INDEX PCB Digest
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1) Tri-Town Banner - 1/24/02 - Front Page
Assessment doesn't go far enough - group
2) Temiskaming Speaker - 1/23/02 - Front Page
First Nation group pledges to stop BEI plant
 
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1) Tri-Town Banner - 1/24/02 - Front Page
Assessment doesn't go far enough - group
 
by Cathy Thom
Tri-Town Banner
 
KIRKLAND LAKE -
 
A public information session into the development of a hazardous waste incineration plant in Kirkland Lake left some residents steaming.
 
Barbara Bukowski said the group sponsoring the meeting - the Citizen's Advisory Committee - cleared the room before critics of the plan had a chance to ask questions during the Jan. 17 meeting in Kirkland Lake.
 
"This is a process that seems terrified of public input,” she said this week. "The company is given all the time it needs to sell the project but as soon as we start asking difficult questions, we are denounced as unreasonable or be1ligerent.”
 
Bukowski, the spokeswoman for Public Concern Temiskaming, said as part of the environmental assessment, Bennett Environmental Inc. must gather feedback on its plan.
 
But she is concerned the company is not listening to residents. Public Concern Temiskaming is calling on the Ministry of the Environment to step in and store independent public hearings.
 
An environmental assessment, she explained, used to include full public hearings and a qualified independent peer review - two elements no1onger needed by the MOE.
 
But Citizen's Advisory Committee chairman Robert Macdonald said residents in the area have had, and continue to have opportunities to ask questions and give their comments.
 
“We, as a committee, relay information to Bennett, " he said. "We're not just an extension of Bennett." Macdonald, who chaired the Jan. 17 meeting, said people approaching the microphone were asking five or six questions rather than one or two and the meeting had already crept beyond the time it was scheduled.
 
“Anything environmental, people always have issues on both sides,” he said, adding those with concerns can still free to write to the committee, call them and contact them with questions or concerns.
 
The committee members, a cross section of Kirkland Lake and area residents volunteering their time, are listed on Bennett’s Web site.
 
The controversy centres on Bennett's plan to create a high-capacity polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) facility in the area which would treat 200, 000 tonnes of contaminated soil a year. The plant would employ an estimated 35 people.
 
"We are desperate, I realize that, “Bukowski said.
 
"We need the jobs but we cannot put our children at risk and we cannot put ourselves at risk. "
 
About 100 people attended the Jan.17 the meeting. Four consultants involved in the environmental. assessment explained how they conducted their studies and came to their conclusions.
 
In a hope of sharing more information, Public Concern Temiskaming is hosting four citizens from St. Ambroise, Que., this weekend.
 
The citizens will discuss their experiences With Bennett Environmenta1 which opened a similar plant in their Quebec community. The group will be at the Earlton Arena Saturday at 9:30 am and Moose Hall in Kirkland Lake at 2:30 p.m.
 
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2) Temiskaming Speaker - 1/23/02 - Front Page
First Nation group pledges to stop BEI plant
 
by Diane Johnston
Speaker Reporter
 
NOTRE-DAME-DU-NORD -
 
The Timiskaming First Nation has pledged to stop a proposal to build a waste treatment incineration plant in Kirkland Lake.
 
"We will not give our consent to the creation of a hazardous waste incinerator that has the potential to damage our traditional way of life," said Chief Daniel Chief in a statement last week to representatives of Bennett Environmental Inc. (BEI).
 
The First Nation, headquartered in Notre-Dame-du-Nord, Quebec was a leader in the fight against a proposal to turn the abandoned Adams Mine into a landfill.
 
Its chief said the community fears the BEI plant could have an impact on its traditional hunting and fishing grounds.
 
BEI proposes to build a plant in Kirkland Lake to treat up to 200,000 tonnes each year of soil, demolition waste, underwater dredges, and packaging material.
 
The material has been contaminated by a variety of substances, including now banned polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), coal tar, and wood preservatives.
 
The solid material would first be heated at high temperature in a kiln, with the gases heated in a second chamber to a temperature of more than 1000 degrees C.
 
BEI says its treatment technology is sound. It points to test burns at its smaller but similar plant in Quebec where emissions of PCBs as well as dioxins and furans - toxic substances created by combustion - are well below limits.
 
BEI vice president and chief operating officer Danny Ponn said the plant's impact on hunting and fishing have been addressed in risk assessment reports on human health and environmental health.
 
Baseline studies that would measure the present levels of contaminants in the area around the proposed plant have yet to be conducted, he said.
 
But he said studies to date have found that "the incremental load from our facility is not an issue."
 
STATEMENT
 
But in his statement last week, Chief Daniel Chief said, "no amount of technical jargon is going to convince us that it is safe to import and then incinerate PCBs on our traditional territory, or anywhere else for that matter."
 
BEI was scheduled to discuss the project with Timiskaming First Nation members in Notre-Dame du-Nord January 15.
 
But the meeting opened with a statement from the First Nation's chief outlining opposition to the project.
 
"We will not allow it now, or in the future. So I can't see the purpose of us listening to an hour or two of unnecessary presentations," he said.
 
He was also critical that the meeting was held on the final day set aside for public comment on the project's draft environmental assessment.
 
"They have not come to consult but to give us a presentation," he said.
 
The response left BEI representatives "a bit disappointed," said Mr. Ponn.
 
He acknowledged the timing of the meeting was poor.
 
But he said BEI has tried to contact the First Nation three times by telephone since it was made part of a core review team on the project more than a year ago.
 
BEI's studies and documents have been forwarded to the First Nation, he said.
 
TEN's chief said it had opted to work through the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, and has written two letters outlining what he termed its fundamental right to be consulted.
 
Chief Daniel Chief said the TEN would work with its Native and non-Native neighbors to stop the project.
 
While the formal period for comment on the draft environmental assessment period has ended, he said comments identifying any shortcomings or omissions in BEI's studies to date can still be made.
 
But time is running short.
 
Mr. Ponn said comments are being circulated to its consultants for review this week. He anticipated the formal environmental assessment document would be prepared within three to four weeks.
 
It would then be circulated for another round of comment.
 
'The comment periods are not finished, by any means," he said.
 
 
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