In terms of the proposal for…

In terms of the proposal for the expansion of the landfill operations, the site is not zoned for those operations, but also the question of whether it would be approved as a landfill (present day) needs to be considered. There likely should not have been a landfill operating at this site to begin with (given the proximity to tributaries/location in general), however historically it hasn't operated like the type of landfill we currently have concerns about/is proposed. Most of the historical waste has been related to incinerator ash and building materials and it has been small scale. The proposed household waste that would create leachate and the overall quantity of proposed waste vs. the size of the site is not appropriate. In addition to this, we should consider:

-the source of the waste will be from larger cities which will require trucking from those locations (not sustainable and has a larger GHG impact than landfilling in these areas).
- Dresden is not near the highway so they will need to go through smaller communities in order to tip at the proposed location. This has not been planned for or discussed with the Municipality.
- lack of communication with the public. The site was purchased back in Dec 2022 yet residents heard about it after the ECA application was submitted;
- the MECP mandate of "Leading to healthier communities and economic prosperity through protecting Ontario's air, land and water" is contradicted by the approval of an ECA that looks to expand a landfill that will negatively impact a community's economic prosperity and potentially have long-term negative impacts on nearby soil, groundwater and surface water.
- we are looking at long-term climate change impacts and doing risk assessments on infrastructure as a community, province and country yet this expansion of a landfill that should not have been there in the first place (with an expanding community that will only move closer to the landfill), is not sustainable and is an environmental risk that will only get worse with time. In addition to this, Mollys Creek abuts the proposed site and the proposed leachate ponds which flows to the Sydenham River (hydraulically downgradient of the site), flows through the Town of Dresden and other smaller communities.

The approval of the ECAs to expand the landfilling operations at this site would mean a complete disregard for the environment as well as the growing town that is nearby.