On the evening of June 5, the Council of Canadians Ottawa chapter participated in a ‘Dump the Dump’ rally against the proposed Taggart Miller landfill in Carlsbad Springs, which is located about 27 kilometres south-east of Parliament Hill.
In November 2010, CBC reported, “Taggart Miller Environmental Services, an Ottawa-based company, hopes to process about half of the 25,000 truckloads of commercial and industrial waste a year that are currently transported to upstate New York.”
That same month, the ‘Dump The Dump Now’ campaign against the dump was launched by concerned citizens.
In late-February 2013, open houses were held as part of the environmental assessment study for the landfill. The Council of Canadians helped promote community participation at these two meetings. In an e-mail sent to all Ottawa-area members of the Council of Canadians, Ontario-Quebec organizer Mark Calzavara wrote, “New proposals by Taggart Miller for industrial waste dumps in Carlsbad Springs, Russell and Embrun are quietly moving forward despite the best efforts of local communities to expose these dumps as being unnecessary, unsafe and unwanted. Imagine having a dump spring up beside where you live—hundreds of heavy trucks driving past per day, dust, noise, odours, and since all dumps eventually leak—groundwater contamination. Properties in the vicinity of these projects often lose a significant amount of their value with no compensation. You can make a difference and help protect our precious water sources from Taggart Miller’s dump proposals. Please visit www.dumpthedumpnow.ca and www.dumpthisdump2.ca and consider attending the meetings (in Carlsbad and Russell) to show your solidarity and support for these communities.”
By early-March, Taggart Miller had indicated it had opted for the Carlsbad Springs site.
The Council of Canadians supports the rights of communities to reject proposals that endanger their groundwater.
For more, please read:
UPDATE: Calzavara supports community opposition to proposed dump at Carlsbad Springs
NEWS: Water concerns drive opposition to proposed landfill near Ottawa
Don’t Gamble with the Water
NEWS: Russell residents oppose landfills that threaten groundwater
