To Whom It May Concern, I am…

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing as a resident who lives in close proximity to the waste disposal and excess soil processing site located at 7406 Concession Road B C in Ramara Township, operating under Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) No. 6332 A2GNRY. I am submitting this comment to express my strong opposition to the proposed amendment and expansion of this facility.
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1. Longstanding Community Concerns
Since this quarry and waste processing operation began, many residents — including myself — have raised strong concerns about safety, traffic, noise, and environmental impact. Several households in the immediate area are home to young children, and families have repeatedly expressed worry about the increasing number of heavy trucks and the growing industrial nature of our once quiet rural road.
These concerns have only grown over time, and the proposed expansion has amplified them significantly.
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2. Traffic Safety Risks
Large transport trucks associated with this operation already pose significant safety hazards. Throughout this year, residents have witnessed:
• Speeding
• Road hogging and unsafe passing
• Dangerous or obstructive parking
• Excessive dust impairing visibility
School bus drivers who service this road have also voiced concerns (who I have also encouraged to provide comment), citing close calls, limited sightlines due to dust, and the difficulty of sharing a narrow roadway with increasingly frequent heavy truck traffic.
Doubling processing capacity, as outlined in the proposal, would inevitably increase truck traffic volume and escalate these risks further.
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3. Weekend & Family Safety Concerns
One of the most distressing impacts is that families, children, and residents cannot safely walk, bike, or enjoy their own road on weekends when trucks are operating. Vehicles frequently travel at unsafe speeds and show little regard or caution toward pedestrians or cyclists.
We also have horseback riders in the community who would like to use the road, but they cannot do so safely. The size, speed, and unpredictable behaviour of the trucks — combined with loud engine noise and dust plumes — create an extremely dangerous environment for both horses and riders.
It is also not uncommon for trucks to end up in the ditch along our road, which is alarming and suggests drivers are not fully in control of their vehicles or are travelling too fast for local road conditions.
Additionally, there is daily debris falling from the trucks, including soil, rocks, and other loose materials. This debris creates further hazards for drivers, cyclists, walkers, and school buses. It also signals that loads may not be secured properly, raising serious compliance and safety concerns.
It feels deeply unfair that we pay taxes to live here, yet cannot enjoy a simple walk — or allow our children to ride their bikes — without fearing for our safety. The behaviour of these trucks has repeatedly demonstrated that they cannot be relied upon to slow down, drive responsibly, or share the road safely, forcing residents to choose between staying indoors or risking dangerous interactions with heavy vehicles.
A community should feel safe — especially on weekends — and residents should not have to live in fear on their own road.
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4. Environmental and Health Implications
Every household in the area relies on a private well for drinking water. This means any contamination to groundwater would have direct and potentially irreversible consequences for our families.
Waste handling and soil processing sites carry well documented risks related to leachate — contaminated liquid that forms when water interacts with waste materials. Leachate can contain:
• Heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury)
• Organic chemicals
• Pathogens
• Excess nutrients
Environmental research confirms that leachate can migrate into soil and groundwater, and can compromise the safety of wells if containment, storage, or runoff systems fail, become overloaded, or degrade over time.
Environmental regulators warn that waste facilities can contaminate:
• Groundwater
• Soil
• Surface water
through spills, leaks, and breakdowns in containment systems, requiring extensive remediation.
The proposed doubling of processing capacity and increased storage heightens these risks by generating:
• More runoff
• More leachate
• More potential for spills
• More soil and liquid handling beyond current controls
Given that all residents depend on private wells, even a small contamination incident could leave families without safe drinking water and impose substantial financial and health burdens.
Additionally, waste processing sites can produce gases such as methane and carbon dioxide that can accumulate in certain conditions and create health risks.
The environmental risks are significant, well documented, and incompatible with a residential, agricultural, and well dependent community like ours.
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5. Precedent & Regulatory Expectations
Ontario’s environmental approval process requires a thorough evaluation of environmental impact, emissions, noise, traffic, and waste management practices. The province’s technical requirements specifically address the need to assess these risks comprehensively during the approval process, particularly when an operation is being scaled up significantly. [ontario.ca]
Communities elsewhere in Ontario have successfully opposed or required modifications to similar proposals when the changes posed clear increases in environmental and safety risks without adequate mitigation.
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6. Disproportionate Community Burden
The amendment seeks to broaden the service area to all of Canada and extend operating hours to 6:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., six days per week, with the ability to accept emergency waste 24/7.
This expansion benefits the proponent, not local residents. Meanwhile, local families — including children, seniors, farmers, and daily commuters — are the ones who bear the safety and environmental burdens.
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Conclusion
For all the reasons described above — longstanding safety concerns, increased truck hazards, risk to children and families, threats to multi use rural roads, falling debris, trucks ending up in ditches, well water contamination risks, environmental hazards, and disproportionate burden on residents — I strongly oppose the proposed amendment to ECA No. 6332 A2GNRY.

I respectfully urge the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to:

Reject this application, or at minimum require:
• A comprehensive Groundwater and Well Water Risk Assessment
• A full Traffic Impact and Road Safety Study
• An Air Quality and Dust Assessment
• A Noise and Vibration Study
• A Runoff and Leachate Management Review
• An assessment of public safety for pedestrians, cyclists, children, and horseback riders
before any decision is made.

Thank you for your consideration.