Two companies cited for illegal dumping in Municipality of Pontiac

Two companies cited for illegal dumping in Municipality of Pontiac

The Quebec Ministry of the Environment has indicated that it has taken action against the companies Charlie and Jamie Young Transport and Construction, and Centre de tri Myral, in connection with the illegal dumping of materials on nine properties in the Municipality of Pontiac dating back 10 years.

“During the summer of 2012, residual materials were deposited on six lots where their deposit and disposal were not authorized, namely at 55 and 88 chemin du Village, at 107, 113 and 129 chemin Julie and at 1895 chemin de la Montagne,” the ministry wrote in a statement on July 20 (translated). “During inspections, the ministry found that the backfill contained various residual materials, namely fine plastic particles, polystyrene, concrete, brick, wood, glass, ceramics and gypsum, as well as electrical components, asphalt shingles and fine sieving residues from sorting centers.”

“The company Charlie and Jamie Young Transport and Construction backfilled the six lots with these residual materials from the Centre de tri Myral,” the statement continues (translated). “The latter has thus made it possible to backfill the land and allowed the deposit of residual materials in places where their disposal is not authorized. The residual materials deposited on these sites do not have the appropriate environmental characteristics to be recovered there and are likely to contaminate the land on which they were deposited if nothing is done to remove them. Following additional verifications carried out in October 2021, the ministry noted that some of the residual materials were also likely to end up on three other lots adjacent to those initially identified, namely at 109 chemin Julie, 85 chemin Tremblay and on chemin Julie (lot 2 682 858). These three properties are therefore also covered by this ordinance.”

In its Order No. 704-A, issued under Article 114 of the Environment Quality Act, the ministry requires several measures from the companies concerned:

• Restore these places to a state approaching that in which they were before the backfilling was carried out;

• Submit for ministry approval, no later than 90 days after service of the order, a site restoration plan;

• Carry out the backfill removal work in accordance with the approved restoration plan;

• Carry out an assessment of the soil and groundwater and surface water likely to have been contaminated, within 45 days of the end of the removal of the residual material backfill on each of the lots;

• In the event of contamination beyond the applicable criteria, carry out the rehabilitation work in accordance with the previously approved plan and submit to the ministry the final report certifying that the work has been carried out in accordance with this plan;

• During these restoration works, implement certain measures related to the presence of wetlands and the Western Chorus Frog on certain lots.

The owners of the land must allow access to the premises for the restoration.

The ministry also provided some a timeline of the case:

• On November 7, 2012, the ministry conducted inspections on the six properties located in Pontiac, and the presence of residual materials was then observed.

• On June 12, 2018, following a ministry investigation, Charlie and Jamie Young Transport and Construction was found guilty of six offenses for having, between June 1 and November 7, 2012, deposited residual materials on the six lots in question.

• A first notice to the ordinance (no. 704) had been sent to the persons concerned in September 2021. The Centre de tri Myral then presented observations on September 24, 2021 and additional observations on February 25, 2022. The minister conducted their analysis and concluded that these observations are not such as to modify the basis of an arrangement.

• Additional verifications subsequent to the notice to Ordinance No. 704 then made it possible to confirm that some of the residual materials were present or could be present on neighboring lots.

• As a result, Amended Notice No. 704-A covering a total of nine lots was served on affected persons in April 2022. No comments were forwarded to the ministry following notification of this pre-order notice.