proposal until the government comes out and says it will not approve the proposal.
