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The Citizen, 1986-07-16, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1986. PAGE 5. Huron County commissions $200,000 waste study Waste Management has become a controversial subject at Huron County council with those municipalities in trouble supporting an expensive study and those who have their waste sites in good shape, opposed. MOE officials see few problems with 'shared' waste disposal BY CHRISTINE SINDING The Ministry of the Environ ment (MOE) may not be able to guarantee problems won’t arise in the establishment of shared waste treatment facilities but they are confident such systems are solid solutions to the high costs of municipal waste treatment. Joe Petoia, Supervisor in the municipal waste disposal policy section of the MOE, says the main consideration of the ministry is to ensure a safe, pollution-free en vironment and new criteria under Bill 309 will enable environmen- tally-safe waste disposal facilities to be established. This means, he says, counties can expect to pay the price only once to secure a sound waste disposal system which won’t need continuous upgrading. Because a consultant will be hired to determine what type of system is necessary (incinerator, landfill, energy through waste or separation) and then environmen tal assessment studies will be conducted to determine the appro priate site, Petoia says the MOE will be satisfied with the system and the county can be satisfied that the high expenditure (approxi mately $450,000 when all is complete) will be a one time deal. In addition, he said the shared system proposal will enable the county to inspect a wide area of land and find the best site which will further solve pollution pro blems. “We are always hoping the establishment of a waste disposal site willbetroublefree. But, we always have to make sure there will be no damage to the environment so we would continually monitor any new site. If the system is properly located, there shouldn’t be a problem but this is not to say that there won’t be a problem, ’ ’ said Petoia. Huron County has passed a motion to support the Waste Management Master Plan study. The County plans to apply for the government subsidy which is intended to help counties find new waste disposal sites, have them properly instituted with the intent of lowering the costs which individual municipalities face when working separately. Rather than conducting several studies to upgrade existing facilities to choose new sites for new facilities within every municipality in the county, oneorafew sites canbe chosen to service the entire area. This would mean public meet ings, costs of implementation, and costs of engineers, consultants etc. would be limited to a few sites rather than 15 to 18 sites. But, this also means county council will be forking out taxpay ers money for a system which is more preventative than absolutely necessary as many sites within the county have been given life expectancies of 20 to 30 years. The main benefactors would be those municipalities who immediately need waste disposal sites while others can wait before experienc ing such costs. ‘ ‘The benefits override the costs involved,’’ said Petoia. “It is a necessary evil and there really isn’t any other alternative because these sites have to be taken care of properly. They are eventually Continued on page 22 BY CHRISTINE SINDING Huron county council is explor ing the possibility of establishing a county wide waste disposal system and have passed a resolution to seek a government subsidy which will finance half the cost of a $150,000 to $200,000 study. Council supported the motion to apply for the 50 per cent subsidy for a Waste Management Study Mas ter Pl an(WMMP)by 24 votes to seven during the July 2 meeting. The study is designed to determine whattype of waste disposal site would be best for the county according to land size, population and type of industry and where such a site (s) would be located. Bob Dempsey, Road Superin tendent for the county, presented the proposal to council after meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Environment (MOE). He told council criteria governing waste disposal sites under the MOE are continually changing and many municipal sites are in big trouble because such changes mean sites have been slated for closure, some in two years and others in 15 to 20 years. Costs to find new sites within each individual municipality are extremely high because hydro- geological studies must first be conducted, the public must be in agreement with the selection of a new site (s) and then, the site must be prepared for whatever waste treatment facility will be introduc ed. By establishing a county-wide waste disposal system, Bob Demp sey told council costs would ultimately be lower but the county, as opposed to the municipality, will assume governing control. “The MOE’s rules are continu ally changing and this is a big problem because municipalities have to continually meet new criteria. There are 17 landfill sites under the management of local municipalities and conglomerates of local municipalities in the county. Half a dozen of these landfill sites are experiencing problems now,’’ said Mr. Demp sey. “There are major problems associated with waste manage ment and the question is whether municipalities can deal with new stipulations. The process to clean up a site or find'a new one is long and can every site afford to go through this process?” Under the changing rules of the MOE is Bill 309, coincidentally the same number as the controversial Spills Bill, which dictates the conditions waste treatment sites must meet to ensure the environ ment won’t be harmed. This bill determines how close sites can be situated to populated areas, what material is permitted to be dumped and whether the material should be burned, buried or separated. Any new sites must meet the said conditions and old sites have been given tw o years to comply with the new stipulations. Because of insufficient know ledge about the environmental effects of waste in the past, leach age waste has seeped into ground water, the air has been polluted by gas from combined chemicals which should have been separated and some materials, like styrofoam or aerosol can, disposal answers aren’t yet available. This is why, said Bob Dempsey, the MOE has been studying and changing the rules of waste treatment. “We know how to make waste but we still don’t now how to deal with reducing the problems waste creates. The MOE is not here to create problems but they feel they have a mandate to correct existing problems,” said Mr. Dempsey. Although the MOE will be financing half the costs of the WMMP, two secondary phases will not be eligible for government subsidy and each could cost the county $200,000. The first phase is designed to examine alternative forms of waste treatment for the area. It would determine the waste disposal method appropriate; whe ther one or more landfill sites, energy from waste systems, incin eration or source separation pro grams should be implemented or a combination of the above would be best suited to the county. The second phase would see a consultant examine potential sites under the guidance of a steering RASPBERRIES WOODWINDS $1 .OO/pint p.y.o., $1.75/pi nt, picked OPEN9:OOA.M.T07:OOP.M. (weather & crop permitting) 335-3749 PLEASE PHONE BEFOREYOU COME HOMEMADE RASPBERRY PIES available Fridays & Saturdays VINCENT FARM EQUIPMENT LIMITED and JULY 28-AUGUST 2 committee made up of county representatives and MOE work ers. This phase would include public meetings to ensure the residents of the chosen area are in agreement with county plans. The final stage would be site establish ment which would include the necessary environmental assess ment. At that point, the steering committee would have established what combination of waste treat ment will be used for the county. Although the costs for the second two stages prompted much concern, council in general was in agreement that a county-wide system would ultimately save money and create less hardship on individual municipalities. There were a few concerns however. “This seems to me to be the beginning of no end,’’ said Col- borne Reeve Russ Kernighan, referring to the continually chang ing rules and regulations which are costing taxpayers and municipali ties excessive amounts of money. “IthinktheMOEis imposing these rules unreasonably. It will cost $200,000 for one study and we may be required to do more. God Bless the MOE,” said Hay Town ship Reeve Lionel Wilder, who voted against the proposal. Reeve William Mickle of Exeter questioned why the ministry isn’t imposing restrictions on the manu facturers who produce the waste materials which can’t be easily disposed of rather than cracking down on municipalities. Mr. Dem psey agreed thatsuch problems should be investigated but also Continued on page 21 KEN R. 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