County Regional Environmental
Evaluation KO-Alition
LETTERS - 2005

FYI:

The Coalition of Concerned Citizens of Huron Kinloss has closed its bank account and surrendered its charter. John Welwood and company no longer have the strength to fight yet another battle. The favourable OMB decision this Oct. has been appealed by OMAF. OMAF has deeper pockets than this small community and this has become the bottom line.

My personal thanks to John Welwood and his supporters for the great job they have done over the past few years to inform people and stand up, as well as they could, to barns and regulations that threatened our environment and our neighbours. I am sorry to see John leave, but I understand.

John
________________________________
John Kaminski, jkaminski@bmts.com, Webmaster for the Concerned Citizens of the Municipality of Kincardine, www.bmts.com/~jkaminski/kincard

From: John Welwood
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 1:35 PM
Subject: Fw: Update and summary of Coalition activities

 

COALITION OF CONCERNED CITIZENS OF HURON-KINLOSS
UPDATE
JANUARY 16, 2005

As stated in the December 12, 2004 Update, the Province has decided to appeal the recent OMB ruling decision/order no. 1582 which upheld the agriculture portions of the Official Plan for the Township of Huron-Kinloss. In the Ministry's view, procedural errors were made by OMB member David Culham during the August Ripley OMB Hearing. The lawyers representing the Township and the Ministry will meet sometime in the New Year to argue this point. At this time, I have not been given a date.

Before Christmas, I sent a letter addressed to Huron-Kinloss Mayor Mitch Twolan and Council requesting that they consider hiring Ms. Valerie M'Garry to help defend their By-law at the New Year meeting. I suggested that it would be risky to defend the Township's position without her legal expertise and stressed the fact that the majority of Coalition supporters were also rate-payers in Huron-Kinloss. I was present during the entire OMB August proceedings. Without doubt, Ms. M'Garry was the most effective advocate. She knows the law and the issue. In my opinion, Ms. M'Garry was responsible for the favourable OMB October decision.

I also talked to Mayor Twolan before Christmas to see if he and Council had had the opportunity to discuss my request to hire Ms. M'Garry. He informed me they had not had the opportunity but would do so sometime in the near future. He also expressed a reluctance to spend more money on lawyers, particularly if, as it seems, the Province is determined to control all aspects of Nutrient Management. Nevertheless, he did say he and Council would give serious consideration to my request.

Very recently, in a telephone conversation with Councilor Eadie I was informed that Council had discussed my request and had decided that they were not prepared to hire Ms. M'Garry at this time.

With regard to the status of the last approved Geene NMP/related documentation we had to obtain through an expensive submission process through the offices of Ontario's Privacy Commissioner, it appears from our preliminary examination of the documentation, that all aspects of applicable law were followed to obtain the building permit, unlike the previous "approved" permits. I am personally assured that Mr. Geene had to go through a much more rigorous process in obtaining his October 2002 building permit than he did in the spring of 2001. However, based on the OMAF witness testimony at the August OMB Hearing, it appears that Mr. Geene will be allowed to expand his existing 3,000 finishing hog operation if the Province nullifies the existing Municipal NMP and Manure By-laws. Sadly, it appears there is nothing one can do to prevent this from occurring as the Province appears to be giving precedence to the rights of corporate integrators over the rights of rural neighbours and communities living in close proximity to intensive hog operations.

The Ripley OMB August Hearing has exhausted the Coalition's legal fund. As stated in the December Update, I'm personally not prepared to go through the additional stress of asking for and raising funds to finance what appears to be an increasingly dubious exercise. Steps were taken in October 2004 to close the Coalition bank account at the Kincardine TD branch. The Coalition's final audit has been completed and steps have been taken to surrender the charter.

I would like to thank the many Coalition supporters for your past financial and moral support in our efforts to get our elected leaders to address our legitimate and very real concerns about poorly regulated intensive livestock operations, particularly hog confinement facilities in our portion of the Lake Huron watershed. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the efforts, advice and support from the following individuals who have shared the same concerns about our Lake Huron community and took the time to become actively involved in our many committee meetings over the past few years. In no particular order they are: John and Barb Power from Blair's Trail, Doug and Bobbie Brown of Lurgan Beach, Bruce Beachers Pat McFarlane, Barb MacDonald, Ruth McLean, Ross Klopp, John Michaluk, Dave Campbell, Rob Parker, and Bob Cunningham. From Point Clark - Joel (Wayne)Tanner, Janet Cress, Jan Kelly, June Elliot and Dave Hyman. I would also like to acknowledge the appreciated support and advice we received from our concerned neighbours in Ashfield. In particular, PROTECT members Barb and Francis Hogan, Heinz Puhlmann, Dave Cooper as well as Ashfield Beach Association members Mike McElhone (of watertesting fame) and Nigel Bellchamber. A special thanks to Phil Beard, Manager of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority for his support over the issue as well. His experience, advice and insight proved to be invaluable, as was John Kaminski's from the neighbouring Kincardine Concerned Citizens' group.

I especially would like to acknowledge the support and work of Pauline Watson from Amberley. I'll never forget how Pauline, without hesitation, insisted that her name be added as a co-applicant on the eve of the London Court Hearing in January 2002. There was no reason for her to do this. It meant that she would share the financial risk with my fellow applicant John Power and me. John and I were astounded and touched by her belief that our court case was strong and just. I will never forget Pauline's selfless support.

Finally, I would like to again remind supporters, if you haven't already done so, to please take the time to write, fax, e-mail, or phone the Ontario Minister of Agriculture to express your disappointment over his Ministry's decision to appeal the October OMB decision. His address is: The Honourable Steve Peters,Minister of Agriculture and Food, Public Archives Building, 77 Grenville Street, 11th Floor, Toronto, ON M5S 1B3 (or phone 416-326-3074 or fax 416-326-3083.) To e-mail the Minister, go to the OMAF website at http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca . Click on feedback and look for Comments to the Minister.

Do not for one moment, think your letter or comments won't make a difference. The more letters or comments expressing our disappointment in the Ministry's position, the more effective our voices may be. Encourage your family members, friends and neighbours who share your concerns to take the time to make their voices heard. Please feel free to use my accompanying letter as a guide. For more information about the dangers of factory farming, please see www.beyondfactoryfarming.org

 

December 8, 2004
John Welwood
Coalition of Concerned Citizens of Huron-Kinloss
R.R. # 1, Kincardine, ON, N2Z 2X3

The Honourable Steve Peters,
Minister of Agriculture and Food,
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Public Archives Building,
77 Grenville Street, 11th Floor,
Toronto, ON, M5S 1B3

Dear Mr. Peters,

I am writing to express my strong disappointment with the Province's decision to challenge the recent October 4 Ontario Municipal Board decision/order no. 1582 which upheld the Municipality of Huron-Kinloss's new Intensive Agriculture Livestock zone (AIL) by-law. Since the Walkerton tragedy, our community has been attempting to reach a reasonable compromise over the siting of large animal confinement/intensive operations, particularly operations that rely on untreated liquid manure storage and application in our Lake Huron watershed.

Contrary to the Ministry's assertion that the Township's use of zoning is a threat to the agricultural industry, Board Member, David J. Culham, agreed with the position of the Municipality of Huron-Kinloss that the rezoning process does not constitute a threat to the viability of the agricultural industry and, more importantly, does give appropriate regard to the Provincial Policy Statement and thus represents good planning. The Coalition of Concerned Citizens of Huron-Kinloss fully supported the Township's position.

More importantly, Mr. Culham recognized the importance of having a public, open process. As part of the Municipal criteria used to evaluate new intensive applications in our area, details of Nutrient Management Plans as approved by your Ministry, would be public and open to scrutiny. Based on the Coalition's experience, this public process is essential and, in our view, goes a long way to restore public confidence in the application/building process related to ILOs. By having an open, public process as part of the Township's criteria for evaluating future applications for intensive livestock operations (beginning at 450 animal units and larger), it is very likely that costly litigation disputes, as we have seen in the recent past, will be avoided.

Your decision to question Decision/Order no. 1582 is perceived by many as showing disregard for a democratic and legal process that is attempting to find a workable solution acceptable to all the various stakeholders in our Lake Huron Municipality. Speaking personally as a member of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens of Huron-Kinloss and as someone who has been intimately involved with the Coalition's many attempts to get all levels of government to address our environmental and health concerns associated with large, liquid manure operations, the Ministry's decision to appeal the Culham OMB decision/ruling will leave many hundreds of Huron-Kinloss Coalition supporters disappointed with your Government's approach to this matter.

Yours truly,
John Welwood

John Kaminski (519) 353-5307
1418 Bruce Rd 15, RR#1 Tiverton, ON, Canada N0G 2T0