The Ontario government is giving Terrapure Environmental the green light to expand upper Stoney Creek’s Taro industrial dump.
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued a notice of approval to proceed to the company on Oct. 16, nearly two months after its top political boss signed off on the decision, confirmed by a cabinet order in council on Sept. 19.
Environment minister Jeff Yurek rejected a lone request by Stoney Creek resident Wes Connor for a hearing on the plan, which boosts the site’s capacity by nearly 60 per cent and adds an estimated 10 to 15 years to its operating life.
The city also formally opposed the expansion, but didn’t ask for a hearing.
Yurek gave seven approval reasons, including that a ministry review of Terrapure’s environmental assessment found the “conclusion that the advantages of this undertaking outweigh its disadvantages appears to be valid.”
“No other beneficial alternative method of implementing the undertaking was identified,” Yurek wrote in an Aug. 29 notice of approval.
“The proponent has demonstrated that the environmental effects of the undertaking can be appropriately managed and mitigated.”
The approval increases the site’s capacity to 10.18 million cubic metres — up from 6.5 million — and raises the maximum height by 2.5 metres, to 21 metres above street level.
It also reopens a capped section by Mud Street and returns the dump to an original 59-hectare footprint approved in 1996 by placing waste in an 18-hectare stretch along Green Mountain Road that had been earmarked for clean fill.
Previous owner Newalta Corp. got approval to shrink the waste footprint in 2013 in return for raising the site’s initial 14.5-metre height by four metres.
Connor called the decision “an unfair outcome” that lets Terrapure off the hook for five promised environmental benefits of the smaller footprint, including keeping waste further away from surrounding homes.
He said the ministry ignored overwhelming community opposition, treating his concerns as “an annoyance,” in a process stacked in favour of the company, which was able to hire a team of consultants to make its case.
“It’s like a football game. We didn’t just have to beat the other team, we had to beat the other team and the referees,” Connor said.
Terrapure communications director Greg Jones said the company is “obviously pleased” and believes the decision reflects the high quality of technical, engineering and environmental assessment work its consultants did to support the expansion.
“The ministry and for that matter the community should feel very comfortable that any potential issues will be able to be well-mitigated,” he said.
“It means we’ll be able to continue to provide what is clearly a much-needed service to support the continued growth of the local economy.”
Brad Clark, the area’s councillor, has declared a conflict of interest and declined to speak publicly about the expansion because of his work as a consultant on the expansion prior to his election last fall.
But lower Stoney Creek Coun. Maria Pearson, who sits on the dump’s community liaison committee, said Terrapure is a good corporate citizen and she’s not surprised by the approval.
“I kind of agree with the minister. In all fairness, I didn’t really think they were going to have to shut it down and look for a new location somewhere else. I don’t think the ministry is ever going to approve another location,” she said.
The latest Taro annual report shows the dump received 281,726 tonnes of waste last year — slightly more than a third of it from biggest customer ArcelorMittal Dofasco — and was poised to reach capacity by about the end of this September at historic fill rates.
Jones said the site is still below capacity and Terrapure will manage waste receipts until its licence is amended to reflect the new limit, expected to take a month or so.
Yurek’s notice sets out 10 approval conditions, most of them related to Terrapure fulfilling the environmental assessment’s commitments for monitoring and measures to mitigate dust and other potential offsite impacts.
But it also requires the company to potentially expand the community liaison committee by offering seats to representatives from Hamilton’s public and Catholic school boards, and interested Indigenous communities.
The committee meets quarterly and presently has nine seats — four for citizens, two for city councillors (currently Pearson and Chad Collins), two for Terrapure and one for the ministry, although only citizens and councillors vote on resolutions.
Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to correct the dates of the minister's and cabinet's approvals.
The Ontario government is giving Terrapure Environmental the green light to expand upper Stoney Creek’s Taro industrial dump.
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued a notice of approval to proceed to the company on Oct. 16, nearly two months after its top political boss signed off on the decision, confirmed by a cabinet order in council on Sept. 19.
Environment minister Jeff Yurek rejected a lone request by Stoney Creek resident Wes Connor for a hearing on the plan, which boosts the site’s capacity by nearly 60 per cent and adds an estimated 10 to 15 years to its operating life.
The city also formally opposed the expansion, but didn’t ask for a hearing.
Yurek gave seven approval reasons, including that a ministry review of Terrapure’s environmental assessment found the “conclusion that the advantages of this undertaking outweigh its disadvantages appears to be valid.”
“No other beneficial alternative method of implementing the undertaking was identified,” Yurek wrote in an Aug. 29 notice of approval.
“The proponent has demonstrated that the environmental effects of the undertaking can be appropriately managed and mitigated.”
The approval increases the site’s capacity to 10.18 million cubic metres — up from 6.5 million — and raises the maximum height by 2.5 metres, to 21 metres above street level.
It also reopens a capped section by Mud Street and returns the dump to an original 59-hectare footprint approved in 1996 by placing waste in an 18-hectare stretch along Green Mountain Road that had been earmarked for clean fill.
Previous owner Newalta Corp. got approval to shrink the waste footprint in 2013 in return for raising the site’s initial 14.5-metre height by four metres.
Connor called the decision “an unfair outcome” that lets Terrapure off the hook for five promised environmental benefits of the smaller footprint, including keeping waste further away from surrounding homes.
He said the ministry ignored overwhelming community opposition, treating his concerns as “an annoyance,” in a process stacked in favour of the company, which was able to hire a team of consultants to make its case.
“It’s like a football game. We didn’t just have to beat the other team, we had to beat the other team and the referees,” Connor said.
Terrapure communications director Greg Jones said the company is “obviously pleased” and believes the decision reflects the high quality of technical, engineering and environmental assessment work its consultants did to support the expansion.
“The ministry and for that matter the community should feel very comfortable that any potential issues will be able to be well-mitigated,” he said.
“It means we’ll be able to continue to provide what is clearly a much-needed service to support the continued growth of the local economy.”
Brad Clark, the area’s councillor, has declared a conflict of interest and declined to speak publicly about the expansion because of his work as a consultant on the expansion prior to his election last fall.
But lower Stoney Creek Coun. Maria Pearson, who sits on the dump’s community liaison committee, said Terrapure is a good corporate citizen and she’s not surprised by the approval.
“I kind of agree with the minister. In all fairness, I didn’t really think they were going to have to shut it down and look for a new location somewhere else. I don’t think the ministry is ever going to approve another location,” she said.
The latest Taro annual report shows the dump received 281,726 tonnes of waste last year — slightly more than a third of it from biggest customer ArcelorMittal Dofasco — and was poised to reach capacity by about the end of this September at historic fill rates.
Jones said the site is still below capacity and Terrapure will manage waste receipts until its licence is amended to reflect the new limit, expected to take a month or so.
Yurek’s notice sets out 10 approval conditions, most of them related to Terrapure fulfilling the environmental assessment’s commitments for monitoring and measures to mitigate dust and other potential offsite impacts.
But it also requires the company to potentially expand the community liaison committee by offering seats to representatives from Hamilton’s public and Catholic school boards, and interested Indigenous communities.
The committee meets quarterly and presently has nine seats — four for citizens, two for city councillors (currently Pearson and Chad Collins), two for Terrapure and one for the ministry, although only citizens and councillors vote on resolutions.
Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to correct the dates of the minister's and cabinet's approvals.
The Ontario government is giving Terrapure Environmental the green light to expand upper Stoney Creek’s Taro industrial dump.
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued a notice of approval to proceed to the company on Oct. 16, nearly two months after its top political boss signed off on the decision, confirmed by a cabinet order in council on Sept. 19.
Environment minister Jeff Yurek rejected a lone request by Stoney Creek resident Wes Connor for a hearing on the plan, which boosts the site’s capacity by nearly 60 per cent and adds an estimated 10 to 15 years to its operating life.
The city also formally opposed the expansion, but didn’t ask for a hearing.
Yurek gave seven approval reasons, including that a ministry review of Terrapure’s environmental assessment found the “conclusion that the advantages of this undertaking outweigh its disadvantages appears to be valid.”
“No other beneficial alternative method of implementing the undertaking was identified,” Yurek wrote in an Aug. 29 notice of approval.
“The proponent has demonstrated that the environmental effects of the undertaking can be appropriately managed and mitigated.”
The approval increases the site’s capacity to 10.18 million cubic metres — up from 6.5 million — and raises the maximum height by 2.5 metres, to 21 metres above street level.
It also reopens a capped section by Mud Street and returns the dump to an original 59-hectare footprint approved in 1996 by placing waste in an 18-hectare stretch along Green Mountain Road that had been earmarked for clean fill.
Previous owner Newalta Corp. got approval to shrink the waste footprint in 2013 in return for raising the site’s initial 14.5-metre height by four metres.
Connor called the decision “an unfair outcome” that lets Terrapure off the hook for five promised environmental benefits of the smaller footprint, including keeping waste further away from surrounding homes.
He said the ministry ignored overwhelming community opposition, treating his concerns as “an annoyance,” in a process stacked in favour of the company, which was able to hire a team of consultants to make its case.
“It’s like a football game. We didn’t just have to beat the other team, we had to beat the other team and the referees,” Connor said.
Terrapure communications director Greg Jones said the company is “obviously pleased” and believes the decision reflects the high quality of technical, engineering and environmental assessment work its consultants did to support the expansion.
“The ministry and for that matter the community should feel very comfortable that any potential issues will be able to be well-mitigated,” he said.
“It means we’ll be able to continue to provide what is clearly a much-needed service to support the continued growth of the local economy.”
Brad Clark, the area’s councillor, has declared a conflict of interest and declined to speak publicly about the expansion because of his work as a consultant on the expansion prior to his election last fall.
But lower Stoney Creek Coun. Maria Pearson, who sits on the dump’s community liaison committee, said Terrapure is a good corporate citizen and she’s not surprised by the approval.
“I kind of agree with the minister. In all fairness, I didn’t really think they were going to have to shut it down and look for a new location somewhere else. I don’t think the ministry is ever going to approve another location,” she said.
The latest Taro annual report shows the dump received 281,726 tonnes of waste last year — slightly more than a third of it from biggest customer ArcelorMittal Dofasco — and was poised to reach capacity by about the end of this September at historic fill rates.
Jones said the site is still below capacity and Terrapure will manage waste receipts until its licence is amended to reflect the new limit, expected to take a month or so.
Yurek’s notice sets out 10 approval conditions, most of them related to Terrapure fulfilling the environmental assessment’s commitments for monitoring and measures to mitigate dust and other potential offsite impacts.
But it also requires the company to potentially expand the community liaison committee by offering seats to representatives from Hamilton’s public and Catholic school boards, and interested Indigenous communities.
The committee meets quarterly and presently has nine seats — four for citizens, two for city councillors (currently Pearson and Chad Collins), two for Terrapure and one for the ministry, although only citizens and councillors vote on resolutions.
Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to correct the dates of the minister's and cabinet's approvals.