Temiskaming Speaker, Wednesday, January 2, 2002
 
Opponents want licensing suspended for high temperature thermal destruction facility
 
By Darlene Wroe
Speaker Reporter
 
ENGLEHART - An organization opposing the establishment of a high temperature thermal destruction facility in Kirkland Lake says that the standards being used for the environmental assessment are out of date, as compared to those used in the United States.
 
The organization, Public Concern Temiskaming, says that Canada's standards for emissions are scheduled to be updated in 2004, and until that time incinerators can be licensed to create emissions at rates known to create significant health impacts.
 
The organization is asking Ontario Environment Minister Elizabeth Witmer to suspend any further licensing, including the license being sought by Bennett Environmental Inc. until after the changes are made to the licensing process and the emissions standards in Ontario.
 
Ambrose Raftis of Savard Township says that since the United States' standards were upgraded "many incinerators have closed and 284 applications for new incinerators have been turned down."
 
Public Concern Temiskaming charges that Bennett Environment Inc.'s review does not consider adequately the impacts of fugitive emissions during transportation and processing.” Mr. Raftis says that “not all PCBs says that not all PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) that are intended for incineration actually are, incinerated. While stack emissions and contaminated ash and waste water are serious concerns, losses during transportation, storage and processing may be an even greater problem."
 
Bennett Environment Inc. vice-president of engineering and chief operating officer Danny Ponn says "there will be some fugitive emissions escape." But he says that the amount will be controlled because “we are not treating high concentration materials." (Mr. Raftis suggests the company could seek a license to burn high concentration materials in the future, because it would be set up physically to do so.)
 
Of the materials which are planned to be burned at the incinerator range, some w ill contain PCBs. But Mr. Ponn could not give an exact percentage of the material which will be burned at the plant which will contain PCBs. “It will very hard to predict because the market will change," he said. Last year the company's Quebec plant burned about 10,000 tonnes of materials contaminated by PCBs, and in 1999 the company burned about 8,000 tonnes of materials contaminated by PCBs, he said. In 1999 the company treated about 27 ,000 tonnes of materials in the Quebec plant, he added.
 
CONCENTRATIONS
 
Inside the facility any leakage which occurs will go into the building and not out of the building, due to air and ventilation controls, said Mr. Ponn. The trucks will discharge the contaminated soils inside the building; he said.
 
The concentrations which will be shipped in bulk trucks will be limited, he said. Materials will be pack aged in barrels, bags, bins and other containers, he added.
 
Inside the building exhaust gas from high concentration areas will be put through a kiln so that the vapours are destroyed, said Mr. Ponn. Prior to that it will be placed through fabric filters, and carbon will be pumped into the filters to absorb the chemicals.
 
Mr. Ponn says the plant is not expected to have any materials which contain PCBs shipped to it from the United States. (Although Mr. Raftis says this could change in the future.) Mr. Ponn says the company expects to receive from the United States materials contaminated with wood preservatives, creosotes, coal tar, etc.
 
Mr. Raftis explained the concern with test burns that are used to deter mine public health impacts of such a facility as that which is proposed to be built in Kirkland Lake. "PCBs typically are incinerated at facilities that can purportedly achieve a destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of 99.9999 per cent. This means that no m DRE than .0001 per cent of the PCBs that enter the system escape through air emissions ‘up the stack’. Even this level of efficiency, taken at face value, could mean substantial releases of PCBs and dioxins over time. However, there are several flaws inherent in the DRE measurement of efficiency, he said.
 
"The DRE is not measured during daily, routine operations when actual PCBs are being burned. Instead it is measured during one-time-only 'trial burn' of selected substitute chemicals under carefully controlled conditions. The Environmental Protection Agency's science advisory board expressed concern about this, saying, 'Research on (incinerator) performance has occurred only under optimal burn conditions and sampling has, on occasion been discontinued during upset conditions, which take place with unknown frequency. Even relatively short-term operation of incinerators in upset conditions can greatly increase the total incinerator emitted loadings to the environment," Mr. Raftis explained.
 
AIR AND WATER
 
MI.. Raftis continued that, "A second flaw is that the DRE only takes into account air emissions. A high DRE tells us nothing about the amount of PCBs/dioxins transferred into ash or waste water as a routine part of the incineration process. In fact, by regulating incinerators according to DRE, agencies encourage technologies that transfer pollutants from air emissions to other media such as solid waste and/or water."
 
Currently the company has a draft environmental assessment report which is available for the public to read at municipal offices and some area libraries and comment upon until January 15. Public Concern Temiskaming says discussion is now taking place to extend the deadline two weeks to allow people an opportunity to go through the massive document other than over the Christmas period. But at this point that extension has not been con firmed.
 
On January 5, Public Concern Temiskaming is inviting Dr. Neil Carman of Texas to a public meeting in Kirkland Lake to discuss the licensing process for incinerators. The public meeting will take place at 1 p.m. and at 7 p.m. at the Moose Hall.
 
Dr. Carman is considered by the group as one of North America's top PCB incinerator experts. He is a former Environmental Protection Agency license administrator.
 
Mr. Raftis said that Public Concern Temiskaming is "very concerned the public is not being made aware of the risks (associated with the proposal), especially in Kirkland Lake.”
 
Fourteen members of Public Concern Temiskaming gathered out side the Englehart Legion Hall where Bennett Environmental Inc. held an open house on Wednesday evening, December 19. They handed out pamphlets and expressed their concerns to those attending the open house. Inside the building, Doug Edwards of Dack Township pondered the implications of consultants’ phrases ,such as "not expected to" and "unacceptable human health risks." He questioned what would constitute acceptable human health risks.
 
Among those at the open house were Timiskaming-Cochrane MPP David Ramsay and Englehart Mayor Rick Brassard, along with several other people.
 
An open house was also held on Tuesday, December 18, in Kirkland Lake.
 
TFA
 
The Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture (TFA) has not taken a position regarding this project although they state they "have some very serious concerns." In a news released issued December 27, 2001 the TFA lists those concerns as including "long- term health effects and short and long term marketability of our agricultural products."
 
The TFA say they are holding a seminar on the project on Saturday January 5, 2002 at Northern College in Kirkland Lake from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. They say for further information to contact TFA president John Vanthof at 544-7451.