The waste includes shingles, empty drums and miscellaneous plastic and metal debris.

Jennifer Hall, regional communications advisor for the West Central Region of the MOE located in Hamilton, confirmed that no hazardous waste was found on the 11th Concession Road East site.

According to information provided by Hall, the waste didn't appear to have been recently deposited. Ministry representatives looked at groundwater sampling results in the vicinity and the data indicated that the groundwater hasn't been impacted.

The site visit was co-ordinated by the ministry to look into concerns raised by Flamborough Councillor Margaret McCarthy at last month's public information meeting focusing on St. Marys 'application for a Permit To Take Water (PTTW). The aggregate company plans to do groundwater pumping tests on the property to gather information about potential effects to the surrounding aquifer if a quarry is located there.

A draft PTTW was posted last week on the government's environmental registry at http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/ (search using Registry Number #010-3469). Residents are invited to comment on the posting over the next 30 days.

At last month's PTTW meeting, McCarthy charged that contaminants exist on the proposed quarry site. She and two longtime area residents whom the councillor described as having "long memories related to the history of the property" toured the area with three MOE officials, Jane Glassco, Jason Ryan and Denise Plourde, all from the Hamilton district office.

Contacted at St. Marys' office in Toronto, company spokesperson Jennifer Tuck told the Champion that the cleanup of the site will most likely be done this week. "We're just working out the details with our environmental consultant. We don't think it will take more than a couple of days to complete the cleanup."

But the ministry order also carries other stipulations including revisiting and expanding on an environmental site assessment conducted by a consultant in 2005 for a previous owner of the property. St. Marys was also directed to review ministry records to determine past use of the site, interview past site owners and assess any available historical groundwater quality monitoring data.

Additional sampling and analyzing of both groundwater and surficial soil must also be done based on the findings of the expanded environmental site assessment. Depending on the results of the sampling, the company may also be required to implement a remediation plan to remove contaminated material.

In addition, St. Marys must submit a written report to the MOE by June 2 of this year outlining the activities it has undertaken to clean up the site.

After the inspection, St. Marys representatives John Moroz and Melanie Horton provided ministry staff with two reports related to the 2005 site contamination and remediation work conducted by a consultant for a previous owner. The ministry also has a 1996 site assessment report prepared by a consultant.

After the cleanup has been done, a follow-up inspection will be conducted by MOE staff.

McCarthy said a history of contamination on the proposed quarry site exists and the ministry has confirmed this for her.

"It is an extensive file," she added.

A review of archival ministry file records indicates that in 1991 ministry staff directly oversaw the removal of six drums of PCB-laden material that had been illegally deposited at the site. In 1998, charges were laid relating to the inability of the former property owner to meet deadlines in a ministry-issued cleanup order, as well as subsequent shipment of waste and contaminated soils from the site not in accordance with ministry requirements.