Expansion of Geraldton Waste Disposal Site

Municipality of Greenstone

December 4, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

RE: COMPLETION OF DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL SCREENING REPORT

EXPANSION OF GERALDTON WASTE DISPOSAL SITE

As previously advised, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) has informed the Municipality of Greenstone that the Geraldton Waste Disposal Site (Geraldton WDS) is not in compliance with the existing Certificate of Approval (C of A). In order to bring the site into compliance, the Municipality engaged the services of Trow Associates Inc. to undertake the Environmental Screening Process and prepare an Environmental Screening Report, in accordance with O. Reg. 101/07. Although the site currently occupies a footprint that is essentially in accordance with a Land Use Permit (LUP) issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), it has been operating out of compliance with the C of A for some 15 years. This situation arose because an application to increase the area of the site to correspond with the area authorized by a revision to the LUP in 1977 was never submitted to MOE. Subsequently, regulations were revised to require completion of an environmental assessment (EA) prior to obtaining approval for a site expansion. The Municipality was advised by the MOE in 1993 that an EA would be needed to utilize the additional disposal area authorized by the revised LUP. However, due to an oversight, the additional lands began to be used for waste disposal without the required EA and C of A revision.

The purpose of this notice is to advise potentially interested or concerned parties that the draft Environmental Screening Report (ESR) has been completed and is available for review on the Municipality’s website (www.greenstone.ca). A hard copy of the report may be viewed at the municipal offices in Geraldton, and will be sent to interested parties upon request. Upon completion of the review period for the draft ESR (February 1, 2010), the final ESR will be prepared and a Notice of Completion will be published, inviting additional public review and comment for a 60 day period. The final report will contain detailed information on all public and government agency consultation, and consultation with Aboriginal communities. It will also contain the results of any additional mitigation and impact management measures undertaken as a result of issues that may have been identified during the consultation and review process. The ESR will be part of the supporting documentation for the Municipality of Greenstone’s application to amend the C of A. Note that the amended C of A would only allow the current site to operate for approximately four more years, at the end of which time the site would be permanently closed. The process of locating and approving a new site will be the subject of a separate undertaking.