Pontiac Citizenry Demonstrates Strength in Numbers as EFW Project Quashed

It’s being termed a triumph for local democracy by opponents of the MRC Pontiac’s Energy-From-Waste (EFW) proposal.

At a meeting of the Mayors Council for the Region Wednesday (May 15th), the municipal body voted to quash plans for a 400 thousand tonne incineration facility and abide by strict terms to make sure it stays dead.

Judith Spence is spokesperson for the citizens’ group that spearheaded the opposition.

The motion, appended below, ties the MRC’s hands as far as spending any further local money on the initiative and would prohibit it from applying for or committing any grant money to a similar plan.

Spence says their demonstrated opposition left no doubt in the minds of local elected officials.

She believes the intervention has preserved much about what is cherished in the MRC Pontiac.

Pontiac Warden Jane Toller says the initial business plan undertaken gave the EFW concept a thumbs-up.

Judith Spence says that as demonstrated opposition grew at citizen-convened meetings and at the five open houses hosted by the MRC, the individual municipalities fell like dominoes.

Warden Toller confirms the result.

There is some disagreement on the second bullet of Emile Morin’s text regarding “zero waste”

The motion’s text reads, “That the MRC Pontiac’s Waste Management Committee and the MRC staff responsible for waste management invest all of their efforts into the preparation of a Zero Waste Policy for the MRC Pontiac.”

That’s a battle, perhaps, for another day.

By Rick Stow