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Gloucester Pool
Cottagers Association
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Hydro 1 Spraying
Some GPCA members are very concerned about the environmental concerns of the use of the pesticide - Tordon, on the hydro corridor along the east side of Gloucester Pool. Hydro One is planning to use this general chemical approach all the way up to Sudbury. There is a meeting on Friday August 20 at 9:30 am at the corner of Irish Line and Tower Line Road. Please come out to find out more and show your support.
This sign is posted in the area:
An email has been sent to the Premier asking for investigation, and a response has been received from his office from his office indicating that the Ministry of Environment would be in touch.
A separate email has been sent to MOE but we have not yet heard from the provincial office.
Tthe local district of MOE (Barrie) has confirmed that permission had been provided to allow the spraying, but would not comment any further about the environmental impact on an area designated as environmentally sensitive. They will be in touch.
Garfield Dunlop (MPP) has been also helping to determine next steps and a has commitment from the fire prevention officer of Severn township that they will look at the Tower Line site and compare this to the Waubeshene area, where Hydro One has used traditional cutting methods to get rid of vegetation under the lines. The Severn fire department is also doing further investigation into the Tordon 101 chemical that is continuing to be used on Tower Line. Severn township has also been receiving complaints from people on Sparrow Lake, where a different chemical, Garlon, is being used as a defoliant.
See the following documents for more information:
Pictures of the Sprayed Area
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Thanks to all of you who came out on August 20 to help stop the Hydro spraying!
While there was certainly conflicting information from various sources, the following information did surface:
- The use of chemicals was partly a cost savings measure and partly a response to MNR's request that the habitat in the Area of Natural and Scientific Interest not be disturbed by heavy equipment
- Severn township authorized the use of chemicals on roadside as well as in the corridor (which they don't truly control, as it is Crown land). Georgian Bay was able to avoid having roadside areas cleared using this method but not any Crown land area.
- MOE authorized the use of the chemicals and might agree a test to see if any of the chemical is getting into the water supply. We will be following up to see if we can get a couple of wells tested by MOE to check the watershed issue
- Severn township fire department stated that the standing dead trees is not a fire hazard (even though common sense argues otherwise)
There was general agreement that the public notification process needs to be done in advance and with much better communication.
Hydro One still plans to use additional chemicals in 6 years in this corridor again to control the saplings that are still likely to grow. Their plan is to use a somewhat different chemical (Garlon) but we are still going to see if this plan can be reversed.
I will also do further checking with Nova Scotia Power who have moved away from chemical use in their province, so there may be an alternate procedure.
If you have any other ideas we can investigate to stop the use of chemicals in the future, please forward them to GPCA c/o the webmaster
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