Thursday, August 27, 2009

Site 41 Dead for a year and maybe forever

Tuesday August 25 was a long day for those fighting the insanity of Dump Site 41. It started with the County trying to confuse, mislead and delay the answers requested by the many well informed opponents of site 41. The Information Session at 9:00 a.m. was to be another charade but a forceful crowd inside the meeting hall at the Simcoe County Museum would have none of it. The chair they hired to run the meeting lost control in about 15 minutes and it reverted to a question and answer sessions as it should have been anyway. A number of county councillors were present and I think they were overwhelmed by the attendance of 500 people, and how well the individuals were informed allowing them to sober up on the Site 41 issue.
The Council meeting started at 11:00 a.m. with a closed session. Closed sessions normally take 30 to 60 minutes, but this one took about 150 minutes. I am not sure if they were hoping the people would get tired and go away or was the Warden trying to twist the arms of those opposed to Site 41 to change their minds about a moratorium.
When we were finally allowed to enter the open session, we became aware of how badly Site 41 has been managed. Councillors appeared to be unaware of many opportunities to dispose of the garbage intended for Site 41 with neighboring Counties that have moved to leading edge incineration technology. The council did one thing that was prudent and appropriate. They passed a motion to cease litigation for damages against those threatened with a suit for construction delay damages. It was also interesting that council passed a motion to ratify the actions taken by the CAO regarding the injunction. It simply proves what many have said. The protest injunction was initiated by a very small group and not by the council. We know who they were.
Our Warden when it came to the moratorium issue, did everything in his power to cajole, intimidate, brow beat, condescend the other councillors. At first it appeared he was trying to avoid the moratorium vote or possibly have it voted down. Like our Springwater Township Councillors have finally realized, the County Councillors have discovered their leader lacks credibility and his vision/agenda cannot be trusted or followed. Much to every one's delight the one year moratorium was passed and the site shut down as of today. It appears that there may be a motion at the next County meeting to stop the project completely which would be the right thing to do.
Now you talk about a Jekyll and Hyde. I just watched A News and the Warden now says that Site 41 should be abandoned completely because of the sensitive environmental concerns. That means one of two things. Either he slipped and fell and bumped his head leaving the county building and has rejoined reality after a three year absence or he would like the Site 41 issue to disappear before the next election. If the one year Moratorium holds, Site 41 will definitely be an election issue. Please be reminded what our Mayor said when he was running for the election. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/HealerG#play/all/uploads-all/1/J8oAXNzl0WY.
All those that have been arrested and stuck by their beliefs need to be congratulated. Without their pain and suffering, yesterday would have been quite different.
We need to stay on this issue until the site is permanently closed. Being a skeptic and spending too much time observing the political process, it would not be beyond the realm of possibility that the County in a secretive way will attempt to have the Provincial Government order the completion of the Dump and then say they had no control.
Keep informed by reading Springwater News http://www.springwaternews.ca/