Dear Editor,
Xinyi Canada Glass has placed full-page advertisements in The Wellington Advertiser for weeks now and each time I see these ads, printed under the name Xinyi Canada Glass & Guelph Eramosa, and read the Tommy Wong letter to Guelph Eramosa Township (GET) residents included in each ad, I am struck by the fact that the President of Xinyi Canada Glass writes as if the proposed float glass plant has received all necessary Municipal and Provincial approvals and therefore can write that “Xinyi Canada Glass is building…”
Given that nothing has been approved by Guelph-Eramosa Township or any Provincial Agency to-date, the statement is premature, disrespectful to GET residents who have clearly indicated they do not support the building of a float glass plant in the location that Xinyi would like to purchase, and demonstrates Xinyi’s blatant disregard for Municipal by-laws, procedures and process.
Ultimately, however, it’s what is not being said or addressed by Mr. Wong that is most critical and deserves further consideration. Consideration of Township zoning bylaws and the County Official Plan indicate that the proposed float glass plant development application should never have been accepted by Guelph-Eramosa Township in April 2018.
In a May 9 letter from Guelph’s CAO, Derrick Thomson, to Ian Roger, GET’s CAO, Mr. Thomson details the City of Guelph’s unease regarding the Township’s intent to allow “an Industrial Use within the M1 zone when the bylaw requires such industrial uses to be dry. The amount of water use proposed is significant, especially considering local water system impacts.” 1.6 million litres per day is a tremendous amount of water by any definition.
Mr. Thomson makes it clear that the City has serious concerns about the proposed Xinyi plant’s impact on water supply. He notes that GET & City of Guelph have been working in partnership with Wellington County and the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) on a water budget and local area risk assessment. Mr. Thomson then references the GRCA’s assessment of a Wellhead Protection Area for water quantity (WHPA-Q) that surrounds Guelph, extends into Guelph-Eramosa Township and includes the proposed location where Xinyi wants to build, noting, “Any new water takings within this area would be considered a Significant Drinking Water Threat and present a potential risk to the City’s Water Supply system.”
On March 24, at what has become known as the Farmhouse Meeting, Xinyi management clearly indicated that 1.6 million litres of water would be extracted daily from the aquifer in an area where drinking water supply is already labelled as significantly at risk. In Xinyi’s June 28th ad, Mr. Wong indicates that water conservation measures will “Reduce Daily Water Taking by [approximately] 20%” but never gives an actual figure that shows how much water would normally be extracted by the plant from the aquifer and what the approximately 20% less figure will be. If the normal uptake would be 1.6 million litres of water, a 20% reduction means the plant will still extract just under 1.3 million litres of water every day, 365 days a year for “30 years and beyond” (June 21, 2018). That remains a tremendous amount of water being removed from an aquifer that feeds the wells of many GET residents.
It must be noted that Xinyi Canada’s President never mentions that Xinyi will not pay a cent for the water it extracts from the aquifer, nor does he suggest that Xinyi will make arrangements for the proposed plant’s water uptake to be metered and independently monitored by a third party agency. The fact that 66% of the water mined from the aquifer will evaporate during the production process or how that conforms to a closed loop system is also never explained by Mr. Wong. In an area where the supply of drinking water for Township and Guelph residents is already threatened, don’t we deserve to know exactly how much water will be lost or wasted, how any post-production water will be treated, and what contaminants will remain in post-production water? Will water in the proposed pond be allowed to seep into the ground? There are many water-related questions needing answers.
Consider also, why Mr. Wong has never publicly addressed the question of why Xinyi must drill very deep wells, significantly deeper than private wells drawing from the same aquifer, or why Xinyi must build a 300′ emissions stack. What toxic chemicals, for example, are being scrubbed post-production? What trace elements will be dispersed in the air? The fact the stack must be so high says something about the amount of scrubbing needed to ‘clean’ emissions. Standing at 300′, this stack would also ensure the dispersal area is broadened. Prevailing winds will carry emissions over Guelph.
Xinyi continues to offer GET residents changing or contradictory information. The number of jobs the corporation has indicated will be offered locally had gone from 400 to 350 over 3 years. That number now stands at 380 “in the next 5 years” (June 21, 2018). Xinyi intends to bring 50 Specialty Workers to operate the plant and provide first response fire-fighting services. These individuals will be housed in a dormitory that Xinyi intends to build on the industrial site. The corporation’s precedent-setting zoning by-law amendment requests include building a dormitory for these temporary employees. The proposed plant will essentially become a self-contained business bubble that will operate 24 hours every day, shipping 70-80% of produced glass to the United States.
In a recent letter to another publication, Mr. Wong indicates the number of trucks arriving and departing the plant every day will be 80-100. Previously, residents were told there would be 80-150 trucks each day. Average rail carload details and numbers have changed as well. At the Farmhouse meeting, concerned residents were told there would be 3 trains each week consisting of 40 railcars per train. Mr. Wong now states the average rail carload “will be less than 20 a day.” Will there be a train every day?
Mr. Wong never addresses the enormous impact this number of trucks will have on already congested roads not capable of handling existing traffic, let alone what the impact of daily trains will be. Air pollution and other quality of life issues for area residents are not even acknowledged in his letter. Obviously, they are not his concern.
Why not?
At the end of the day, Guelph-Eramosa Township’s M1 zoning designation and relevant zoning bylaw concerning dry industrial use prevents heavy industrial use of water at the intended property site. The proposed Xinyi float glass plant would violate that bylaw and GET Council must uphold the bylaw on behalf of their constituents. A motion has been tabled asking GET Council to do exactly that. Any further consideration of a heavy industrial development on the 122 acre property bordered by Country Rd 32 and Hwy 124 should be declined by our Council.
The next Council meeting takes place at 7 p.m., July 16 at the GET Municipal Office in Brucedale. Please call or send notes to GET Mayor White, and GET Councillors Wolk, Marshall, Woods and Bouwmeester, remind them to uphold the bylaw and protect our precious drinking water. It’s a matter of life, not profit.
Sincerely,
Susan McSherry
for GETconcerned Inc.
Susan McSherry