MINDEMOYA—In order to have a Providence Bay landfill remain open in the municipality, Central Manitoulin council has decided to have a ground water plan investigation plan prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC).
“I think the committee (Water, Waste and Education Committee) made the best recommendation they could of two choices,” stated Councillor Alex Baran at a council meeting last week. “The other decision would have been closure of the Providence Bay landfill.”
As was published previously, Central Manitoulin council had given its approval for the new draft certificate of approval provided by the MOECC for the Providence Bay landfill. However, council has had three months to consider if they would comply with requirements in the draft document, which includes drilling more wells at the landfill to prove to the ministry contaminants are not leaving the site, or to look at closure of the site.
At its meeting last week, council considered a recommendation from its Water, Waste and Education Committee that a groundwater investigation plan be prepared for the Providence Bay Landfill site and be submitted to the MOECC as required by the amended Environmental Compliance Approval.
“Our other choice would be closure of the landfill,” said Councillor Baran. He pointed out the landfill already has a closure date set for 2019. “Under these (new) conditions (and investigation) we don’t know if this date is extendable, but with this work there is at least the chance the life of the landfill can be extended.”
“To date on all testing that has been done on the landfill site there has been no adverse reports,” said Mayor Richard Stephens.
“The report that was provided said more wells have to be drilled on the site,” said Councillor Derek Stephens. “Even if we were discussing closure of the site we would have to have wells drilled on the site. We might as well spend the money now on this ground water plan, and maybe we will be able to keep the landfill open longer (than 2019).”
