Adams Mine landfill could be operational in 18 months

Gord McGuinty says it will take 18 months to transform the Adams Mine into a landfill, assuming he can get the proper paperwork in place by early next year.

McGuinty, president of Adams Mine Rail Haul, recently applied to the Ontario Environment Ministry for a permit to pump water out of the abandoned pit, to prepare it for construction.

A previous permit granted by the ministry has since expired, necessitating the need for a new one.

But the application will first have to be approved by a government director, under the Ontario Water Resources Act.

The request has also been posted on the Environmental Registry, and is open to a 45-day public consultation.

“That’s something that didn’t have to be done,” said Environment Ministry spokesman John Steele, “but the director decided to post it because of the controversial nature of the proponent.

Impact on the environment
McGuinty’s application involves taking 26,000,000 litres per day out of the mine during the de-watering phase, up to one year in duration, and 8,650,000 litres per day during the water level maintenance phase, also up to one year in duration.

The water would then be slowly discharged into the Misema River, through Moosehead Creek.

Steele said the application would be assessed from a technical viewpoint as well as its possible impact on the environment.

But McGuinty is confident the permit will be granted.
“All we’re doing is taking the water from this pit and putting it in a river six kilometres away and we’ve done all the necessary due diligence to prove there’s no environmental impact,” McGuinty said.

“The key thing is that the water in the pit is cleaner than the river. So what’s to stop us from getting it? Politics? Well see.”

Issued promptly
Steele said the decision will not be political, since the environment minister is not permitted to intercede in the process.

A Jan 15, ’02 letter from the MOE to McGuinty, obtained by baytoday.ca, states a second permit would be issued “promptly,” providing the details “of this taking and the uses being made of the local environment remained unchanged from your original submission.”

If things go according to plan, McGuinty said, he anticipates the landfill opening in the fall of 2005.

The Adams Rail Haul project proposes to bring Toronto garbage up to the mine by train for disposal.

McGuinty has already received a provincial certificate of approval allowing him to dump no more than 20 to 23 million tonnes of waste into the landfill over its 20-year lifespan.

In a related note, Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay, a long-time opponent of the Adams Mine project, said he'd resign from cabinet if the landfill goes ahead.