DURHAM-YORK INCINERATOR UPDATE AND INFORMATION SESSION

Tuesday March 2, 2010, 7:00-9:00 PM
Faith United Church
1778 Nash Rd, Courtice (east of Courtice Road)

Received from the ZeroWaste4ZeroBurning.ca mailing list (see attached poster).

The proposed Durham-York incinerator is not a "done deal", but it is five minutes to midnight.

You are invited to an information evening about the proposed garbage incinerator. The session is hosted by several Durham region citizens and groups. Speakers will include citizen reviewers of the Environmental Assessment (EA) study that has been submitted to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE).

You may recall, Durham and York Regions are trying to solve our garbage challenges with plans to build a waste incinerator in Clarington. Last summer Durham and York Region councils voted to move the project ahead and submit the EA study to the MOE for approval.

The EA study has become difficult and confusing to follow because of a series of changes and document releases over the last six months. To ensure that you would be viewing the latest documents, you would need:

• The "Final" EA Study document, dated July 31, 2009
• The "Amended" EA study, dated November 27, 2009, and three related technical memos
• The "Addendum" to the the EA Study, dated December 16, 2009

As well as several related technical appendices that were revised in December 2009:

• Air Quality Technical Assessment Study Report
• Site Specific Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment

One significant change to the EA study was scaling the project back from 400,000 metric tonnes per year down to 140,000 tonnes per year. Even a smaller incinerator is a concern because evidence in the EA study shows that air quality in Courtice is already poor.

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment is expected to publish its review — formally known as the Ministry Review — of the EA study shortly. The exact date will be announced by the MOE. The upcoming five-week public comment period is the final comment period and opportunity to have your input considered by the minister when making his decision.

Providing input to the ministry might feel like a daunting task. One objective of our information night March 2nd is to provide an overview of key areas of the EA study. As well, we hope that the information presented encourages you to find out more, get involved and make a submission.

Please forward this email and the attached poster to family, friends and colleagues.