Hamilton to seek veto over landfill applications amid odour issue in Stoney Creek

Hamilton, Ont. politicians will be asking the province to seek out municipal support when considering applications for landfill expansions.

City councillors passed the motion Wednesday amid ongoing complaints from Upper Stoney Creek residents fed up with terrible odours wafting through their neighbourhood for months.

The decision comes days after a dozen residents braved the rain Friday to demonstrate out front of the GFL facility on Green Mountain Road seeking closure of the facility through an awareness campaign.

Coun. Brad Clark characterized the issue with the industrial landfill as a “conundrum” despite public health revealing no hazards after air quality testing from Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks (MECP).

Clark’s motion seeks veto power over private applications deeming them “dead in the water”  if they don’t meet municipal standards.

“When I review the act and in conversations with the Ministry of Environment, there is nothing that the minister can do to say, ‘Yep, that was your last application,’ without a change to legislation,” he explained.

Mayor Andrea Horvath says she’s been in touch with the MECP and will do what she can for a problem that primarily falls under provincial jurisdiction.

“I’ve certainly been in touch many times with the minister of environment, she has been very responsive, but we still continue to have unresolved challenges,” Horwath said.

“So we’re going to continue to do that advocacy work.”

Ontario’s Environmental Assessment Act already requires municipal support of any new private landfills but is silent on the expansion of existing facilities.

Hamilton’s medical officer of health insisted last week there is “no public health hazards” connected with hydrogen sulphide detected in the air around the Green Mountain Road facility.

Air quality measurements, taken by the Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks (MECP), revealed “no violations” but conceded in a report that odours from the gas have been known to “cause stress” and affect one’s “quality of life.”

In an update Thursday, medical officer Dr. Elizabeth Richardson revealed that public health is exploring options to provide independent, third-party air monitoring in the area.