A Story of the OWMC-The Wasted Years

The Early Days, Volume one of the trilogy, OWMC-The "Wasted" Years, is the account of a fourteen-year-long battle against a proposed toxic waste treatment plant slated for the Niagara Peninsula in Southern Ontario. The Ontario Waste Management Corporation (OWMC) announced in September of 1985 that it had chosen LF-9C in West Lincoln as the preferred site for its proposed facility. As a Crown Corporation, its authority superseded all municipal bylaws, present and future. From its inception, the OWMC had received the backing of all three political parties and enjoyed seemingly bottomless pockets. Dr. Donald Chant, the president and chariman of the Crown Corporation, had the impeccable credentials to merit the respect and support of some of the most prestigious environmental groups in the province. How, then, could a relatively insignificant group of residents hope to stand against such impossible odds? For Clifford and Marilyn Gracey and a tiny group of committed Christians functioning within a larger body of residents and environmentally-minded groups, only their faith in God sustained them. "Marilyn Gracey is one of the true unsung heroes among us. She is a testament to what ordinary citizens can do to protect and preserve the quality of life in their community. If not for the courage and dedication of Gracey and others who joined together in a fight few thought they would ever win, one of Canada's most beautiful regions would be withering in the shadow of one of North America's Largest toxic waste dumps today." -- Doug Draper, an award-winning, long-time environmental journalist in Niagara. "When I first read the manuscript, I was excited at how well the author had captured the personalities of the people involved. It all came back to life for me." -- Helen Kszan, part owner of property on LF-9C, the preferred site. "An intensely personal story of how someone refused to be bulldozed into accepting a seemingly unstoppable government project and rallied with her neighbours to fight it. It provides an account of the effects on people's lives of proposed intrusions into their communities." -- John Jackson, environmental activist; Waste Management professor, Trent University; Director Emeritus, Great Lakes United. Marilyn Gracey and her husband Clifford live in Wellandport, Ontario, on their One-hundred-and-thirty-acre farm. The Early Years, Volume One of the trilogy, The "Wasted" Years, is Marilyn's first book. It ranked among the top five entries in the competition for The First-Time Canadian Christian Author Award at the 2004 WordGuild Conference in Guelph, Ontario. Marilyn hopes to publish Volume Two, The Hearing, within the next year, followed by Volume Three, The Decision, which will contain an update by Professor John Jackson on the Swan Hills facility in Alberta. Despite her heavy workload, Marilyn still teaches Sunday School as she has for the past forty years.