Key Issues
  there will be adverse environmental impacts on local water sources; surface water will receive 83 billion litres of toxic landfill leachate over the life of the project, and groundwater is at risk due to leachate escape
  the provincial environmental assessment was restricted to one technical question concerning the engineering design, and the hearing panel failed to reach a decision; a conditional approval resulted, but the conditions have not been met; a federal environmental assessment has not yet been done, despite transboundary impacts and aboriginal interests
  there is massive local opposition from the farm, business, mining, First Nation and environmental communities and a large majority of local municipalities; the provincial and federal members of parliament are opposed

Background
Project Location
The Adams Mine is an abandoned iron ore mine in Timiskaming District of northern Ontario. Located approximately 600 kilometres north of Toronto and just 20 kilometres west of the Ontario-Quebec border, the Adams Mine is located immediately south of the height of land dividing the Arctic and Great Lakes watershed, and is in the headwaters of  the Lake Timiskaming/Ottawa River watershed.

Jurisdiction
The site is in the unorganized township of Boston and is therefore outside the jurisdiction of any of the local municipal governments.

First Nations Interests
The site lies within the traditional territory of the Algonqins of Timsikaming, who hold aboriginal title. Chief Carol McBride of the Algonquin Secretariat has requested a federal environmental assessment. They have repeatedly registered their opposition to the project with the City of Toronto, who are the prospective users of the landfill. The Timiskaming First Nations legal interests have not been considered or accommodated to date.

Surface Water Impacts
The project proposal states that 312 million litres of landfill leachate (the polluted effluent which is created when water goes through garbage in a landfill) will be generated annually, and will be minimally treated and then released into an artificial wetland which drains into the nearby Misema River. The contaminant plume will move down the Blanche River into Lake Timiskaming, which drains into the Ottawa River. The leachate will contain several thousand different contaminants, many of which are harmful for a thousand years or longer.

Groundwater Impacts
The pit is a very large and deep open pit mine, located in a rock formation which is naturally fractured and fissured; the site has been further fractured by 25 years of blasting. Experts have identified variable and fractured rock structures below and beside the pit, and have stated that the leachate may move through the pit walls into the surrounding groundwater, which is the regional drinking water supply.

Economic Impacts
The agricultural community south of the mine site, the economic backbone of the Timiskaming District, is reliant on clean water supplies for their dairy and beef operations. The agricultural sector is a $40 million per year industry, and is an important player in the district's economy. A commercial fishery on Lake Timiskaming and the growing tourism industry will also be adversely impacted. Lost opportunities include a mineral development immediately adjacent to the mine site, and an aquaculture operation proposed for the mine site itself.

Local Opposition
Since the project was first announced in 1989, there has been massive and consistent local opposition. Polls done in 1995 showed opposition in Boston Township, where the Adams Mine is located, to be at 95%. Chamberlain Township was 92% opposed; Dack Township was 94% opposed, and so on. In February 2000, Timiskaming MPP David Ramsay released the results of a professional poll conducted by Oracle Research of attitudes in the surrounding district towards the Adams Mine proposal. 85% expressed concern about harm to surface and groundwater, and two-thirds were opposed to the project proceeding. More recently, a series of rallies and protests has been held in the area, including actions which closed the rail and highway in May, June and July 2000. An estimated 4,000 letters of opposition have been sent to the City of Toronto.

The "Willing Host" Agreement
Three municipalities , Kirkland Lake, Englehart and Larder Lake, signed what has been referred to as a "willing host agreement" in 1990, which committed them to providing political support for the project in exchange for $1 per tonne of garbage shipped to the Adams Mine, should the project proceed. As part of the agreement, the signing municipalities were not allowed to oppose any applications related to the project. However, the Adams Mine is outside their municipal boundaries. They have no jurisdiction over the site and do not represent the people who live near the site or downstream of the proposed dump. The Timiskaming Municipal Association, which represents the 26 municipalities in the district, passed a resolution opposed to the proposed landfill. Only the three signing municipalities voted against the resolution.

Provincial Environmental Assessment
 In 1998 the provincial Minister of the Environment ordered that the environmental assessment hearing be restricted to one technical question about the engineering design and whether it would work to keep leachate from escaping out the pit walls. All other environmental and social issues were ruled out of order. The Minister also imposed a deadline requiring that the hearing  be completed in just 15 days. The hearing concluded with a split decision from the  3 person panel; one member concluded that the project was not safe, while the other 2 members concluded that they did not have enough information to determine whether it was safe or not. More test drills were ordered, and the results supported earlier information that indicated the engineered design could not be relied upon to contain the leachate. Regardless, an approval was issued.

Need and Alternatives
At present, there is in excess of 100 million tonnes of existing and approved landfill capacity in southern Ontario, with additional capacity available in Michigan. In response to the City of Toronto's request for proposals for solid waste disposal capacity in 1999. Five proposals were submitted, 4 of them for already operating landfills, all in closer proximity to Toronto, and all offering short term flexible contracts which would best position the City of Toronto to implement an aggressive waste diversion program.

The City of Toronto, in combination with its Greater Toronto Area partners of the regions of Peel, York and Durham, is forecasting 1.3 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually for the next twenty years. At present, the City of Toronto is achieving only 26% in waste diversion, in contrast to the 80% which Metro Toronto's 1995 consultants studies identified as certainly achievable, or the 85% that a proposal for wet/dry waste separation which is currently under consideration by the City of Toronto could acheive. The City of Edmonton's recently launched waste management program will achieve 70% diversion; the City of Halifax is expected to achieve 85%. Already, just one year into their program, the City of Halifax is achieving 61% diversion.
 
 

August 16, 2000