Feb 252011
The following letter was sent to the Ministry of the Environment on February 25, 2011.
Hello Mr. Sanzo,
- As part of a presentation by the proponent to the Township of Muskoka Lakes Council on February 22, 2011 (attached), the proponent states “Swift River reviewed each delegate’s presentation from the Jan 10th DMM meeting. Not only did we provide an answer to every question the delegates posed …”.
This is not true. SaveTheBalaFalls.com was one of the delegates at the January 10, 2011 DMM meeting (presentation attached) and as noted in that presentation, we have many, many outstanding questions which the proponent refuses to answer. Our questions have been clear and relevant, but the proponent provides only evasive responses that do not answer the questions repeatedly asked.
- The last page of the proponent’s presentation states the “the EA Consultation Phase is over”. If this is so, then as a result of the proponent’s refusal to answer questions we have had outstanding to them for over a year, we request that this project be elevated to an individual environmental assessment so that we may have input to the terms of reference to ensure that the proponent will be required to actually answer the questions from the public.
- The proponent continues to bully the Township:
- By restricting the questions which will be accepted (see the penultimate page of the proponent’s presentation).
- By requiring the Township to choose only between Option 1 and Option 2 implies that Option 1 could be built. As shown by the proponent’s own drawing (Option 1 General Arrangement, attached), 75% of the north channel would need to be blocked off by a coffer dam during construction. This would create a significant flooding risk for Lake Muskoka and would therefore be unacceptable to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Such attempted manipulation of Township Council is an abuse of process.
Thank you.
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Mitchell Shnier, on behalf of SaveTheBalaFalls.com