INDEX PCB Digest - 5/7/02
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1) Bennett Shareholders' Meeting, King Edward Hotel,
Toronto, Thursday May 9th
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1) Public Concern Temiskaming is asking for your
support at the shareholders' meeting in Toronto. If you can
find the time to be there, contact Terry Graves (705) 647-7307 (705) 672-3450
or email [email protected].
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Bennett Shareholders' Meeting, King Edward Hotel,
Toronto, Thursday May 9th
- gather outside the hotel at 3:45 pm
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Public Concern Temiskaming (PCT)
For Immediate Release:
May 6, 2002
Bennett Increasingly Bogged Down By Incinerator Battle
Kirkland Lake - On the eve of its annual shareholders'
meeting, Bennett Environmental (BEL) has been all over the news
and not in the way it had been planning. The Toronto-based
incinerator company had been one of the high-flying stock
successes in the post-September11th financial world. But its
plans to site a dioxin / PCB incinerator in the Temiskaming region
of Northern Ontario is running into increasing roadblocks.
The company is still reeling from the news that the
region's Member of Provincial Parliament, David Ramsay, has
called for the project to be shut down. Mr. Ramsay points out
that the plan to build within a 1.5 km radius of two grade schools, a
day care centre and over 240 homes is in clear violation of
national CCME (Canadian Council of Ministers of the
Environment) guidelines. Bennett had said it could meet all the
CCME guidelines but, as Mr. Ramsay pointed out in a recent
press conference, the Bennett plan clearly contravenes the CCME
1.5 km minimum clearance to residential neighbourhoods.
As well, the Bennett controversy hit the provincial
and national media when 34 local doctors took a stand against
the incinerator. The doctors have since been joined by the
local Public School Board which wants the plant moved away from
the schools.
By far the biggest head-ache, however, is coming from
a citizens’ coalition. Public Concern Temiskaming, a coalition
of farmers, First Nations and residents has opened a full time
store-front staffed with volunteers to launch a national
campaign against Bennett. The citizens are veterans of the 12-year
battle against the billion dollar Adams Mine dump. Local
citizens defeated the Adams Mine in its final stages of contract
negotiations by resorting to roadblocks and rail blockades.
Terry Graves, a spokesman with Public Concern
Temiskaming, says Bennett didn't take into account the depth of
organizational opposition to the toxic waste plan.
"Bennett made a major mistake when it assumed it
would be dealing with disorganized citizens," says Mr.
Graves. "Our region has been fighting environmental issues
for two decades. People are organized. They are militant and
they know how to win."
Certainly the media are banking on a big battle. On
Wednesday, May 1st, Canada's premiere news show, the National,
predicted that the battle against the Bennett incinerator would
even dwarf the battle against the Adams Mine. The news special
noted that the Temiskaming region was ready and more than
willing to fight.
For more information contact:
Terry Graves (705) 647-7307 / (705) 672-3450
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PCB Digest
http://members.fortunecity.com/toxic/
PCB Information
http://www21.brinkster.com/nopcb/