Durham Environment Watch

 

 
 

 

Last updated
06/17/2013

 

See photos of
Durham/York/Covanta EFW Groundbreaking  &
Citizen's Rally
from August 17, 2011

 

 

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NOTICEBOARD


Upcoming Council/Committee Meetings - updated 06/17/2013
 

Durham Regional Council meetings - (Open to public)  (televised - Rogers)
       Council Chambers, Durham Region Headquarters, 605 Rossland Road East, Whitby, Ontario  


 

Clarington Council meetings  - (Open to public) 

         Council Chambers, Municipal Administrative Centre, 40 Temperance Street, Bowmanville, ON L1C 3A6


Events and Alerts


Encore MOVIE ALERT - Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Bowmanville

Brought to you through the  support and partnership of:
Durham Environment Watch
 ·  Zero Waste for Zero Burning  ·  and concerned Durham Citizens

 
   On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/452840414800636/


ALERT


Citizens of Frederick County, Maryland
have put together a great new website
See how they are fighting their proposed incinerator


Remember Belledune (New Brunswick) - fully built, but never operated
Other burners have been stopped at various stages



Audio Interview
with
Durham Regional Chair, Roger Anderson
 on Durham-York proposed Incinerator

James Dobos interviewing Chair Anderson
on student radio station in London, Ontario
Late September, 2011


ALERT

  • Sept 28 - Letter To Party Leaders - Waste & Incineration - from the Ontario Zero Waste Coalition to all four party leaders to raise the issue of waste management and incineration. This is the time to raise the issue locally with your own candidates.

  • Sept 15 - Letter to Ministers of Health and Environment - From DEW-ZW4ZB-and-DurhamCLEAR - The problems with the Durham incinerator project remain despite government agency approvals. Now, there are new problems coming to light, over and above previous concerns that were never acknowledged and addressed by Durham Region and the Province.
    This letter sets out the concerns with the current approvals, and the actions (or lack of action) by Durham Region. It is a good summary of the history and wider picture of the incinerator issue.
    This letter also reminds the Minister of Health that she has a responsibility to examine the health impacts of projects like the incinerator.

  • April 27 - Presentation to John Vidan - Presentation to Ontario Ministry of the Environment waste policy planners by Ontario Zero Waste Coalition. It gives proposals to embark on the road to Zero Waste and end incineration in Ontario.


see
Clarington Citizens for Clean Water and Soil

(CCCWS)

for more information on
Morgan's Road commercial fill site
 


 

Please be advised that at the
Special meeting of Durham Regional Council
on
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
(BLACK TUESDAY)
Durham Regional Council
APPROVED the Energy-from-Waste Facility - Durham/York Co-Owner's Agreement (includes Notice to Proceed),
See the report and co-owner's agreement: Durham Region Works 2011-WR-10

Those who voted YES to inflict this incinerator on residents of Durham
and beyond and gave the FINAL GO AHEAD:
Clarington: Mayor Adrian Foster, Willie Woo (Mary Novak supported the incinerator every step of the way but was absent for this final vote).
Oshawa: John Aker, Bob Chapman, Amy England, Nester Pidwerbecki
(Absent Nancy Diamond, Tito-Dante Marimpietri)
Whitby: Mayor Pat Perkins, Lorne Coe (Don Mitchell absent)
Ajax: none! (Shaun Collier absent)
Pickering: Mayor Dave Ryan, Bill McLean
Unanimous in the 3 northern municipalities:
Brock: Mayor Terry Clayton, Debbie Bath
Scugog: Mayor Chuck Mercier, Bobbie Drew
Uxbridge: Mayor Gerri Lynn O'Connor, Jack Ballinger

**We sincerely THANK the Mayors and Regional Councillors who voted against the incinerator and stood up for the residents of Durham and beyond:
Clarington: NONE
Oshawa: Mayor John Henry, John Neal
Whitby: Joe Drumm
Ajax: Mayor Steve Parish, Colleen Jordan
Pickering: Jennifer O'Connell, Peter Rodrigues
Brock: none
Scugog: none
Uxbridge: none
It's not too late to send them a nice note of thanks.

********

 June 29, 2011
Incinerator C of A Approval granted by MOE

ONTARIO MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT IGNORED PUBLIC INPUT
BEFORE APPROVING DURHAM INCINERATOR

Durham Region, June 29, 2011 -- The Ontario Ministry of the Environment appears to have ignored citizen and host community input and fast-tracked the Certificate of Approval for the Durham incinerator project, say its opponents. The approval could be a signal to the industry that Ontario is "open to polluters".

"The timeline was just too tight for proper consideration of the comments", says Clarington resident Kerry Meydam. The public comment period on the Ministry's Environmental Registry web site ended June 9, the host community submitted its peer review report June 20, and the approval was communicated to Durham Region June 28.

"This was the beachhead the incinerator industry was looking for in Ontario", says Durham resident Durham resident Linda Gasser, who has followed the project since 2006.

"I am concerned that if Durham Council moves forward with the incinerator, and there are many reasons why they should not, including excessive costs and health risks, this could open up the floodgates for other incinerator projects across the province and across Canada", says Gasser. "The Durham incinerator is a risky, inefficient and expensive disposal option. Up to 56,000 metric tonnes -- some 40 per cent of the material burned -- will still end up in landfills in New York State".

Through a technicality, the approval allows for one pollutant -- fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 -- to be emitted at more than twice the concentration that was considered in the environmental assessment.

There was no medical study of the risk to human health due to the additional emissions as part of the certificates of approval applications. Although the Ministry is revising its emission source testing code to close the loophole, the new version may not apply to this certificate. PM2.5 is known as a "non-threshold" pollutant, meaning that there is no safe level of exposure.

"It worries me that the risk to human health was not re-evaluated with the higher emission figures", says Clarington resident Wendy Bracken, who studied the air quality data for the environmental assessment and the emissions summary dispersion modelling report for the certificate application. "We're already breathing seriously polluted air, as their own study showed. It's irresponsible to add even more pollutants without a clear understanding of the consequences".

The Municipality of Clarington, host community for the project designated for the Lake Ontario waterfront in Courtice, had requested the opportunity to review the draft certificate. At this time, it appears that the Ministry ignored the request.

The Certificate of Approval has not yet been posted to the Ministry of the Environment web site. It is available on the project web site: http://www.durhamyorkwaste.ca/pdfs/project/certApproval/CofA.pdf  

ZeroWaste4ZeroBurning.ca

DurhamEnvironmentWatch.org

DurhamCLEAR.ca
 



See photos of
Durham/York/Covanta EFW Groundbreaking
& Citizen's Rally
from August 17, 2011


 

Video from Zero Waste British Columbia:

 


 

Motion re Air Quality By-Law Report Request - Feb 28, 2011
Clarington General Purpose & Administration Committee

 

Ministry of Environment Letter to Oakville
Re: Granting of EBR Application for Review of Air Quality legislation,
specifically for PM 2.5 protection for residents.
Review Decision Summary
 


DURHAM/YORK INCINERATOR - Covanta - Covanta Contract - redacted copy of the "Project Agreement by and between The Regional Municipality of Durham and The Regional Municipality of York, as Owner, and Covanta Durham York Renewable Energy Ltd., as DBO CO Contractor". (376 pages)
 

DURHAM/YORK INCINERATOR - Clarington - Host Community Agreement (HCA) 13 pages - Signed February 19, 2009, between Durham Region and the Municipality of Clarington, making Clarington a "willing host" due to the compliance of 4 Councillors but strongly opposed by 3 Councillors and the general public.
Also see "Threatening letter from Durham Region" in response to Clarington Resolution attempting to amend the HCA and attempting to find out the legality of certain portions of that document (now rescinded by Clarington Council due to threatening letter from Region).

 

DURHAM/YORK INCINERATOR - Province

COVANTA/Durham-York Certificate of Approval Applications
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL APPLICATIONS:
Durham/York Submittal Letter - March 3, 2011  (2 pages)
Waste C of A Application 
 
(253 pages, 33 MB)breakdown of application (smaller files)
Air and Noise C of A Application
 
(371 pages, 32.5 MB)
Stormwater C of A Application
 
(157 pages, 23.5 MB)
 

See more information at
Durham Reports and EA Process



POLL
Are you in support of Durham Region's proposal to build an incinerator in Clarington?

Cast your vote



Dioxin! What Citizens, Workers and
Policymakers Should Know

Durham Region's Council and even the Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Kyle
find this to be 'acceptable risk'.

Is this acceptable to you?

Click here


Is Covanta a Good Neighbour?
New - March 5, 2010
 




 



INCINERATOR EA TIMELINE

MOE website - Project Updates

See: Political Direction page for more information on Durham Incinerator EA

*********************

For more information, go to "What you can do"

See Request from Durham Action

The DURHAM/YORK/COVANTA INCINERATOR fight isn't over.
How you can TAKE ACTION.

 



Final Regional Council Vote on Incineration EA
moved it ahead to the Province

Click here to see how your Councillors voted at the final Regional Council meeting on June 24.

How they voted on the incinerator is posted and will be kept for
referral before next year's Municipal Elections.


Download Incinerator Flyer & Fact Sheet

Also See:  INCINERATORS: MYTHS vs. FACTS
from GAIA, April 2010



 ******************************

More VIDEOS
See our Photo Gallery and Video page



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