The Ministry of Environment has fined Waste Management $365 after water from its Beechwood Road landfill was discharged off site and into a nearby ditch.

The news has energized a campaign by local residents to halt Waste Management’s plan for a new landfill site on the same property, just north of Napanee. The current Beechwood Road landfill is due to close this June, after years of protests by locals who believe the site poses a health risk.

“They’ve lost all integrity as far as we’re concerned,” said Mike Bossio, chairperson of Concerned Citizens of Tyendinaga and Environs. “They can’t be trusted.”

Meanwhile, the site manager for the landfill acknowledged the discharge water was a mistake caused by “human error.”

But he also said the water discharged was not contaminated and should not pose a risk to nearby residents; many of whom rely on groundwater wells for drinking water.

“The fortunate thing is it was clean water,” said Randy Harris. He added Waste Management is still moving forward with plans for its proposed Beechwood Road Environmental Centre (BREC), a landfill that could take in 400,000 tonnes of garbage per year.

“What happened with the human failure shouldn’t affect that operation,” he said. “We’re highly monitored by the Ministry of the Environment.”

Harris called The Guide to address a press release issued by the Canadian Environmental Law Association, which represents citizens and politicians in Tyendinaga Township, and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory who oppose the landfill.

The release said Waste Management was slapped with a provincial offence notice after a series of inspections.

The charge was based on an inspections in November and December 2010, when ministry staff “observed that the storm water management facility was actively discharging impounded surface water from the outlet structure eventually leading off-site to the Beechwood ditch.”

Harris confirmed the charge was true and said the violation occurred because a valve on the site was left open by employees. He also said, upon receiving the notice, he checked test results for the water on the days it was discharged and found it was clean.

Still, he acknowledged it was a serious mistake and the company has since put more technology in place to ensure such a discharge can’t happen again.

“It was a wake-up call, we were lucky,” Harris said. “We put measures in place to ensure it can’t happen again. We hold ourselves to a high standard.”

Bossio hopes the charges will serve as a wake-up call to the provincial government. Ministry of Environment officials will be in charge of monitoring the closure of the current landfill site this summer, and will have the ultimate say on whether a new landfill can be put up on the same spot.

“At some point the government has to stand up and say, ‘look Waste Management, go away.’”

The current landfill occupies just 16 acres of a 1,500-acre plot of land Waste Management owns in the former Richmond Township. The area is upstream from Napanee and Tyendinaga.

Waste Management has given its terms of reference to the Ministry of Environment for its new proposed project. If approved by the Ministry, the company will move onto the Environmental Assessment stage, which involves numerous studies and opportunities for public comment.

Bossio said a big issue in the whole story is the way Waste Management publicizes information on its doings.

He criticized the company for not doing enough to warn residents that water was discharged from the site and into a local water stream. He lives three kilometres from the site. However, he said he only learned about the offence notice after a letter was sent to Tyendinaga Township’s municipal office.

“Nobody is testing our wells for chemicals,” he said. “We’re saying, ‘Look if you at least inform us when these actions occur, we take some remediate actions ourselves.’”

Harris said letters were sent to officials with Tyendinaga Township, Greater Napanee and Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte.

He said more action would have been taken if the company believed the discharged water was contaminated.

“If it was an environmental issue, there would have been more notification right away,” he said.

via ‘Human error’ caused landfill leak – Napanee Guide – Ontario, CA.