"H-N Region Offers New Credit $500,000 To Settle Dump Dispute"

By MONTE SONNENBERG, Reformer staff writer

SPRINGVALE - Regional council is prepared to hand over $450,000 cash to settle its dispute with the New Credit reserve concerning contaminated run-off from the Tom Howe landfill in Springvale.

The region is also willing to run a pipe into New Credit from Hagersville for the delivery of clean potable water. If the band council accepts the region's proposal, which was approved behind closed doors May 16, the rate New Credit residents pay for water would be 12 per cent less than the rest of the region.

Under the region's proposal, it would be up to the band council to deliver the water to affected homes. The region is prepared to make a $50,000 capital contribution toward this. The water would be for residential uses only, satisfying demands that the settlement not give New Credit businesses an unfair cost advantage over businesses beyond its boundaries.

The region is also prepared to take steps to prevent the degradation of surface and ground water flowing from the dump site toward the reserve. This measure would include increasing the buffer between the landfill and the New Credit reserve to 45 metres.

In exchange, the region would like the New Credit band council to agree that the dump should remain open at least until Dec. 31, 2022.

Terms of the proposal are contained in a document dated May 10 which is marked "private and confidential." Nanticoke mayor Rita Kalmbach would not deny them when asked Friday, but did say the two sides "are still battling back and forth" on the details.

The document in question, signed by regional chairman John Harrison and engineering commissioner Eric D'Hondt, also contains the band council's bargaining position, which originally included having the region pay $195,000 a year over the life of the dump, plus $4 for every tonne of trash deposited there. The Tom Howe landfill is believed to have a capacity of 1.1-million tonnes. The band council, through its layer Teresa McClenaghan, has since modified this to a straight $2 per tonne charge.

Waterford Coun. Sandy Hall also would not comment when contacted Friday, but did say the matter is of some urgency because the Tom Howe landfill has been without a permanent operating licence for the past eight years. She said there's a fear the Ministry of Environment will stop issuing temporary permits if the region doesn't settle the dispute on its own.

On Friday, band council employee Warren Sault also refused comment, directing all enquiries to Chief Larry Sault, who was unavailable. The band council made an issue of the dump in 1993, claiming leachates from it are contaminating the reserve's ground water. There are also complaints that the landfill gives off a foul odor during periods of hot weather.