NEW secret governor's letter to save Adams Mine

State of Michigan steps in again to save Harris' garbage plan

By Charlie Angus

TORONTO: A secret letter from the Michigan governor's office may be all that's needed to keep the plan to put Toronto's garbage in the abandoned Adams Mine near Kirkland Lake from its date with oblivion. Straight Goods has obtained a copy of a letter written by Russell J. Harding, Director of Environment Quality for the State of Michigan. The letter, dated March 1, calls upon Federal Environment Minister David Anderson to intervene in Toronto's contract garbage contract with Republic Services of Michigan. If Anderson complies, the only competing bid to the controversial Adams Mine proposal will be likely forced off the table.
  Speculation is afoot that the letter was to be kept secret until the eve of a crucial meeting in York region slated for this week. With York set to drop the Adams Mine option, a border scare with Michigan, may give the suburban region second thoughts.
  York and Durham region have been strong boosters of the controversial dump site in Northern Ontario, but since Toronto has dropped out of the picture, Gordon McGuinty has been unable to fulfill his side of the bargain.
 

"The timing of this letter is just too perfect to be coincidental." - Terry Graves, Against the Adams Mine Coalition

  Unlike conventional landfills, the Adams Mine plan depends on a massive pumping system needed to deal with the over 300 million litres of groundwater that would flow through the fractured pit walls yearly. Without the massive tonnages from Toronto, the design is simply too expensive to implement.
  Unless Toronto can be persuaded (or compelled) to come back to the table, York and Durham will have to jump ship. With York expected to cut itself lose from the North Bay consortium, Mr. McGuinty was needing a major rabbit to pull out of the hat in order to keep his investment from going down the drain.
  The rabbit in this case will likely be the letter from the governor's office. It's not the first time the Governor has come to the aid of the troubled project. On February 7th, a letter from Governor John Engler asked Toronto City Council to reconsider the Adams Mine (see www.straightgoods.com/Angus/010226.shtml). The letter just happened to appear on the very day its boosters were appearing on behalf of Adams Mine at a crucial Works Committee meeting in Toronto.
  The timing of the February 7th letter raised immediate suspicion in the media about whether the letter was coached by Engler's good friend Premier Mike Harris.
  The Premier's office immediately denied any links to it but this position was contradicted by Engler's own staff, who admitted the Premier's people had been very helpful in providing them information about the political situation in Toronto.
  The Premier has long been a loud supporter of the North Bay consortium and has close ties with many of the investors.
  The Premier counts dump promoter Gordon McGuinty as "a very good friend," and the Premier's campaign manager Barb Minogue, is known to have a financial stake in the dump.

Preventing ship-jumping
  Terry Graves of the Against the Adams Mine Coalition believes the appearance of this second letter should also raise alarm bells.
  "We fully expected that the Adams Mine backers would have to do something to keep York from jumping ship," says Graves, "The timing of this letter is just too perfect to be coincidental."
  Sources have told Straight Goods that in addition to nudges from the Premier, Engler's office may be also getting pressure from US waste giant WMI, which stands to lose out on the billion-dollar garbage contract if the Michigan deal goes ahead.
  Just how serious is the Governor's office about shutting the border to Toronto trash? Graves doubts Engler's people really want to deal with the politically and financially dicey situation of trying to close the vigorous two-way trade in waste between Michigan and Ontario. He points out that the letter simply asks Anderson to help "mediate" a solution.
  "Michigan knows that Anderson isn't going to intervene in a contract between a municipality and a company that won the contract through a legitimate tendering process," Graves says. "The point of this letter isn't to shut the border. It's just meant to scare York back onside with the Adams Mine."
  If the Feds don't get involved, it doesn't mean that the Province will sit on the sidelines. As long as the "barbecue belt" remains supportive of the project, Harris' Tories will have reason to justify overriding the City and thus forcing the controversial dump back into the picture.

Posted: March 05, 2001

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