To whom it may concern, …

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the removal of the environmental assessment requirements for the York1 Waste Disposal Site Project at 29831 Irish School Road in Dresden, Ontario (ERO 025-0389).
My husband and I moved to Dresden in 2015 and immediately fell in love with an extraordinary town. Dresden is a vibrant community within Chatham-Kent, and its citizens take great pride in it.
As a resident within this community, I can say that our citizens are extremely saddened by the proposed York1 waste management site as a whole, and deeply offended about the suggested removal of the environmental assessment (EA) requirement that was promised to us by the Ford government. The justification for this reneging is laughable; using a tariff threat to rationalize the removal of an EA and risk long-term environmental consequences to a community makes no sense, and is extremely short-sited. The number one job of the Ontario government is to protect Ontarians, and therefore we simply can’t put Ontarians at risk by cutting corners on due process regardless of the reason. The stakes are too high for
this community and surrounding communities, and the environment as a whole. The sheer risk of potentially harming endangered species in the rivers and streams near by should be enough to stop this from happening. What good is "unleashing the economy" if there is no good environment to live in? It sounds more like this is about unleashing the corporate economy, and destroying small town Ontario.
Chatham-Kent has consistently voted for the Progressive Conservatives with the belief that they will help our communities prosper. We are, quite frankly, rather angry that in our time of need, the Ontario government isn’t doing more to support us.
The EA is the absolute minimum the province should do to ensure Dresden is adequately protected from a company whose only interest in our community is for their own corporate betterment. If the waste management site proceeds without a full EA, it’s impossible to predict the consequences. Without a comprehensive EA there is the potential for unforeseen impacts to our community. These impacts could stem directly from the site itself, or from the unrelenting trucks carrying waste to this facility 24 hours per day. It is not unreasonable to think this site, or the transport trucks that feed it, could negatively impact our waterways, our air quality, our farmlands and livestock. Surrounding communities will also be affected with truck traffic, road wear needing maintenance, and safety of air quality from potentially dangerous materials. It’s truly impossible to predict the consequences without an EA. There is only one opportunity to get this right. The world has many examples of well-intentioned projects that end up wreaking havoc on the citizens and environment of nearby communities (ie Hinkley groundwater contamination incident). We need to ensure Dresden doesn’t become one of these examples and play it safe by ensuring a full, comprehensive EA.
This is about the lives on Ontario citizens, the pocketbook of big corporations should not be the priority, the environment should because without that, we have nothing.