Unpublished Opinions
Ottawa-Hull, Ontario
About the author
Lucie is a mother of three, grandmother of six, well known active member of the Carlsbad Springs community. Concerned for the welfare of her granchildren, she's a member of the Carlsbad Springs Optimist Club (friend of youth), director with Carlsbad Springs Community Association and vice-president of the Capital Region Citizens Coalition for the Protection of the Environment (CRCCPE) which is currently fighting a proposed landfill by Taggart Miller in Ottawa's east end.
Let's Dump This Dump Together
April 2, 2016
The Carlsbad Springs, Edwards, Vars and Russell communities are united against the proposed Taggart-Miller industrial, commercial & institutional landfill. With 4 large landfills, we know Ottawa has enough capacity. The Taggart-Miller proposal is for the largest landfill in Ottawa - and it is PRIVATE 450 acres landfill, NOT a City of Ottawa landfill. This means that the owners can take the trash from anywhere they want to in Ontario.
The project has weak targets for recycling and landfilling waste remains the cheapest option for the owners - this is NOT what Ottawa needs.
Our politicians tell us to have faith in the process. I don't! Remember Walkerton... These people were told to trust the government.
If I have learned something during this fight, it is that although the purpose of the Environmental Assessment (EA) is to look after the betterment of people, it DOESN'T. The EA process is broken and obsolete and it has been for a long time. In 2005, an Advisory Committee was created to look at how to improve the environmental process. 41 recommendations were submitted by some very good experts. Only a minimal amount of them have been considered while the rest sits on a shelf somewhere at the Ministry of the Environment. Meanwhile, landfills continue to leak and the ministry keeps on approving them.
Dump this Dump Together
The battle for Carlsbad Springs, Russell, Edwards and Vars goes on as local people organize to fight off the 500 acre dump proposed by Taggart-Miller, on Boundary Rd & Devine, in Ottawa east.
Richard Lindgren, expert environmental lawyer from the Canadian Environmental Law Association, met with boards from both DumptheDumpNow (DTDN) and DumpThisDump2 (DTD2) before updating and taking questions from about 150 local residents who remain opposed to the massive waste project. The meeting was standing room only, as always, at the Carlsbad Community Centre the evening of March 31.
For over a year, the public has been waiting for the Ministry's review of the project Environmental Assessment. Richard Lindgren explained that, after many extensions, the review may be released this April, and the public will have only 5 weeks to read it through and comment. This vital review period will be the last real opportunity for the community to get the Ministry to hear their concerns.
Technical points remain unanswered, including the inability of the site to handle the weight of the project, the inability of the native soils to effectively hold back the pollution, the risk for the site to experience a serious failure called liquefaction if an earthquake strikes, and the fact Toronto's garbage would end up being dumped here where it doesn't belong.
Harry Baker from DTDN further commented that the soil weakness has been documented for years, including when a similar project for the site was abandoned in the 1980s. Sue Langlois from Carlsbad Springs reminded the crowd that although the group received intervener funding from the City of Ottawa (gleaned from existing waste operators, not from municipal tax coffers), the fight ahead will involve on-going fundraising.
The group's primary hope is that the Minister of the Environment - Glen Murray - will exercise his ability to completely reject this ill-conceived, high-risk project rather than force an approval on an unwilling host community.
A second scenario involves hashing the whole project out at an Environmental Review Tribunal. While this is the best way to ensure that valid technical arguments get due consideration, it can be expensive. The good news is such a tribunal would likely be held right in the community. It sounds like the Carlsbad Springs Community Centre hasn't seen the last of this issue.
Both groups urge citizens to write or call:
Mayor Jim Watson - who must come out STRONGLY against accepting this project in Ottawa
Mailing address: 110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 1J1
Email: Jim.Watson@ottawa.ca Phone: 613-580-2496
Councillor Stephen Blais – who should care about residents in his ward and be much more vocal against the project
Mailing address: Ward 19 (Cumberland), 110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 1J1
Email: Stephen.Blais@ottawa.ca Phone: 613-580-2489
Minister Glen Murray - who can REJECT this project and should!
Mailing address: Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, 11th Floor, Ferguson Block, 77 Wellesley Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M7A 2T5
Email: gmurray.mpp@liberal.ola.org Phone: 416-314-6790
Marie-France Lalonde, MPP (Ottawa-Orleans), which includes all Carlsbad Springs residents
Mailing address: 206-250 Centrum Boulevard, Ottawa, Ontario, K1E 3J1
Email: mflalonde.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org Phone: 613-834-8679
Grant Crack, MPP (Glengarry-Prescott-Russell), where proposed landfill could be located
Mailing address: 345 Laurier Street, P.O. Box 339, Rockland, Ontario, K4K 1K4
Email: gcrack.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org Phone: 613-446-4010
MOECC project manager Andrew Evers - who is new to the file and needs to hear from the people. He is also a former employee of Golder Associates (the project's engineering firm) which enhances community concern about the equity of this EA process.
Mailing address: Special Projects Officer, Environmental Approvals Branch, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, 2 St. Clair Ave West, Floor 12A, Toronto, ON M5V 1L5
Email: Andrew.Evers@ontario.ca Phone: 416-314-7213
Every media outlet you can think of - the people of Ottawa would be disgusted if they knew what is being pushed on us. This project isn't about meeting the needs of the people, just about profits for two self-interested companies, at the expense of everyone around their site.
This has been a long fight but we have reached a crucial point. Write and keep writing. Phone your elected people. Contact us for a lawn sign at dumpthisdump2@gmail.com or to help out! Ideas and eager hands are welcome - Dump the Dump Together!
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