Dear Ontario Premier Doug…

Dear Ontario Premier Doug Ford, You said that " your government supports allowing municipalities to opt out of landfill proposals in their jurisdictions. ' We are not going to stick something in an area that people don't want, “ you said.
Dresden does NOT want this dump to happen 1 m away from town !!
If this proposal goes through, the cost to Ontario Health Care will sky rocket into the billions of taxpayers dollars, because there are over 2900 residents of this town Dresden, who all will become so sick with Cancers and so much more, because a Landfill / Mega Dump was allowed to open 1 km from residential homes and schools, even when Bill 197 states no landfill / garbage dump should be allowed within 3.5 km away from residential homes.
Our Premier Doug Ford stated in 2020, There was new legislation which states municipalities, within 3.5 km of a proposed dump have the right to approve or reject it.
Our Town of Dresden is ONLY 1 km away and our town of Dresden Rejects Dump proposal !!
Dresden is an agricultural community in southwestern Ontario, Canada, and is part of the municipality of Chatham-Kent. It is located on the Sydenham River. The major field crops in the area, by both acreage and production, are grain corn, soybean, and winter wheat.[1] The main horticultural crop is tomatoes, followed by sweet corn and carrots and sugar beets. Dresden is best known as the home of Josiah Henson, an African-Canadian abolitionist and minister whose life-story was an inspiration for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Henson homestead is a historic site near Dresden operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust.
Dresden sits along side the Sydenham River, which flows into Wallaceburg as well as the native territory of Walpole Island. It is a biological treasure located in southwestern Ontario.
It is the only major watershed that lies completely in the Canadian Carolinian Life Zone and it supports this amazing diversity of aquatic life and an incredible variety of wildlife, also known as biodiversity. ( At least 80 species of fish like the grass pickerel, and the northern madtom), The Sydenham River is home to at least 34 mussel species and turtle species. More than 20 fish and mussels in Sydenham River are Species at Risk (SAR).
The watershed also supports many other semi-aquatic SAR including amphibians, reptiles, Blanding and other turtles, Queen snakes, and dragonflies. Some of these species are found nowhere else in Canada or remain in only a few locations globally.
The Sydenham watershed is of global conservation concern for the persistence of these species, such as Fawnsfoot, liliput Rayed Bean mussels, spiney soft shell turtles, and more), only occur in one other location in Canada and persist in only a few locations in North America.
The Salamander Mussel is found nowhere else in Canada and is considered globally vulnerable.
The Northern Riffle shell population in the Sydenham River is one of only three remaining relatively healthy and reproducing populations globally.
Consequently, the Sydenham River is of global significance to the conservation of these species because they are listed nationally or provincially as Species at Risk and include species of global conservation and environmental types.
Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth. Richness in the diversity of species as well as the genetics of species is vital to the sustainability of this ecosystem. Everything in our ecosystem is interconnected from the insects to the fish and trees. If apart of this web becomes out of balance or lost, everything else is affected.
This proposed site is a complete 180 degree spin of what this land was intended for.
This area was only ever used up to1970 as a fly ash dump site, when Dresden was a town, before it was amalgamated with Chatham Kent in 1998.
York1 is taking advantage of a site that had a grandfathered license because It is not an expansion of a dump site, it is a new complete site that would not even fall under Bill 197.
Bill 197 states any new landfill / garbage dump should be 3.5 km away from any residential town
This proposed site is only 1 km away from 2 schools, this quiet residential town of 2900 residents, and that has a rich black history where American slaves escaped to freedom to historic Uncle Tom’s cabin.
Ontario.ca Land Use On or Near Landfills and Dumps: A guide for land use planning authorities on how to decide what types of land uses are appropriate near landfilled waste.
Section 5:4 Where significant impacts are encountered at or beyond 500 meters, the study area within which an assessment for any change in land use is recommended, shall be extended beyond the 500 meters
Areas set out in Section 5.3. “ Historical evidence in Ontario has shown that the maximum distance within which adverse effects could be experienced while a landfill is operating is up to 3 kilometers”
If the Provincial ministers knew this site is within 1 km from residential homes,( which may have been ok for minimal use in 1970’s - 50 years ago ) they must know this expansion will adversely affect the health and welfare of this entire town of Dresden and have huge ecological impacts on the biodiversity of the surrounding lands..
The Molly Creek wetlands which is also a biodiverse area and is home to many endangered species, that runs through the south east part of this proposed landfill area, which flows less than 1 km away to long creek which flows directly into the Sydenham River.
Any leaks or from this proposed site's leachate ponds will have overflow issues that will affect the Sydenham river directly, causing environmental damage to the balance of the ecological system.
I can’t imagine that for Black History month, the province has decided to allow this huge conglomerate company York1, to quietly throw millions of dollars at former residents over the past year, to purchase their properties, so they can throw in a dump / landfill on top of a rich ecological beautiful piece of agricultural zoned land that is habitat to many endangered species, based on a technicality and error in licensing, then calling it a , Regenerative Recycle facility to make it sound better..
It's a garbage landfill which this company wants to work 24 hours a day 7 days a week!!
The huge amount of garbage trucks spewing large amounts of emissions from diesel fuel estimate about 200 + trucks traveling through Dresden every day to reach this site.
Our infrastructure can not handle that many huge, heavy trucks on our roads, so taxpayers will be footing the bill to continually have to repair these roads for York1 to use.
This proposal for this site is unconstitutional and unsafe and probably illegal because of the way they have quietly gone about procuring this land without letting Chatham Kent know what their real intentions are.
They purchased 245 more acres of farm land and expect Chatham Kent to rezone from agricultural to industrial.
Leachate can contain high levels of ammonia. When ammonia makes its way into ecosystems it is nitrified to produce nitrate. This nitrate can then cause eutrophication, or a lack of oxygen due to increased growth of plant life, in nearby water sources. Eutrophication creates “dead zones” where animals cannot survive due to lack of oxygen. Along with ammonia, leachate contains toxins such as mercury due to the presence of hazardous materials in landfills.
Along with methane, landfills also produce carbon dioxide and water vapor, and trace amounts of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and non methane organic compounds. These gasses can also contribute to climate change and create smog if left uncontrolled.
Landfill are one of the causes of climate change
Landfill sites are partially responsible for global warming as they generate and release bio-gas into the atmosphere. Bio-gas is a mixture formed primarily of methane gas (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂), two of the gasses that cause climate change and an increase in the planet's temperature. According to the ISWA report, if the current situation continues and we do not take action, landfill sites will account for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.
Some of these landfills have degassing methods, which is an improvement over conventional landfills, but still has its drawbacks: degassing is usually performed after the landfill cell has been closed, so methane from the more readily biodegradable components will have already been released into the atmosphere before degassing occurs. Horizontal degassing projects that aim to capture methane while the landfill cell is still in operation achieve better results, but they can only capture a portion of the methane generated.
They can cause fires or explosions
Sometimes methane produced by waste from landfill sites can cause explosions and fires. This downside is more common than meets the eye, because the fires that occur are not regular fires with flames, but fires that occur inside the landfill. Dioxin emissions from these spontaneous uncontrolled fires are also very harmful to the environment, not to mention the damaging effects they have on aquifers, whose waterproofing membranes are affected by the fire.
Landfill sites are often responsible for the contamination of soil and groundwater, as the contaminating materials (such as heavy materials like lead and mercury) that the stored waste may contain can spread to the soil and water near the plant.
Moreover, although it is not very common for waterproofing membranes to rupture, it has a devastating effect on the environment when they do.
Landfill sites have particularly negative effects on bird migration. Some birds feed from landfill sites , inevitably ingesting plastic, aluminum, gypsum and other materials that are common among waste, which can even prove fatal.
In addition, another of the dangers posed to birds by landfill sites is that they are altering their migratory activity. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of cases of species that have stopped migrating to the south and are instead choosing to nest in areas near landfill sites thanks to the endless food supply they provide. This is not only detrimental because, as we have seen, this can be a deadly diet for them, but also because their young already tend to ignore traditional migratory behavior, so the problem is exacerbated with each generation.
The bad smells that emanate from landfill sites cannot be effectively controlled and, almost inevitably, reach nearby populations. Property prices are reduced in areas located near to these waste stores, which further perpetuates the devaluation of disadvantaged areas.
Ontario needs more housing in this community, but all that is proposed is a huge Mega Dump?
What nobody is focusing on will be. property values will drop and everyone in Dresden will become very ill with cancers, and other major illnesses that come with living beside a garbage dump / landfill, because we all will be breathing in asbestos, and methane gasses as that is what is proposed in their own proposals.
This project can not happen this close to Dresden, let alone in this ecological paradise where there are so many endangered species already at risk.
Southwestern Ontario has inclement weather with high winds and a lot of rain.
That will flood leachate ponds and overflow into the Sydenham River.
Please don’t let this happen in this part of southwestern Ontario
What this proposal is, will be a new project site that doesn't have proper regulations in place for what York1 intends, so close to our homes, and having it this close to town will only cause death to this town, the people and the environment as well native species of endangered animals and aquatic life.
Doug Ford's Government Bill 197 states: Any application within the 3.5 kilometers from the Region’s boundaries, will have to be presented to the impacted local municipalities and the Region will be a stakeholder during the consultation process before any application is approved by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP).
Further, the Regions usually have other projects, such as the Private Well Protection program and other safety measures in place. Overall, the Region may be affected by the amendments to the Environmental Assessment Act if there is an adjacent municipality proposing a new landfill within 3.5 kilometers of the Region’s boundaries. In which case, the provisions of Bill 197 give the Region increased power to object and have the result be that the proposed new landfill project will not move forward.
This proposed Dresden Site is only 1 km away from our thriving residential community. Don't let this happen -- Please!!