Public consultation on cleanup plan
On November 12, 2004, Environment Minister Leona Dombrowsky announced a 60-day public consultation on the Draft Cleanup Plan for the Deloro Mine Site Cleanup Project.
Information was hand-delivered to the residents of the Village of Deloro, and mailed directly to more than 1,000 people along the Moira River to Tweed. Information was also mailed to a number of environmental non-governmental organizations.
All materials including the full technical report for the draft cleanup plan were posted to the Deloro Web page on the ministry’s website.
The technical reports used in the development of the draft cleanup plan, were available for viewing at:
- ministry offices in Kingston, Belleville and Peterborough;
- the Deloro Village Library;
- the Municipality of Marmora and Lake;
- the Municipality of Centre Hastings;
- Quinte Conservation Authority office;
- the Ontario Clean Water Agency, Deloro office;
- the ministry’s Environmental Assessment and Approvals Branch, Toronto;
- the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Sudbury; and
- the Ontario Legislative Library, Toronto.
An information notice was also posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry.
Public information sessions were held the afternoon and evening of November 23 at the Deloro Community Centre. A total of 23 people attended the public information sessions. The ministry recorded comments and questions from participants attending the public information sessions.
The ministry also offered an optional half-day workshop (contingent on sufficient public interest) to help explain the draft cleanup plan and to field comments and questions. Due to a lack of interest, the workshop was not held.
Within the 60-day consultation period a total of 15 people provided written comments on the ministry’s draft cleanup plan. The ministry reviewed all comments and produced a summary document outlining how all comments were considered. The summary of comments was provided to all those who submitted written comments. It was also provided to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission as part of the requirements of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
Within the body of written and verbal comments, there were none to suggest the need for a substantive change in the proposed cleanup strategy. Many comments and questions could be addressed through a more detailed explanation about the cleanup plan. Some comments were particularly useful in drawing the ministry’s attention to key concerns of residents, local municipalities and others. The ministry has addressed those comments by enhancing certain features of the cleanup plan.
