Municipality, community tries to force Environmental Assessment of York1 Project

Heather Wright/The Independent

As Chatham-Kent prepares to mount a fight against the York1 Environmental project at the Dresden dump, at least one official admits the municipality is “flying blind” unsure of what the Mississauga company now plans for the derelict landfill.

In February 2024, the company asked the Ministry of the Environment to approve a massive project on the 80-acre parcel of land turning it into a construction material and soil recycling centre. The company planned to bring in up to 700 trucks of waste a day – up to 6,000 tonnes.

York1 went through the Environmental Compliance Approval process since the dump was registered under that system decades ago. That process has little public engagement.

A large community outcry after word of the project spread led the provincial government approving a full Environmental Assessment of York1’s plans – with more studies and at least three opportunities for the public to have their say.

April 17, the government changed course saying in the face of US tariffs which could impact the waste industry, it has to act faster. The province’s plan became public when the government introduced the Unleashing Our Economy Act. Residents have until May 17 to speak out about the removal of the Environmental Assessment on the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

Colin Leger of Garrod Pickfield Environmental and David MacGillivray of Grounded Environmental underscored Monday how much is at stake.

Leger said without a full Environmental Assessment, the local Indigenous communities wouldn’t be properly consulted and traffic studies would not be done. “If leachate is leaving the site, they won’t be looking at where do they go if they are trucking it out.”

MacGillivray says there will little public input to the design and operation of the massive facility. “You’re really going to lose your voice if it just goes to an ECA.”

One of the key tools to stop the dump project was thought to be zoning. The municipality normally has the authority to zone – or deny zoning – properties for specific uses like landfills. Officials say in this case, with the new rules, the province could override what the municipality wants.

And there is no way of telling right now if York1 will continue with the same plan it presented a year ago.

David Taylor, director of legal services for Chatham-Kent, believes the only way to get the province to reconsider and allow the full environmental assessment is to flood the ERO with opposition. When the plans first surfaced in 2024, 1,175 people emailed or wrote to the ERO to object.

“We need to double, triple that opposition,” Taylor told about 400 people at the Dresden arena Monday. “The province needs to hear how this impacts Dresden and how opposed this community is.”

He added he knows everyone just wants the project stopped, but the full Environmental Assessment may be the key to doing that. “Just don’t do this; that’s where everybody wants to get to,” Taylor said to applause in the room. “The reason we pushed for and continue to push now for an EA is, it’s the proof we anticipate you all know in your gut…the project can’t be supported.”