MoE Environmental Registry Instrument Appeal Notice of Appeal

From MoE Environmental Registry Instrument Appeal Notice of Appeal, mirrored 16 April 2012

Instrument Appeal Notice of Appeal: EBR Registry Number: 011-3923
Instrument Type: Approval for a renewable energy project – EPA s.47.3(1)
Instrument Holder: Woolwich Bio-En Inc.
Instrument Issued by: Ministry of the Environment

Ministry Reference Number:
6970-8E5ME7
Loaded by:
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
Date Proposal loaded to the Registry:
June 22, 2011
Date Decision loaded to the Registry:
March 26, 2012
Date Notice of Appeal received:
April 11, 2012
Date Notice of Appeal loaded to Registry:
April 16, 2012

The Leave to Appeal Provisions indicated in the section titled “Leave to Appeal Provisions” at the end of this posting do not apply to Renewable Energy Approvals issued under 47.5 of the EPA. Please refer to NOTE: Regarding Third Party Hearing Provisions in the section titled “Decision on Instrument” instead.

Keyword(s): Air | Electricity

Application for Appeal Initiated by:

Applicant Name:

Michael Purves-Smith, Dr. Dan Holt, Vivienne Delaney, Bob Jonkman, Sebastian Siebel-Achenbach, Derek Potma
Decision under Appeal:

The Appellants are appealing the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) decision to issue a renewable energy approval (REA) to Woolwich Bio-En for a Class 3 anaerobic digestion facility in Elmira, Woolwich Township, known as the Woolwich Bio-En Anaerobic Digestion Facility. The REA, issued under Part V.0.1 of the Environmental Protection Act and O. Reg. 359/09, is for the construction, installation, operation, use and retiring of an aerobic digestion facility, with a total name plate capacity of 6.21 megawatts (MW).
Grounds for Appeal:

The Appellants are appealing the REA on the following grounds:

1. The significant truck traffic associated with the operation of the proposed facility will be travelling into the central traffic corridor of the Town of Elmira, and will cause serious harm to the health of residents living and working along that corridor.

2. The taking of 50,000 litres of water daily will require the rezoning of the affected parcels of land from dry to wet and the construction of public water mains. The rezoning will facilitate the development of ancillary industry with associated truck traffic, thereby exacerbating the harm to public health.

3. The provisions related to truck movements on the facility only relate to on-site noise control and do not adequately address off-site health concerns associated with the truck traffic.

4. The acoustic audit will be carried out on-site and does not take into account the higher off-site noise from the truck traffic.

5. Residents along the traffic corridor will be stressed by trucks travelling to and from the facility before and after the facility’s hours of operation.

6. No provisions in the REA ensure the sanitary condition of incoming truck traffic, and will over time lead to many instances of stress affecting health.

7. The facility is not required to monitor and record the number of on-site truck movements in its record of activities undertaken at the facility. This undermines the provision restricting the number of trucks entering and exiting the facility and harms the public.

8. Schedule B “Noise Control Measures” does not address noise from off-site truck traffic, which is the type of noise that poses the greatest harm to residents.

9. The conditions related to the facility’s requirement to gather accurate information on odour and noise do not adequately address the full compliance of the EPA, O. Reg. 359/09.

10. The facility is permitted to operate during all holidays, and the lack of respite from truck traffic is a significant health risk to nearby residents.

11. The condition related to nuisance impact control and housekeeping does not include most off-site impact controls, therefore serious health risks to the public are ignored.

12. The condition related to record keeping and retention lacks a provision to monitor truck movements, which is a serious flaw that will hamper residents from monitoring this activity and seeking redress for violations.

13. The approval was issued without taking into account concerns expressed about the health impacts to those in the traffic corridor. The additional heavy truck traffic is dangerous to health because of the increased risk of collisions, the types of vehicles that use this corridor, the narrowness and crowdedness of the corridor, high levels of diesel fumes and dust emissions emitted by the trucks, and the stress resulting from a deterioration of the quality of life due to added truck traffic.

The Appellants are requesting that the Environmental Review Tribunal postpone the construction of the facility until means are found to divert truck traffic associated with the facility away from the downtown and residential corridors. In the alternative the appellants would accept the relocation of the facility to a more appropriate location, or the revocation of the REA. The appellants are not seeking a stay of the decision.

For Information on hearing dates and locations, please contact:

Appellate Body:

Secretary
Environmental Review Tribunal
655 Bay Street
Floor 15
Toronto
M5G 1E5
Phone: (416) 212-6349
Fax: (416) 314-4506

or

Environmental Commissioner of Ontario:

Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
1075 Bay Street
Suite 605
Toronto Ontario
M5S 2B1
Phone: (416) 325-3377
Toll Free Phone: (800) 701-6454

As the application is considered, this information will be updated by the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario.

For Information on hearing dates and locations, please contact:

Appellate Body:

Secretary
Environmental Review Tribunal
655 Bay Street
Floor 15
Toronto
M5G 1E5
Phone: (416) 212-6349
Fax: (416) 314-4506
or

Environmental Commissioner of Ontario:

Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
1075 Bay Street
Suite 605
Toronto Ontario
M5S 2B1
Phone: (416) 325-3377
Toll Free Phone: (800) 701-6454
Location(s) Related to this Instrument:

40 Martin’s Lane
Lot 18 and 89, Part 9, Ref. Plan 58R-14363, Elmira

Township of Woolwich
Regional Municipality of Waterloo

TOWNSHIP OF WOOLWICH
Additional Information:

The documents linked below are provided for the purposes of enhancing public consultation.
All links will open in a new window
1. Renewable Energy Approval No. 6428-8LGLB
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