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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAdmin 05-84lo.l a.iv CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE 40 TEMPERANCE STREET BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO L1C 3A6 -TELEPHONE 623-3379 REPORT TO THE GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE MEETING HELD JANUARY 3 1984 ADMIN. 84 - 5 SUBJECT: PORT GRANBY - A REVIEW AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS RECOMMENDATIONS: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1. That this report be received; 2. That a letter be sent to the Ontario Minister of the Environment, the Honourable Andy Brandt, urging him to publicly support the holding of hearings under the Federal Environmental Assessment Legislation and to urge his counterparts at the Federal level to support such hearings; 3. That similar letters be sent to the Federal Ministers of Energy and Env ironmentiln"d"' hgt s`uA1e'iters also urge the Federal Ministers to provide intervenor funding to both SEAP and the Port Granby Monitoring Committee if so requested; and 4. That a letter be sent to Eldorado Resources Ltd. requesting them to submit themselves to the hearing process under the Federal Environmental Assessment Legislation. The letter should also indicate that while the Town is prepared to make comments on all of the reports forwarded to the Town, the Corporation lacks personnel who are trained in the handling of nuclear wastes and as such would not be prepared to provide either lengthy or technical comments. The letter should also indicate the Town's desire to receive copies of all reports and correspondence concerning the site selection process. Finally, the letter should indicate that although Council is prepared to listen to representations made by Eldorado Resources Ltd., they prefer that any dialogue on this issue be with the Port.Granby Monitoring Committee which was established by Council for this purpose. -2- ADMIN. 84 - 5 BACKGROUND AND COMMENT: On October 17th 1983, Admin. Report 83 - 49 was presented to the General Purpose and Administration Committee. The report provided background on the meetings that had taken place of the Port Granby Monitoring Committee and the positions adopted by the various interest groups. This section of the report concluded with an October 3rd 1983 resolution which was put forward to Council "That the Port Granby Waste Management Facility Consultative Committee will reconvene to discuss decommissioning the Port Granby waste site as soon as we have confirmation in writing from Eldorado Resources Limited that the two Port Granby sites or any site in the Region of Durham had been removed from the list of sites being considered for a permanent waste disposal facility". The approach adopted by Council as a result of Admin. Report 83 - 49 was to urge Eldorado Resources Limited to approach the Federal Government with the support of the Town of Newcastle regarding the establishment of an independent body to conduct a minimum of a Province -wide search for a permanent disposal facility for low level radioactive wastes in a format similar to that being conducted by the Ontario Waste Management Corporation for a Liquid Waste Disposal Site. The position of the Port. Granby Waste Management Facility Consultative Committee is in essence not to meet with Eldorado Resources unless radical ,changes are made to the site selection process. This position has caught the attention of a number of government agencies. For the information of Councillors, I have attached a copy of a letter dated November 9th 1983 which was received by Council from the Honourable Andrew S. Brandt, the Ontario Minister of the Environment. I have also attached a letter from David Zussman, Special Policy Advisor, Office of the Federal Minister of Energy, the Honourable Jean Cretien. The letters urge reinstitution of dialogue with Eldorado. Council established the Port Granby Waste Management Facility Consultative Committee as a liaison body with Eldorado :Resources Limited. In an attempt to re-establish dialogue between Eldorado and the other members of the Consultative Committee, Dr. Ken Wagstaff, who has previously chaired the Consultative Committee, and who is employed by the Atomic Energy Control Board, convened a meeting on the evening of December 8th 1983. The meeting was with representatives of the Consultative Committee save and except the representatives of Eldorado Resources Limited. For the information ..3 ADMIN. 84 - 5 -3- of Councillors, I have attached a copy of the presentation which was made to those who attended. Members.of the Consultative Committee were freetoask questions as the presentation was being made. As a result a`number of interesting points were brought forward. Dr. Wagstaff indicated that the attempt by Eldorado Resources Limited to establish a permanent low-level nuclear waste disposal site is the first attempt in Canada. Concern was expressed by a number of the committee members, that if it were the first site established, there would be great pressure for Eldorado Resources Limited to accept nuclear wastes from other generators. Dr. Wagstaff indicated, however, that application was solely for Eldorado Resources Limited's wastes at this point in time. He did indicate upon further questioning, that if Eldorado Resources Limited wished to dump other wastes on the site that they would, as the nuclear regulating agency, have to take a look at the proposal. Concern was also expressed as to what type of hearings would be held with respect to the application. While there was an acknowledgement that there would be an opportunity for an environmental hearing, no one at this point in time has identified what process is to be followed and how extensive these hearings will be. It was evident from the comments made at the meeting, that there is a great deal of frustration on both sides with the positions of each interest group. I� 0 Prior to the December 8th 1983 meeting, correspondence was also received from Eldorado Resources Limited responding to the earlier staff report and enclosing a copy of a consultant's report with respect to the options for the disposal of wastes. The letter and report were referred to staff to prepare a report. I have attached a copy of the Eldorado November letter. I do not feel that our staff time is well spent reviewing and writing detailed responses to highly complicated reports with respect to nuclear wastes when we do not have the expertise on staff to make meaningful and complete comments. I would suggest that it would be more beneficial to receive the reports and make general comments, if any. Some of the comments made by Eldorado Resources Limited in their letter cannot go unchallenged. Most specifically, there are inaccurate statements on Page 2 of Mr. Daker's letter: The letter suggests that the Ontario Waste Management Committee did not carry out a Province -wide search but instead chose to restrict their efforts to the Golden Horseshoe, excluding, for example, the Town of Newcastle. n ADMIN. 84 - 5 This statement is incorrect. The Ontario Waste Management Corporation did in fact, survey all of Southern Ontario from Sarnia to the Quebec border, as far north as I believe, North Bay. A report was produced which identified prime areas in the Sarnia and Golden Horseshoe areas as well as a small pocket of land east of Ottawa. The Town of Newcastle was included in this review. At the end of Mr. Daker's letter, he suggested that they would be happy to meet with Council or their representatives to review the proposed work for 1984, or further information on work carried out to date. Based on earlier comments, it would seem appropriate for the meeting to take place with the Consultative Committee rather than with Council. The Consultative Committee has not, to my knowledge, formally taken a position with respect to Dr. Wagstaff's representation at the December 8th meeting. It is my understanding that the representatives on the Consultative Committee wish to meet with interested citizens prior to responding to Dr. Wagstaff's request to re-establish meetings of the Consultative Committee. DSJ:nof att. Respectfully submitted, A� David S. Johnston, M.C.I.P., Chief Administrative Officer