Heather Wright/The Independent

Lambton County is urging Ministry of Environment officials “to ensure a comprehensive review of potential environmental impacts” of York1 Environmental’s proposal for a revive the Dresden dump and create a construction and soil recycling centre.

Jason Cole, director of infrastructure and development for Lambton wrote to the director of Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks Environmental Permission Branch after York1 sent out letters to residents within 1.5 kilometres
of the site near Dresden. The letter explained the latest plan.

York1 bought the land in 2022 and in 2024 announced it planned to bring in 7,000 tonnes of waste to be sorted each day. That would have required about 700 transports coming from London, Windsor and Sarnia each day.

The plan drew vocal criticism and public action in both Chatham-Kent and Lambton. The premier stepped in, promising a full Environmental Assessment on the project, then reneged on the promise after the 2025 election.

In August, the company sent letters to neighbours within 1.5 kilometres of the site, saying it was scaling back the project accepting a total of 4,000 tonnes per day.

Lambton, says Cole, was left out of the loop, receiving the letter and the transportation plan, which maps out truck routes, third hand.

Cole writes the traffic study “proposes convoluted, indirect routes” to the site. He says the plan tries to avoid any added commercial traffic directly through Dresden “instead externalizing those traffic related impacts to neighbouring
municipalities, their roadway networks, and their associated communities.

“It is reasonable to expect similar concerns from communities of comparable size and nature, such as Wyoming, Petrolia and Oil Springs in Lambton and Glencoe and Wardsville in Middlesex County,” Cole wrote.

Cole pointed out to the director that he has “discretion to require additional notification and may require the proponent to hold public consultation as part of the application review process.

“Considering the high degree of public interest in the development of the subject site .. additional notification and public consultation events are warranted as part of these ECA applications,” Cole said, urging the director to
consider a full Environmental Assessment of the project.

That, he says, would “provide the opportunity to conduct necessary public outreach and municipal/First Nation consultation to adequately recognize, compile, and address the resulting impacts from the changes…

“This is particularly relevant due to the magnitude of potential waste and traffic volumes anticipated from the proposed amendment applications, as compared to historically observed nominal activity at the subject site.”

While York1 has publicly stated it is interested in an “open, public process” adding the plan will be posted on the Environmental Registry of Ontario for public comment, the province has already ruled out a full Environmental Assessment.