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Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Orono Weekly Times - 5 Council in full support of testing at EFW site Clarington councillors voted to conduct their own independent review of a number of reports dealing with the proposed energy from waste (EFW) facility. Durham/York Joint Waste Management Committee sided with their consultant's recommendation in a meeting held last week Tuesday, by agreeing that ambient air quality testing and human bio-monitoring were not necessary. The estimated cost of these studies was $270,000. A number of Clarington residents attended Monday night's council meeting, urging Clarington Council to do its own studies dealing with the health and environmental effects of the proposed incinerator project. The Region has identified a site in Courtice as the preferred site for the proposed incinerator to burn Durham Region's and 20 percent of York Region's garbage when the Michigan border closes to Ontario garbage next year. Dr. Debra Jefferson told councillors Monday night that in their report on air quality, the consultants did not look at emissions data from incinerators less than 10 years old. There is no data in the consultant's report about longterm effects of emissions over the lifespan of an incinerator, which is 30 years, according to Jefferson. "I believe Durham Region Council has bought into the sales pitch that old incinerators are bad, and new incinerators are good," she stated. "Old technology was once new state-of-the-art technology," Jefferson said, "Our new state-of-the-art incinerator will become old technology." Councillor Adrian Foster pointed out that the Region's decision to deal with its residual waste through incineration was made in 1999 and was based on pre-1998 incinerators. All of the residents who spoke to council on the EFW issue Monday night questioned the independence of Jacques Whitford, the consulting firm hired by the Region to conduct the environmental assessment process. According to the residents, Jacques Whitford's website states it is a member of the Canadian EFW Coalition, a body set up to promote thermal process of residual waste. The Coalition's mandate in part states, "We stand for the promotion, adoption and implementation of EFW technology." Councillor Mary Novak said that by doing very thorough research, she has found out that Jacques Whitford terminated its membership in the Coalition in December, 2008. Regardless of whether or not Jacques Whitford actually ended its coalition, Jefferson said, "It is apparent they are in fact incinerator salesmen, not independent consultants doing an environmental assessment report for the Region." Concerned citizen Jim Richards told councillors, "Clarington Council has long maintained that the most important question it needs answered is whether the incinerator is safe. Without the ambient air quality testing after the incinerator is built, and without human bio-monitoring, we will never know if the EFW is safe." "As I understand it, the consultants simply suggested that air quality testing and human bio-monitoring were not needed," Richards stated. He indicated that the Region had approved spending $9 million on showy architectural features for the proposed EFW, and $1.2 million on a viewing deck at the facility. "Putting on a show is more important than protecting the health of residents and the environment, it would seem," he stated. At the end of the debate, Councillors supported a motion put forward by Councillor Adrian to request the ambient air quality testing Mable Goode (right) attended the Region's public meeting at the Orono Town Hall on Monday evening, to get some final instructions from Regional Engineer David Metcalf on the new garbage collection system that comes into effect on March 31st in Clarington. and environmental monitoring be conducted at the EFW facility for a minimum of three years. Council also supported a motion put forward by Councillor Charlie Trim to spend up to $122,000 on peer reviews of a number of reports issued by the Region's EFW consultants. The $122,000 is the unspent portion of the $500,000 funding the Region provided Clarington, as the EFW host community, to conduct independent reviews as part of its due diligence process. Clarington's Planning Director David Crome indicated to council that he would be able to carry out the necessary reviews with the funding provided.