Northern Daily News
Tuesday, January 8, 2002
Page 3
 
Experts discuss Bennett Proposal
 
RICK OWEN
Northern Daily News
 
Kirkland Lake:
 
Public Concern Timiskaming, a group opposing Bennett Environmental's proposal to bring a soil treatment facility to Kirkland Lake, brought in two experts from the United States to take part in an information session Saturday.
 
Dr. Neil Carmen, who is a former incinerator inspector in Texas and now works for the Sierra Club, said one of the reasons he attended the session was because of the work he did in Texas.
 
It was during this time that he became concerned about PCBs and dioxins. He noted that his experience shows that incinerators leak and that there are fugitive gasses.
 
Carmen voiced concern about the contaminants being passed to pregnant women. He had concerns about stack burn tests that are conducted during ideal operating conditions and said that when he worked in Texas, stack burn tests weren't done if there were upset conditions, or at least test was done again under ideal conditions. As a result of his experience, Carmen is worried that stack testing doesn't give an accurate indication of what is going into the community.
 
Carmen said stacks did not have continuous monitoring for PCBs and dioxins, and that this was one of his main concerns for years. He also noted that fires or explosions can be experienced and that this would result in a tremendous release of fugitive gases.
 
Carmen said everyone in Kirk land Lake should have their blood and fat tested prior to the building of the Bennett facility and they should have it tested annually after the plant is in operation.
 
The fetus, he said, is extremely vulnerable to a single insult at a very early age and that this can affect many aspects of the child's development including intelligence and reproduction.
 
"Everything about that child can be adversely affected, but that is very hard to prove," said Carmen.
 
He said that contaminants need to be cleaned up, PCB materials have to be destroyed, but alternatives to incineration should be used.
 
Carmen described the incineration process as complicated machinery that is subject to breakdowns.
 
Carmen warned the audience that once a permit is issued, the agency will never revoke the permit. He described the permitting process as permitting sacrifice zones and the process as being full of loopholes.
 
He advised the community to look at alternatives to incineration and alternative methods that could be used on site.