Dear Ms. Hustler:

This is in response to your email of September 24, 2003 where you ask for clarification on the Townships position on the possible appeal of the Divisional Court Decision for the Richmond Landfill Expansion ToR. Council has directed me to respond on behalf of the Township.

The Township is not in a position to provide a detailed rationale with respect to the position it will be taking on the Court action, should it appeal proceed, at this time. If the Court of Appeal decides that Leave should be granted, the Township will be required to provide documents outlining the position it will be taking before the Courts, which will be publicly available.

We can confirm that the Townships position before the Court of Appeal in this matter will be consistent with the position it has taken throughout the environmental assessment process. To assist you in understanding the Townships position to date, I am summarizing below the submissions that Council has made to CWS, the Minister of the Environment, and the public with respect to the adequacy of the environmental assessment process and the ToR at various stages in the environmental assessment process.

• As indicated in its resolution with respect to this matter, the Township has an interest in the subject matter of the appeal and could be adversely affected by a judgment of the Court of Appeal with respect to the Richmond landfill ToR. The Richmond ToR is virtually identical to the ToR for the proposed Warwick landfill expansion.

• In the Townships submissions to the Minister of the Environment on the ToR for the proposed Warwick landfill expansion in September 1999, the Township raised fundamental concerns about the proposed ToR submitted for approval by CWS at that time. The Township listed fourteen recommendations for changes to the ToR that were essentially ignored by the Minster of the Environment in approving the ToR.

• In his letter accompanying the approval of the ToR, the Minister attempted to address some of the issues and provide some guidance to CWS; however, no changes were made to the ToR as submitted by CWS.

• The Township has now actively participated in the environmental assessment process in six stages of the proposed nine stage environmental assessment process for the Warwick landfill expansion. The Township has co-ordinated a technical and planning review by an expert peer review team. Throughout the process the peer review team has continually identified fundamental concerns that have not been addressed by CWS. These concerns were not restricted to issues of compliance with the ToR as approved. A number of concerns relating to the fundamental purpose and principles of the Environmental Assessment Act. Some of these concerns can be linked to flaws in the ToR first identified in the Townships September 1999 submissions.

• The Township has written, through its legal council, on two separate occasions directly to CWS highlighting the concerns raised by the peer review team and requesting that CWS address the deficiencies. The first letter, dated July 11, 2002, identified fundamental deficiencies in the progress of the environmental assessment and requested that CWS take a pause in the process to reconsider its approach. The second letter, dated May 22, 2003, was accompanied by a Status Report prepared by the peer review team. The Status Report concluded that the vast majority of the specific recommendations for changes to the environmental assessment proposed by the peer review team have not been addressed by CWS to this stage in the process. Again, the Township requested that CWS reconsider its approach.

As noted above, the Court of Appeal has not yet released its decision on whether or not Leave to Appeal will be granted to CWS and the Ontario Ministry of the Environmental with respect to the Richmond landfill environmental assessment. It is premature at this time to provide further information on the Townships involvement in the appeal process. If the appeal proceeds the Township will be required to bring an application to the Courts to obtain party status. At that time, the Township will be submitting to the Court detailed materials outlining the position that it will be taking before the Court. This material will be publicly available.

Should the appeal proceed, the Townships involvement in the Court application will be consistent with the position it has taken throughout the process with respect to this matter.

Yours truly,

Peter Pickfield

*bt

cc: Mr. Don Bruder, CAO, Township of Warwick

Mr. Kevin Bechard and Dr. Cal Bricker, CWS

Mr. Steve Morris, Chair, EASG