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Commission rejects proposed project at Danford Lake
A commission that reports to Quebec’s environment ministry has rejected a proposal to build a megadump in Outaouais cottage country.
The proposed Danford Lake dump would be too large for the region’s needs, would lead to increased trucking on Route 301 and pollute the groundwater, the commission report said.
The report comes after Line Beauchamp, Quebec’s Minister of Sustainable Development, requested an inquiry and public hearings by the independent commission on the controversial proposed project.
The process began last May. The commission held six public meetings in Lac-Ste-Marie and Gatineau, followed by eight more public sessions. In all, the commission considered 84 briefs and 17 presentations.
“It is not desirable to authorize the project,” the report said, adding that it’s important that waste management facilities be located near the sources that generate the garbage.
The commission concluded that the total capacity of eight megatonnes for the proposed technical landfill site, spread out over approximately 30 years, would “far exceed the needs of the Outaouais region.”
“This will be even more so the case once a valorization (waste into energy) technology has been chosen and implemented to serve the region, as the landfill needs will be reduced,” the report said.
The project would also result in a major increase in trucking on Route 301 between Kazabazua and Danford Lake.
If groundwater were to become polluted by leachate, “it would be difficult to limit the problem and to treat the volumes of contaminated water associated with a landfill site of this scope,” the report said.
Michèle Borchers, vice-president of the Coalition Against the Megadump, said it was too soon for opponents to rejoice.
Now it is up to Ms. Beauchamp to make a decision, a process that may take several days or several months, Ms. Borchers said.
Opponents predicted that the dump could result in a mountain of garbage 22 storeys tall within 30 years. More than 4,000 landowners had signed a petition opposed to the dump.
They were also concerned that Ontario garbage would flow into the landfill, a claim that was denied by LDC Management and Environmental Services, the company behind the proposal. LDC is a partnership of Cohen and Cohen of Ottawa and Denis Rouleau.
Meanwhile, the Outaouais region is still required to close existing trench landfills by January 2009 and a temporary solution will be still be necessary, the report noted.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007