The president of the company looking to build a huge glass plant just west of Guelph has reached out regarding some of the concerns residents have expressed about the glass plant.
Tommy Wong, president of Xinyi Canada, said that the facility will actually use less than 1.6 million litres of water, not more.
Wong also said in a letter to GuelphToday that:
- there will not be a third production line, the proposed glass facility will only have two float lines.
- the daily average water taking for the facility will be less than 1.6 Million litres (1,600 m3)
- the cooling water will have no direct contact with the float glass products. The processed water will not be contaminated with glass pieces or any harmful chemicals.
- the air will be cleaned before coming out of the stack, complying with all the stringent environmental protection requirements and standards required by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. As such, it will not create acid rain; it will not damage crops; and it will not cause health issues for residents.
- the daily trucking arising from the proposed facility will be 80 to 100.
- the average rail carload to the proposed site will be less than 20 a day.
Xinyi is looking to build a two-million square foot float glass plant on County Road 32, just north of County Road 124 and just south of Strom’s Farm.
The township is currently awaiting for additional tests and information to be provided before it plans on releasing that information to the public then holding a second town hall meeting for residents on the issue.
Residents have argued against the plant, based on safety, traffic, environmental and land use issues.
“I want to keep you informed that the project is progressing well, as most technical studies are in the final stage of completion,” Wong said.
“We have been following Guelph-Eramosa Township’s process in seeking the zoning by-law amendments,” Wong said, adding that “under normal circumstances, most of these technical studies would not be needed for seeking zoning bylaw amendments, as they would only be required for the site plan approval at a later stage.”
Wong said the company’s engineering and planning consultants have been working “diligently over the past month to expedite studies in order to bring forward relevant study findings and scientific facts, before we move to the next stage.
“We can understand and respect that some residents may oppose the proposed project. However, we see a need to address and correct false information circulating the Guelph-Eramosa community.”
He said the project will create 400 total jobs, and the plant will have an annual turnover over $200 million dollars.
“The project will create many more jobs in local business sectors that will bring tremendous amount of disposable income to benefit the local community,” he said.
“The economic prosperity together with millions of dollars of property tax from the proposed glass facility for 30 years and beyond will provide a stable and substantial revenue stream year after year to fund needed long term improvements in infrastructure and services. These include roads and community assets and other municipal services for the benefit of the local community as a whole.”
