INDEX PCB Digest - 4/25/02
______________________________________________
1) Public Concern Temiskaming (PCT) - 4/25/02
For Immediate Release
Incinerator Company and Town Officials Aware
National Guidelines Being Contravened
2) Northern Daily News - 4/25/02 - Front Page & Headlines
Doctors backed
3) Reminder: Organizing Rally - 4/28/02
Public Concern Temiskaming Rally - Sunday, April
28, 2002 - 1:30 p.m. - Earlton Arena
______________________________________________
1) Public Concern Temiskaming (PCT) - 4/25/02
For Immediate Release
Incinerator Company and Town Officials Aware
National Guidelines Being Contravened
Kirkland Lake – Both Bennett Environmental (BEI)
and the Town of Kirkland Lake were well aware they weren’t
meeting the national CCME guidelines when they set out to site a
toxic waste incinerator in the residential neighbourhood in Kirkland
Lake. Danny Ponn (company representative) and Todd Morgan (local Town
Councillor) made the admission in today’s Northern Daily News.
The men were responding to allegations made yesterday
by Liberal MPP David Ramsay that the proposed PCB/dioxin incinerator
contravened the national CCME guidelines which states that no
incinerators are to be built within 1.5 km of a residential
neighbourhood. Both Mr. Ponn and Mr. Morgan say they were aware of
the guidelines when they set out to site the incinerator close to a
day care centre, two grade schools and over 240 residential homes.
The company and the Town are taking the position that these national
guidelines are not binding by Ontario law.
But Terry Graves, a spokesman for Public Concern
Temiskaming, points out that Bennett has been using the CCME
guidelines as a benchmark by which their incinerator would be judged.
According to Bennett’s own published “Proposed Terms of
Reference” for the EA (posted on the Bennett website) the
company makes the following promise (Background Document 4) “BEI
will meet the CCME’s National Guidelines for Hazardous Waste
Incineration Facilities.”
“What we have here is a company that’s
telling us it’s okay to pick and choose what guidelines it
adheres to when it comes to setting up a hazardous waste
incinerator,” says Terry Graves. “That this issue has even
managed to get this far shows how far our province has fallen in
terms of establishing basic rules to protect citizens.”
Bennett Environmental is looking to import
contaminated materials from across the U.S. and Mexico. A major
market for the company is dioxin. Company president John Bennett
describes dioxin (in an interview with the Wall Street Transcript) as
“the most toxic element known to man.”
Just how toxic was made clear recently with the dioxin
disaster in Albertville, France. Contamination from an incinerator,
one-tenth the size of the proposed Bennett facility, has played havoc
with local dairy operations and resulted in high dioxin levels in
breastfeeding mothers. Graves says he finds it unbelievable that the
Province would allow a dioxin import and burning operation to take
place so close to residential homes and grade schools.
For more information contact:
Terry Graves (705) 647-7307 / (705) 672-3450
-30-
P. O. Box 592
Kirkland Lake, Ontario P2N 3J5
705-567-1497
[email protected]
______________________________________________
2) Northern Daily News - 4/25/02 - Front Page & Headlines
Doctors backed
Ramsay supports opposition to Bennett
Kirkland Lake:
Timiskaming Cochrane MPP David Ram say is supporting
the doctors in their opposition to the proposed location of Bennett
Environmental soil treatment facility.
At a press conference Wednesday, MPP David Ramsay said
he has just learned about guidelines established by the Canadian
Council of Ministers of the Environment that say hazardous waste
incinerators "shall not be located within 1,500 metres of
occupied public buildings, residents, schools, etc."
Ramsay said the CCME is a national organization
located in Ottawa and is comprised of all the provincial and federal
ministers of environment.
"What I'm concerned about is two things; number
one, why didn't the MOE post this concern in regards to the proposed
incinerator, when it has cited this concern in regards to the non
incinerating destructive device that TCI is proposing to add to their
facility? But maybe more importantly, why wasn't the town council
here and the local site selection committee told that there is a
national guideline that MOE recognizes as one of the Ministries of
Environment in this country, that states there should be a setback of
1,500 metres for hazardous waste incinerators? I don't know the
answer to that, but I am very concerned about that. I think the
ministry and company should have been up front," said Ramsay.
Todd Morgan, who is a Kirkland Lake councillor and
chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Bennett proposal,
attended the press conference and, after the conference, said,
"CCME is strictly a guideline, not a law, and is only there to
help with the site selection process. The studies show that there
will be no impact on inhabitated areas. All this information was
considered during the site selection."
Morgan said, "It (CCME guidelines) is a total non
issue. I am here as a CAC member so, if there is new information, we
are aware of it, but this information is three years old. We take our
responsibility very seriously."
Danny Ponn, Bennett Environmental's chief operating
officer, confirmed Morgan's comments, saying, "One or two of the
members brought it (CCME guidelines) up as part of the selection criteria.".
Ponn then added, "The CCME is a body. I think the
federal government, the 10 provincial governments and the three
territories send their ministers of environment and they have a
discussion of what trends and what to adopt. They have a lot of
guidelines and that allows the provinces to choose what they want to
adopt as regulations and what they want to ignore. It is like an
equalizing body so you have equal regulations across the country."
What Ramsay didn't mention at his press conference is
the Ontario regulations concerning the location of incinerators.
Ponn said, "The regulation in Ontario is 300
metres, that is in effect because there have been two incineration
facilities licenced recently that are within that. For example, the
facility in Cornwall, that also incinerates PCBs, is in the
industrial park and they have neighbours...A recently licenced
hospital or biomedical waste incinerator in Brampton is the same
thing they are inside an industrial park, across the street from
neighbours and other industrial facilities."
The closest houses to the proposed Bennett site are
about 750 metres away, said Ponn.
Ramsay, however, said at his press conference the MOE,
as one of the ministries in the country, recognizes the setback of
1,500 metres for incinerators.
The company and the ministry should have been up front
with the public. Obviously, you can look at these things and study
them, but there are some minimum requirements that have already been
accepted by the scientific community and have been adopted by all the
ministries of environment across this country, as some basic minimum
national standards. That is a 1,500 metre setback. So I thought I
needed to bring that forward. It needs to be entered into the debate.
It' s probably better that it' s out now. We discover this now and
debate this now before the final EA," said Ramsay.
However, Ponn is having a hard time understanding why
the location is becoming an issue. He has said on a number of
occasions that it was the Citizens Advisory Committee that chose the
site and Bennett went along with their selection
"What I don't understand is they have issues with
the site. If the process is safe.... does it matter where you site
these things - if they are safe ?"
Bennett is still committed to locating in Kirkland
Lake. Ponn said, "What we want to do now is get our formal
Environmental Assessment report out so we can address some of the
issues that are being raised in terms of safety and impact on the
Kirkland Lake environment. If we can address those, then I think some
of the concerns would be addressed.”
To date, Bennett has worked on the process of locating
in Kirkland Lake for two and one half years, and has spent about $2
million on the project. Because the Environmental Assessment is site
specific, if the company had to start again, it would be looking at
an additional two years.
______________________________________________
3) Reminder: Organizing Rally - 4/28/02
Public Concern Temiskaming Rally - Sunday, April
28, 2002 - 1:30 p.m. - Earlton Arena
Public Concern Temiskaming
invites you to an
Organizing Rally
April 28th
at the
Earlton Arena upstairs
1:30 p.m.
COME HEAR DR. PAUL CONNETT, AN INTERNATIONAL DIOXIN EXPERT
IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE DANGEROUS EFFECTS OF
BURNING PCBS,
THEN THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE
TOGETHER WE CAN KEEP THE NORTH CLEAN
OUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT
FOR MORE INFORMATION PELASE CALL 705-647-1533
______________________________________________
PCB Digest
http://members.fortunecity.com/toxic/
PCB Information
http://www21.brinkster.com/nopcb/