OPAL Files Appeal

Tuesday, 8 September 2015 at 16:09

Another appeal has been submitted to stop Carmeuse Lime Limited from dumping industrial waste into the West Quarry Lake

The Oxford People Against the Landfill or OPAL Alliances has applied to the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal in hopes of stopping Carmeuse Lime Limited from dumping industrial sewage into the West Quarry Lake.

Recently the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change granted Carmeuse permission to discharge effluent into the Lake which is on property they own near Ingersoll. OPAL has filed it's own application with the Tribunal on behalf of the public and they applaud Oxford County for filing an appeal as well. Chair of the OPAL Alliance Bryan Smith tells Heart FM both appeals will make a strong case to stop Carmeuse from dumping the waste.

"The Environmental Tribunal has recognized that some of the legal grounds that our lawyer has found to overturn that wrong decision are different than the legal grounds that the County has found to overturn that wrong decision, so if you add it up it means there is an awful lot of legal arguments against what the Ministry of Environment has done."

Smith adds they are very happy the County has taken their legal right to file for an appeal and the OPAL appeal is being done for the public.

"OPAL speaks on behalf of the public which has issued about 43,000 letters to the Minister of Environment Glen Murray saying that we want our water taken care of in the headwaters of the Thames, in the Quarry Lake, in the Thames River and in our wells where we get our drinking water."

Smith says they have tried to get Glen Murray on the phone to no avail. At this time he has not returned a phone call either to the Heart FM newsroom.

The next step in this legal proceeding is for the Ministry and Carmeuse to file written responses to the evidence and arguments submitted by the OPAL Alliance and Oxford County. After considering the parties’ materials, the Tribunal will decide whether leave to appeal should be granted. It is anticipated that the Tribunal’s leave decision may be released in October or November. If leave is granted, the Tribunal will hold a public hearing on the discharge approval.