INDEX PCB Digest - 4/24/02
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1) Public Concern Temiskaming (PCT) - 4/24/02
For Immediate Release:
Environment Ministry Violating National Guidelines
to Fast track Controversial PCB Incinerator
2) Northern Daily News - 4/22/02 - Letters to the Editor
Concerns over proposal call for serious discussion
3) Northern Daily News - 4/22/02 - Letters to the Editor
Reader charined by remarks made by doctors about plant
4) Northern Daily News - 4/24/02 - Front Page & Headlines
Doctors doubted
5) Northern Daily News - 4/24/02 - Front Page
Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture discusses
economy with town council
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1) Public Concern Temiskaming (PCT) - 4/24/02
For Immediate Release:
Environment Ministry Violating National Guidelines
to Fast track Controversial PCB Incinerator
Kirkland Lake –- Public Concern Temiskaming is
demanding the Ministry of Environment suspend the permitting of a
massive PCB/dioxin incinerator slated for the Kirkland Lake region.
The call comes in wake of MPP David Ramsay’s (Liberal)
revelation that the MOE knew the plan by Bennett Environmental failed
to meet the national CCME guidelines.
Under the guidelines approved by the Canadian Council
of Ministers of the Environment, no incinerator permits are to be
granted to any project being sited within 1.5 kms of a residential neighbourhood.
The Bennett incinerator, which would be the largest of
its kind in Canada, clearly fails to meet this basic criteria because
it would be sited a mere 500 metres from the nearest house. Even
more, the incinerator would be close to a day care centre, two grade
schools and over 240 homes.
Terry Graves, a spokesman for Public Concern
Temiskaming, says the MOE has no choice but to suspend the EA process.
“The CCME guidelines are a bare minimum
requirement for public safety,” says Graves. “It now
appears that MOE tried to toss aside these guidelines to fast track
the burning of dioxins in people’s backyards.”
Although Ontario has yet to invoke the CCME guidelines
into law, the Ministry is on record as recognizing them as a national
standard. Graves says the MOE’s decision to ignore the
guidelines in the case of a contentious import and burning operation
like Bennett is proof of how little concern there is for public
health under Ontario’s new “open for toxic business” policy.
“The rewritten EA rules makes it possible for any
toxic waste operation to slam dunk the process,” says Graves.
“Citizens have lost the right to full public hearings,
intervenor funding and the power to call independent peer reviews.
All the while the Ministry has been telling us to trust the process.
What kind of trust can there be when the Ministry willingly tosses
out national guidelines from the get go?”
Graves says the Ministry has no choice but to abide by
the guidelines and reject the Bennett proposal.
For more information contact:
Terry Graves (705) 647-7307 / (705) 672-3450
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2) Northern Daily News - 4/24/02 - Letters to the Editor
Concerns over proposal call for serious discussion
To the editor:
It surprises me that at a time when there is a
critical shortage of physicians you continue the doctor bashing
tradition of the Kirkland Lake media.
Instead of addressing issues you have again chosen to
put debate on a personal level.
It is not the doctors that are hurting Kirkland Lake.
What is hurting Kirkland Lake is 10 years of investor
driven environmental solutions to the expense of other development.
What is also hurting Kirkland Lake is biased media and
an attitude of some of those in power that there should be no debate
on issues.
There are some serious concerns of the Bennett proposal.
There should be discussions about them, without
personal attack.
Many people of this town have not spoken on issues for
fear of personal attacks or loss of business.
Physicians are one of the few groups that can speak
out as they are not dependent on the town for survival.
You are wrong to suggest doctors are not aware of the
problems of unemployment.
While we may not experience it directly at the present
time we are well aware of the stresses unemployment places on our
patients in both the office and emergency.
We would very much like employment opportunities for
Kirkland Lake, but not at the sacrifice of our health.
Leaving things to experts is a cop out. It is
dangerous to our society to opt out of debate and leave it to so-called
experts who are paid by the proponent.
While some of the language is technical, anyone with a
good science background should be able to review pro and con articles
and come to an educated opinion if they take the time or interest.
Doctors are trained in the scientific methods and
trained to take a lead role in health care and prevention. Smoking
and drinking too much is bad for you, so are dioxins.
The trouble is the ingestion of dioxins is no longer a
personal choice if the plant that is close to your releases them.
The most damning part of your editorial is not the
personalized attacks on doctors.
It is the effect that sort of editorial will have on
physician recruitment.
With 150 communities in Ontario waiting to welcome
doctors and their idea on public health, why would any doctor come to
Kirkland Lake, just to be criticized for speaking out?
It’s really time the media take responsibility
for some of the negative things that have happened in this town.
Such as, biased reporting to promote political aims or
fostering division to sell more papers.
I would strongly suggest you publish a formal apology
to the doctors in this community on your front page.
Alternatively, you can do nothing but accept the
credit when there are no doctors left in town.
William Durocher, M.D.,
Kirkland Lake
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3) Northern Daily News - 4/22/02 - Letters to the Editor
Reader charined by remarks made by doctors about plant
To the editor:
With respect to the doctors recent expatiations
regarding the Bennett plant I was firstly surprised to find out that
there were so many of them around. Where have they been all our lives!
Then secondly, I was somewhat chagrined by the remarks
made by these "Nattering Nabobs of Negativism" about a
proposal I suspect few of them know little about. A case of the mis
informed being led by the ill advised?
As so-called professional people, why do they suspend
their belief in the scientific, technological and environmental
processes that apply to such an undertaking before a stamp of
approval is given. Or not. Speaking of pollution, where were people
of their ilk when the mines were spilling their cyanide laced
tailings into our lands and into our waters.
While some peop1e may try to equate the Walkerton
tragedy with proposals such as the Bennett facility, it is my
comprehension that an operation of a farming nature was the initial
culprit in that issue.
We should all step back from the pros and cons brink,
take a deep breath, and let open minds prevail as we wait for due
process to take it's course.
As for the doctors, my advice is the same as they
would give to others.
Take two aspirins and go to bed. You'll feel better tomorrow.
F. Scally,
Kirkland Lake
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4) Northern Daily News - 4/24/02 - Front Page & Headlines
Doctors doubted
Enouy says projects aren't to blame for departure of physicians
Jeff Wilkinson
Northern Daily news
Kirkland Lake:
Kirkland Lake Mayor Bill Enouy was back on the
defensive Tuesday afternoon trying to fend off the latest attack from
Kirkland Lake's doctors.
Recently, Dr. Marianne Talman wrote a letter to the
editor of The Northern Daily News indicating she was closing her
medical practice because of the recent controversy over the Bennett
Environmental Inc. project.
"It just irks me a little bit that someone would
blame our projects on the fact that they would be leaving town when
everybody knows those projects were on the table when those certain
people arrived in town and the same environmental policies that are
on the table right now were on the table two years ago, three years
ago, four years ago, etc.," Enouy said at council's committee of
the whole meeting Tuesday afternoon.
"If anything, the Adams Mine was more an active
topic back then when the doctors also arrived as well, so to say our
environmental policies might be driving them out of town might be
their opinion of what's happening, but I don't think our
environmental policies have changed," Enouy added.
Enouy noted during the last Kirkland Lake municipal
election, the people elected to the Kirkland Lake Council table were
elected with a clear mandate to pursue all environmental projects,
including the Bennett Environmental Inc. proposal.
"I'll say it now and I'll say it again, this
council was elected to exercise the will of the people," Enouy commented.
Enouy also had something to say about a letter
to the editor in Monday's Northern Daily News in which Dr. William
Durocher suggested there should be more discussion on the Bennett
Environmental Inc. proposal.
"That doctor ran a campaign in the last election,
which supported the Bennett proposal, so any chances of us having
discussions in that elect were precluded by the fact that everybody
ran for it," Enouy said. "So how do you have a meaningful
discussion in an election if people are going to tell you they're for
something and everybody says the same thing?"
Enouy said he was "disappointed" with the
current debate over the Bennett Environmental Inc. controversy.
"It's ironic, I think, that doctors who everyone
knew were leaving at the time are now blaming the Bennett controversy
(for) the reason they're leaving and I think that's wrong, "
Enouy said. "I don't want to fan the fires anymore, but it has
to be said, because if somebody's going to go public in the paper and
say things, it has to be refuted by people who know the facts or at
least, report our side of the facts.
"So, I' m disappointed about the way this thing
is going and I just wish it would stop right now," Enouy added.
Enouy said discussions surrounding Bennett
Environmental Inc. and doctor recruitment efforts " are separate
issues” and should be treated that way.
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5) Northern Daily News - 4/24/02 - Front Page
Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture discusses
economy with town council
JEFF WILKINSON
Northern Daily News
Kirkland Lake:
Members of the Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture
met Kirkland Lake Council at its committee of the whole meeting
Tuesday with one major goal in mind.
"The main purpose of these presentations is to
develop a better working relationship with the municipal leaders in
the district so that we can work together to address concerns and
improve the overall economic and social conditions in
Timiskaming,” John Vanthof, president of the federation said in
an address to council.
It's no secret that the Temiskaming Federation of
Agriculture has differed with council on the Notre Development
Corporation's garbage proposal for the Adams Mine and the current
Bennett Environmental Inc. project proposed for Kirkland Lake.
Vanthof clarified the federation's position on the
Bennett proposal.
"Our only interest in this, or any other
proposal, is to ensure that our members are not negatively impacted
in any way," Vanthof said.
Vanthof said the federation has participated in the
public consultation process and has reviewed Bennett's draft
application documents.
The TFA subsequently submitted a report to Bennett and
the Ministry of the Environment, which included the minutes of a
public information seminar hosted by the TFA in Kirkland Lake and an
executive s summary of the major outstanding e issues.
"We are currently waiting for Bennett to comment
on this report and release its final EA application," Vanthof added.
Vanthof said the TFA is concerned the MOE will
contravene its own guidelines if the proposal is improved and that
Bennett seems unwilling to accept liability.
Vanthof said the TFA is demanding the project be
subject to a full environmental assessment, "including an
unbiased peer review by the Environmental Assessment Review Board in
hearing form.."
Mayor Bill Enouy said Kirkland Lake Council has always
indicated it will support the Bennett project if it meets all the
necessary requirements set out by the Ministry of the Environment, so
the TFA's position on Bennett was not offensive.
"I see nothing in what you've said here that
would get me angry at you," Enouy told Vanthof.
Enouy said he does get angry, though, when
peoplepeople put out things they say are facts without the support of experts.
The TFA representatives also updated council on a
number of other issues.
The topics disussed included the proposed Nutrient
Managemetn Planning Legislation (Bill 81), groundwater issues,
including the rural water well upgrade program administered by the
TFA, includign its proposed participation in district groundwater
studies; landowners concerns regarding Bill 101 (snowmobile trails)
and an investors forum announced by Timiskaming-Cochrane MP Ben Serre
for May, 2003.
The TFA has been asked to participate in the forum by
providing one representative
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