PLANNING AND
ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE REPORT 74
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1.
PROPOSED TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR AN ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSESSMENT OF A NEW LANDFILL FOOTPRINT AT THE WEST CARLETON
ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE
Conditions de rÉfÉrences proposÉes pour une Évaluation
environnementale de la superficie d'un nouveau site
d'enfouissement au centre environnementale West Carleton
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COMMITTEE
RECOMMENDATIONS, AS AMENDED
That Council endorse the comments contained in Document 1 as
the City’s comments on Waste Management of Canada Corporation’s
Proposed Terms of Reference for an Environmental Assessment of a
New Landfill Footprint at the West Carleton Environmental Centre,
and direct staff to forward the approved comments to the Ministry
of the Environment and Waste Management of Canada Corporation,
as amended by the following:
1.
That the City of Ottawa urges the Minister require Waste
Management to modify its terms of reference in accordance with the
comments contained in the staff report and any amendments or
additions to those comments approved by this Council.
2.
That a meeting of Ottawa City Council representatives
and City of Ottawa staff with the Minister of the Environment and
Ministry staff is organized as soon as possible in order for the
Ottawa contingent to explain the City’s position.
3.
That the Ministry put in place programs and policies
necessary to move the ICI sector from its current 17-per-cent
diversion rate to the Ministry’s target of 60-per-cent diversion
before considering new or expanded landfills to dispose of
residual ICI wastes.
4.
That if the proposed terms of reference aren’t rejected,
the City of Ottawa’s comments include the following statements on
the proposed terms of reference, and that the City encourages the
Minister to include these principles as requirements in the
finalized terms of reference for the EA:
a)
Waste Management must conduct a full EA to ensure the
examination of all major issues, including demonstrating that all
alternative disposal techniques are not feasible before a new or
expanded landfill is considered;
b)
The “Good Neighbour Zone,” as described in the terms of
reference, is defined as the geographical boundaries of the City
of Ottawa and the County of Lanark;
c)
ICI, residential, and construction waste and
contaminated soils can only be accepted at the Carp Road facility
if they originated from the City of Ottawa or the Good Neighbour
Zone as defined above;
d)
Waste Management must develop a program to assure there
will be no future ground water impact by conducting an in-depth
study to identify and develop an comprehensive ground water
protection and monitoring program;
e)
Waste Management must conduct an in-depth study to
identify and develop a program to immediately report any evidence
of ground water contamination to the City of Ottawa and the public
in a timely manner;
f)
Waste Management must conduct an in-depth study to
identify and develop a fulsome program to address and compensate
for all property value impacts within a one-kilometre radius of
Waste Management’s Carp Road lands;
g)
The terms of reference must include, and the EA must
assume, a requirement that as ICI diversion per centage rates
increase in the Ottawa area and Good Neighbour zone, the total
allowable tonnage accepted at the landfill, if approved, would
decease at the same per centage rate from a start total of 400,000
tonnes per year;
h)
Waste Management must develop a program to provide an
annual report to the City of Ottawa on all requirements of any
certification of approval provided by the Ministry should approval
be granted;
i)
Waste Management must conduct an in-depth study to
identify and develop a fulsome program to report all odour and
litter complaints to the City of Ottawa and the public, including
time and location of the complaint, nature of the compliant, when
the compliant was responded to, how the problem was, or will be,
addressed, and when the problem was addressed;
j)
Waste Management must
conduct an in-depth study during the EA to forecast all potential
economic impacts of any potential expansion of its operations on
Carp Road businesses and identify and develop a comprehensive
program to mitigate the impacts, and/or compensate area business
owners if mitigation attempts fail;
k)
Waste Management must
facilitate a broad public consultation process during all stages
of the EA involving a broad representation of interested parties,
including, but not limited to, community associations,
environmental and public health organizations, the City,
conservation authorities, and any other party that expresses an
interest in participating;
l)
Waste Management must,
as part of the broad public consultation, establish a stakeholder
liaison committee consisting of representatives from the local
community and the City of Ottawa to facilitate the flow of
information during the EA process, including regular meetings for
Waste Management to provide updates on progress and issues related
to the EA, including, but not limited to, any evidence that
affects any of the assumptions or conclusions contained in the
terms of reference;
m)
Waste Management must
conduct broad public consultation on work plans for all specific
impacts assessment studies in the EA before the studies start;
n)
Waste Management must conduct further public
consultation, and the City and the public must be given time to
make submissions to the Ministry on any amended terms of reference
Waste Management may file in the future; and
o)
Waste Management must fund an independent review by
independent experts, chosen by the City in conjunction with the
stakeholder group, on all aspects of the EA and the results of the
EA, updates on this review must be filed with the Ministry and
given to the City of Ottawa and the stakeholder liaison committee
members regularly, and the final review report must be filed with
the Ministry and given to the City of Ottawa and the stakeholder
liaison committee members in a timely manner.
5.
That the City of Ottawa’s comments on the proposed terms
of reference include that Waste Management must delete all
references to the past agreement in its terms of reference.
6.
That if Waste Management refuses to delete all
references to the past agreement in its proposed terms of
reference, the City of Ottawa urges the Ministry of the
Environment to order them deleted and put no weight on them during
any part of the EA process including finalization of the terms of
reference.
7.
That, in order to provide a
level playing field for the affected communities, the City of
Ottawa commit up to $75,000 from the Solid Waste reserve fund to
be distributed to community groups in the area surrounding the
Carp Road facility to help the groups retain experts to assist
them during the EA process; and
8.
That Staff be delegated the authority to determine which
groups receive money and ensure that appropriate rules with
respect to the distribution and usage of the funds are followed.