May 13, 2008

Current state of affairs

Last week, I talked to an employee from the Ministry of the Environment who has visited this site in the past and knows some of its history. He told me he thought the leachate area was iron staining from groundwater seepage, but two associates that have visited the site with be believe it is leachate from the landfill. I called him back and asked for old monitoring records, which he said he could probably locate for me.

Today (May 13) I sent a letter and photos to the Ministry of the Environment and copied the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. This outlined my concerns, why I think there is an issue with leaching at the site and I included 3 pictures I took in April. The same day, I received a response from the MOE person I have been in discussion with saying this is something he:
- hasn't seen this at the site at this location before
- will definitely follow up on it
- will be contacting the owner of the property
- will keep me up to date on what happens

So I will wait and see, and call him back in a week to see if he has
a) established contact with the landowner, and
b) found the old monitoring records I requested