Ministry Meeting

Wednesday, 16 April 2014 06:45

Landfill implications still the focus of concern for Carmeuse Lime's application to drain a local quarry lake.

TORONTO -- A meeting earlier this month with the Ministry of the Environment involving those from OPAL Alliance, the Oxford Coalition for Social Justice and the Mayors of Zorra, South-West Oxford and Ingersoll is still waiting to bare fruit with the provincial government.

The meeting was meant to inform the Ministry on how Carmeuse Lime's massive proposed de-watering of the Quarry Lake would take place during the same period in which Walker Industries is planning to conduct environmental tests on Oxford County’s ground water around the lime quarry.

Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman says the group's presentation was not lost on officials with the ministry who sat in.

"The result we got from the people is that they seem to be listening and although they said they were two separate applications and they could not treat them as one, but at the same time they were not treating one in the absence of the other, they would consider the impact of one to the other."

Hardeman says OPAL's request was for Carmeuse not to do any de-watering of the quarry lake until a water study is completed on the impacts of putting a land fill on the other application.

"The request was they don't do any de-watering to rehabilitate the present lake until such time as they've completed a water study as to what the impact putting a landfill on the other application would have."

OPAL Chair Steve McSwiggan maintained last week that the interaction of the proposed landfill with ground water could affect Oxford County and down river communities "in large and costly ways."

McSwiggan says an accurate study of the quarry lake is needed because Walker Industries has proposed to site its landfill right beside it.

Based on input received from interested parties, Walker Environmental Group recently extended the public comment period for the amendment to its Terms of Reference for its landfill application to 45 days, a window set to close May 20th.