The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) has joined others who have raised concerns about GEPR Energy Canada (GE)’s application to Ontario’s Ministry of the Environmental, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to renew an Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) to emit noise and trichloroethylene (TCE) from a Groundwater Extraction and Treatment System running 24/7 107 Park St. North, Peterborough.
CELA notes:
“There is significant public concern about the GE Site due to persisting historical contamination, GE’s intention to demolish most of the buildings at the Site, and the adjacent Prince of Wales Public School. CELA is extremely concerned that important information relating to this application to renew the ECA, which will govern air and noise emissions at the site now and after the demolition, was not provided to the public through the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) posting or through the requests of CELA.
“CELA therefore requests that the MECP extend the time for public comment until 45 days after unredacted documents are provided to the public and posted on the ERO website, along with a draft of the proposed ECA.
“In any event, CELA is of the view that it is not appropriate for GE to be seeking a renewal of its ECA for air and noise emissions at this time. Instead, GE should apply for a new ECA once the demolition has been completed. The conditions at the Site will be significantly different after the proposed demolition. The MECP should, therefore, assess the conditions at the Site after the demolition has been completed and then determine the appropriate terms and conditions to be included in the ECA.”
The full text is available on CELA’s website.
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