INDEX PCB Digest - 5/1/02
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1) Public Concern Temiskaming - Media Advisory - 5/1/02
OFFICE OPENED TO COORDINATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST
TOXIC IMPORT AND BURNING
2) Letter to the Editor - sent to Northeastern Ontario
newspapers - 4/02
Heed your Doctor’s advice
3)Northern Daily News - Letters to the Editor - 4/29/02
Reader offers three reasons to say no to Bennett
Environmental Inc. project
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1) Public Concern Temiskaming - Media Advisory - 5/1/02
OFFICE OPENED TO COORDINATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST
TOXIC IMPORT AND BURNING
Public Concern Temiskaming (PCT) would like to
announce the opening of their office as the first step in a
national campaign to fight the siting of a hazardous waste
incinerator in Temiskaming.
The proposed incinerator would be built and operated
by Bennett Environmental. The hazardous waste facility would
burn PCBs, dioxins, herbicides and other toxic wastes from across
North America and even Mexico.
Organizer Terry Graves says the storefront and
volunteers will work to raise awareness of Bennett’s burning and
import plans. “Bennett Environmental is planning on using
Temiskaming as a burning grounds for US toxic wastes,” says Mr.
Graves. “This plan is a fundamental threat to all Canadians.”
The proposed incinerator will be near two grade
schools, a kindergarten, a daycare centre, and 240 homes and is in
violation of the national environmental guidelines on the siting of
hazardous waste incinerators in relation to residential areas.
The storefront opening is on Friday, May 3, 2002, at 7
p.m. at 30 Armstrong Street, New Liskeard, Ontario and is being
hosted by Public Concern Temiskaming.
For more information contact:
Public Concern Temiskaming 647-1533
Terry Graves (705) 647-7307 / 672-3450
Barbara Bukowski 567-4837
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2) Letter to the Editor - sent to Northeastern Ontario
newspapers - 4/02
Heed your Doctor’s advice
Dear Editor:
It was early 1990 when Ogden Martin, America's largest
builder and operator of municipal incinerators targeted the town of
Orillia, Ontario. This company convinced Orillia town council to
allow itself to become host to a "Modern Ogden Martin Resource
Recovery Facility". In layman's terms , this would be a
municipal waste incinerator that would produce some electrical power.
Trash would be supplied by Toronto. In April of 1990, Orillia signed
an “expression of interest” with Ogden .
Resistance to this plan erupted quickly. Citizen
groups proclaimed they were unwilling to become Toronto's garbage
can. Local Doctors used computers to search bio-medical journals
published in 70 countries for information on the health aspects of
incineration. They found that by-products of solid waste incinerators
were, among other things, chlorinated benzene, dioxin, mercury, lead
and cadium, all of which are bad for your health. 52 of Orillia's 54
Doctors endorsed a report titled “hazards of incineration”
and advised the public "that the current incineration proposal
for Orillia be stopped”.
A local Orillia "Tory” MPP even suggested
the incinerator should be built in Toronto if it was so safe. In the
meantime, 9000 of the town's 24,000 citizens backed the Doctors with
a anti-incineration petition. In August of 1990, the executive
committee of the Ontario Medical Association came out in defence of
the Doctors who took this stand. At this point in time, Orillia town
council cancelled the agreement wi th Ogden Martin .
Today, In April of 2002, Doctors are once again
advising the people of Temiskaming to stop an incinerator proposal. I
feel it would be prudent to "heed your Doctor's advice" and
put a stop to this ill conceived plan to treat toxic waste here in
Temiskaming. It is ironic how history keeps repeating itself.
Please “respect the North"
Larry Gilbert
Marter Township.
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3) Northern Daily News - Letters to the Editor - 4/29/02
Reader offers three reasons to say no to Bennett
Environmental Inc. project
To the editor:
During the past few months, there has been a vast
amount of information available about incineration and it's history.
This information has come from the news media,
websites and information meetings.
I am confident that the majority of it is fact and not
"propoganda" , as some would describe it.
Following are just three items of information which
have caused me to make a decision on the merits of incinerating toxic
waste here in Timiskaming.
Seattle, Wash.: Jim Puckett, a spokesman for the
Seattle based Basal Action Network that monitors the movement of
toxic waste throughout the world, says there is a growing
international pressure to ban incineration.
It is ironic that Canada was one of the first
countries to ratify this idea. Incineration is considered to be a
"sunset business" that is on its way out because there are
other technologies that can be used in a mobile manner without impact
on the environment.
St.Ambroise, Que,: Prior to operating its facility in
Quebec, Bennett Environmental Inc. did not do a base line study of
environment in that area, BUT the Quebec Ministry of the Environment did.
In 1997, these studies showed that the site in
question was devoid of PCB and dioxin contamination.
After only 300 days of operation, the Quebec Public
Health Unit found pollutants within a one kilometre radius of the
incinerator including lead, mercury, cadium, dioxins and furans.
In less than two years of operation of the plant, soil
has been contaminated to 3040 ppm dioxin.
Danny Ponn of Bennett Environmental Inc. explains this
all away by saying these contaminates have
been deposited by the general air-flow from distant places.
Kirkland Lake, Ont.: Recently the majority of doctors
in Kirkland Lake have taken a stand against the Bennett Environmental
Inc. proposal, saying that it is not in the public's best interest.
Mr.Ponn countered his by saying that the Bennett
proposal is a modem operation and will thereby cause no harm to the environment.
I recall, that on Jan. 5, 2002, Dr.Neil Carman
described the Bennett proposal as a "fairly run of the mill two
stage incinerator".
I have heard enough. I would suggest to Mr. Ponn that
he be the gentleman I know he can be and go home.
I, along with many others, do not want this toxic
waste incinerator in our region for very obvious reasons. 1
Please respect the North.
Larry Gilbert,
Marter Township
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PCB Digest
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PCB Information
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