Temiskaming Speaker
Wednesday, January 16, 2002
 
MPP raises concerns about EA process, testing
 
by Diane Johnston
Speaker Reporter
 
HAILEYBURY - Temiskaming's MPP says he has not yet taken a stand on a proposal to build an incinerator in Kirkland Lake that would treat contaminated solid waste.
 
"I'm just like most concerned citizens, trying to find out as much about the process as possible," said Timiskaming-Cochrane Liberal MPP David Ram say earlier this week.
 
But he said he has concerns about the testing that's been done to date on the proposed Bennett Environmental Inc. (BEl) plant, and about the provincial approvals process itself.
 
BEl proposes to build a two stage incineration plant that would treat solid waste, such as soil, dredging materials and construction debris.
 
The material has been contaminated by a variety of chlorinated and non chlorinated compounds, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), wood preservatives, coal tars, and pesticides.
 
The company maintains its technology is sound. It points to its similar but smaller plant running in the Chicoutimi area, where test burns have revealed emissions well below current standards.
But Mr. Ram say said he was surprised to learn that baseline studies determining existing levels of contaminants in the local environment would not be completed until later, when bel prepared to seek a certificate of approval for the plant.
 
"I would think that would be one of the first things you would do," he said.
 
Earlier this month, BEL vice-president and chief operating officer Danny Ponn said such testing would not be warranted, unless the company received approval to proceed to the next step.
 
Mr. Ponn and BEl consultants were among the presenters at a January 5 information session in Kirkland Lake hosted by the Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture.
 
The session also featured two Americans - one a New York chemistry professor specializing in waste issues, and the other a former air emissions inspector now working for the Sierra Club -
brought in by Public Concern Temiskaming, a citizens' group opposing the project.
 
Mr. Ramsay considered the session informative and balanced.
 
Should the BEL plant be approved, Mr. Ram say said "a very comprehensive baseline study" must be done.
 
That study should extend beyond air and soil sampling, to tests of blood and fat tissues and dairy products, he said.
 
If a plant is approved for operation, he called for continuous monitoring of any emissions and the strict enforcement of standards that match the world's most rigorous.
 
"1 do believe anything as critical as this should have a full environmental assessment, and to me that means hearings," he said.
 
Under the current process, he said hearings are optional.
 
But if the project is to win community acceptance, he said the process should go "all the way."
 
At the same time, he said, the process no longer requires companies to examine alternative solutions.
 
"That's what the debate should be about," he said.
 
He said the pollutants that BEL proposes to deal with "need to be destroyed."
 
But in their destruction; "we don't want to do any further damage to the environment," he said.
 
"I don't think anybody should think of our area as a sacrificial area," he said.
 
He said the area wants to see these substances destroyed and also wants jobs, "but we don't want jobs at any price."
 
GILLES BISSON
 
Timmins- James Bay New Democrat MPP Gilles Bisson also attended the session earlier this month.
 
In a statement, he said he considered it "shocking" that towns like Kirkland Lake in tough economic times "feel they have to stoop to become other people’s dumping grounds."
 
While the BEL plant appear to be as safe a design as exists, he said the contaminated waste will be coming to what he described as an uncontaminated site near flourishing farm communities.
 
"It doesn't matter if the incinerator is safe or not. If dairies and meat packers feel that the milk or meat from the area may contain PCBs, then these farms are finished.
 
"Agricultural markets have collapsed before because of just such health concerns," he said.