Regional Councillor Report

Submitted by: Colleen Jordan, Regional Councillor Wards 3 & 4

Date: January 28, 2007

Regional Council - January 23, 2008

Report of the Health and Social Services Committee - Jan. 23, 2008

Recommendation to Council on the Environmental Assessment Study - Proposed Energy from Waste Facility

That Council defer adoption of the Project Team’s recommended site until a preferred technology and vendor have been selected, a sensitivity analysis in relationship to the site selection and a specific human health and ecological risk assessment has been carried out;

That site selection be delayed until a business case for the EFW facility clearly showing the potential financial impact on the Region’s taxpayers and incorporating appropriate costs for the Host Community Agreement is provided;

That a decision be made on where the bottom ash will be landfilled and health effects;

That detailed information as to amounts and composition of waste be provided; and

That the Works Department be requested to review possible alternatives to an EFW facility for dealing with residual waste and present their report to a Joint Works and Health and Social Services Committee meeting.

The above mentioned motion had been endorsed by the Health and Social Services Committee on January 10, 2008 based on comments from the Clarington staff and peer reviewers report citing their concerns with the environmental assessment leading to the determination that the Clarington site was the preferred site for the energy from waste facility. Some of the concerns of the peer reviewers were that the analysis was qualatative and therefore not traceable, weightings were not provided for the criteria and that public safety, health and environmental factors were not given separate status. Given these flaws in the analysis, the peer reviewers recommended that two geographically separated sites be carried forward and be analyzed once the technolgy is known. The consultants also raised concerns regarding the financial analysis and the need for a formal business case.

This motion was ruled out of order by the Regional Chairman at Regional Council and therefore not allowed to be debated at the Regional Council meeting.

The motion from Works Committee naming Clarington 01 as the preferred location of the Durham/York EFW facility was endorsed with the following amendments;

That the Regions of York and Durham are requested to agree to protect the health and safety of the residents of Clarington and Durham by incorporating into the design and installation of the EFW facility the most modern and state of the art emission control technologies that meet or exceed the European Union monitoring and measurement standards and,

That the Regions of Durham and York commit to including in the Request For Proposals and Certificate of Approval maximum achievable control technology for the emission standards and monitoring that the EFW will meet; and

That the Regions of York and Durham agree to continue to support aggressive residual waste diversion and recycling programs in order to achieve and exceed on or before December 2010 a 70% diversion recycling rate for the entire Region and such aggressive programs shall continue beyond 2010.