Nancy Willis
TRACADIE CROSS – Residents from this tiny community turned out over 300 strong Monday night to tell government to take its dump and shove it.
In a public meeting that made the Greenwich Dunes sessions of 11 years ago pale in comparison, provincial representatives, the Waste Management Commission, and the consulting firm MGI were met with cat calls, Bronx cheers and a well-researched rebuttal from community members who made it clear that they are a force to be reckoned with.
The citizens are furious that government disregarded its own recommendations on environmental, social and economic criteria, and went ahead and chose the Tracadie area for a waste-management site that will handle over two-thirds of the province’s landfill garbage.
Bill MacDonald, a member of the rapidly formed ad-hoc committee that is rallying the community on the issue, said that by choosing the Tracadie site, government has violated all of its own parameters.
He said the site sits on a groundwater recharge area which allows surface water to pool and percolate directly down through the soil to the groundwater below.
The soil is of a fine silt nature, rather than the thick relatively impermeable type called for, and the watertable in Tracadie is very shallow.
“All of these are in direct opposition to the Site Selection Report, and provide the worst-case scenario,” said MacDonald.
Residents laughed at claims that nearby homes, school, church, and seniors’ housing would not be affected. Janet Hodder, president of the local home and school association, said the proposed waste-management site was putting everyone, including children, at risk.
“We cannot suffer a project that could lead to contamination of our water, soil and air.”
She was joined by hundreds of other residents who shouted down the responses of some government representatives, and scoffed at claims that “they wouldn’t get the smell of what Wellington residents near the East Prince site say is unbearable.”
Speaking out were representatives of the shellfish industry, tourism operators, the Women’s Institute, and a multitude of individual residents.
Roger Townshend, director of the P.E.I. Mussel Growers, said his group opposes the site, which sits on top of a hill surrounded by streams leading directly to Tracadie Bay where 1 million pounds of mussels are grown each year.
“My home is also located nearby, and I feel like a victim of crime, and am shocked government could attempt to put a dump in our community with no resident input. And now we have to fight for our right to live in peace and purity of environment.”
Resident Mary Boyd quoted government’s report that said the site chosen in the study would only be accepted if residents approved.
“Well, the residents were never even consulted, and we don’t approve.”
She said there has never been a landfill site built that didn’t leak, and condemned the addition of ash from the provincial incinerator which is filled with toxic material.
“If that ash is allowed to go in, we are really in trouble,” Boyd said.
Citizens’ committee member Maurice Fitzpatrick revealed that Ontario resident Leonard MacKinnon, who owns the property on which the site is proposed to be erected, bought in under a strict non-development clause.
He compared the deviation allowed by cabinet in this case with the experience of the Greenwich Peninsula owners who were never allowed to develop their site because of environmental reasons.
Government representatives and their associates, including Environment Minister Mitch Murphy, responded openly to statements and questions as much as possible, however, the community members held the reins.
Mildred Dover, MLA for the Tracadie riding, said she voted for the site when it was first presented to cabinet, based on the knowledge there would be public meetings and an environmental assessment.
“Now that I know the clear feelings of my constituents, I will take that message to government,” Dover said.
Resident Brenda Bremner said: “We are only beginning to fight. We do not want this dump here.”
