Comments re: Proposed revisions to Guideline A-7: Air Pollution Control, Design and Operation Guidelines for Municipal Waste Thermal Treatment Facilities

As a grassroots environmental organization and registered charity, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper’s goal is to restore and protect this watershed's natural resources, while contributing to its aesthetic, social, recreational and economic values. In working towards this goal, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper has gained experience researching, compiling evidence, and litigating on issues related to the industrial burning of waste for fuel, or “thermal treatment”.

As a co-applicant in the recent case, Dawber v. Ontario (Ministry of the Environment),1 Lake Ontario Waterkeeper worked with a number of experts to gather and prepare evidence on the potential environmental effects of burning municipal waste in cement kilns. This experience puts Lake Ontario Waterkeeper in the unique position of being a grassroots organization, highly connected and responsive on a local level, with an extensive portfolio of expert evidence and thorough research on the effects and implications of burning waste as fuel. The following comments on the proposed changes to Guideline A-7 [“the Guideline”] draw on that research experience and expertise.

Read the full comments submitted by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper to the Ministry of the Environment here