Public Meeting

Thursday, 12 February 2015 05:56

Stakeholders, public and Joint Municipal Coordinating Committee discuss status of the Walker Landfill proposal and Beachville air quality study.

BEACHVILLE - Oxford County Public Health has released a preliminary survey of public air quality satisfaction in Beachville.

Between August 23rd and September 9th, 2014 over 100 responses were received from the public. 72% of respondents said they thought the air quality in Beachville was poor.

There is currently no comprehensive information regarding the true impact of aggregate operations on air quality. In fact there are significant holes in the air quality data over the past decade or so. Manager of Health Protection for Oxford County, Peter Heywood says the results indicate a need to do a comprehensive air quality study.

"That was a real trigger for us that this represented the common interests of the community and the perceptions about the air quality."

Heywood points out that they plan to gather air quality data over the next several months and have a report to present to the public during the summer.

"Hopefully our mid-term report in July will be put out and that should include some air quality results that were taken back in the fall and also we should have a preliminary summary of our literature review."

STATUS OF THE WALKER LANDFILL PROPOSAL

Gathering air quality data is just one aspect of a health impact study being requested by the Joint Municipal Coordinating Committee for the Walker Landfill proposal Terms of Reference (TOR). The TOR is currently before the Minister of the Environment who has yet to issue a response to the requested amendments put forth by Ingersoll council. Walker is requesting a Health Risk Assessment which JMCC legal counsel, Peter Pickfield says is a narrow assessment that will not identify the impact to society and economy.

It is unclear when a response will be issued by the MOE, however Pickfield says the community needs to be ready for the answer. One of the prime requests in the letter sent to the MOE by Ingersoll council was to send the TOR to mediation. Pickefield says in the past mediation has not been granted.

Another point mentioned in the meeting was the role of the municipality, they are not decision makers but act as stakeholders in the landfill decision.

Citizens should be prepared for a marathon process rather than a sprint.