I would like to voice my…

I would like to voice my disappointment and displeasure to the Ontario government to attempt to allow a bypass of the Environmental Assessment for the York1 dump proposed for Dresden Ontario. Bill 5 will do just that. Locating a dump less than 1 mile from the town of Dresden is unbelievable. With additional properties purchased by York1 adjacent to the dump, it is very likely this dump would be expanded in the future. This dump would be situated on a property that drains into a short creek that drains into the Sydenham River. There will without a doubt be discharge from that property into the creek. That will happen at some point. There is no way that the company can mitigate that outcome. There are endangered aquatic life in this region identified by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Why spend the time and money identifying them if we really have no plan to protect them!

There are 2 schools on the Main Street of Dresden as well. No crossing guards. Will the Ontario government shrug their shoulders when a semi truck has an accident with a child in a school zone or collides with a bus? Not if it will happen, but when and how often it will happen.

I am not opposed to a dump. I understand that waste has to go somewhere. However its placement here is absolutely ill conceived. It should be placed in an industrial zone near the GTA where much of the waste is likely to originate from. This would save extra travel on our roads from what I understand could be 700 trucks per day.

Has anyone given any consideration to the amount of extra truck travel on the highways given the distance of travel that will occur to get to Dresden?

There will be significant road degradation and bridge deterioration that will occur on our local roads in the fifteen minute circle around the proposed dump site. The bridges that cross the Thames and Sydenham rivers and the bridges that cross the multiple tributaries of each river are not able to handle that increased heavy traffic flow. Who is paying for their upgrades and replacement? Chatham-Kent and Lambton County? That doesn’t seem fair since all of the surrounding communities, and local farm, soil and environmental groups have expressed their opposition to this dump. I bet the province won’t want to pay this infrastructure cost if the dump goes through.

I am hopeful that whoever makes the final decision on this Bill 5 has a conscience and the ability to see that this dump site does not make sense in this location. This proposal must be exempted from Bill 5.