INDEX PCB Digest - 7/4/02
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1) Public Concern Temiskaming - For Immediate Release- July 4, 2002
Court Battle Looming As PCB Plan Plunges Dairy Industry Into Crisis
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1) Public Concern Temiskaming - For Immediate Release- July 4, 2002
Court Battle Looming As PCB Plan Plunges Dairy Industry Into Crisis
Earlton � Farm families from across Temiskaming region gathered in Earlton last night for an emergency meeting over the Bennett PCB incinerator. The meeting was called to deal with news that milk giant Parmalat will not give guarantees it will continue to buy milk from the region if the incinerator is built. The region supports a major dairy and beef industry worth over $100 million a year. The Parmalat letter puts the economic viability of the whole region in doubt.
The crowd of 175 gave unanimous support to the Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture to take what steps are necessary -- including court action -- to stop the incinerator from going ahead. The threat of court action comes even though the Bennett incinerator is currently undergoing Ontario�s scoped Environmental Assessment process.
Terry Graves of Public Concern Temiskaming says the recent Ministry of Environment move to disallow damning accident reports from Bennett�s existing incinerator at St. Ambroise, Quebec is proof that the Ministry has prejudiced the supposed impartiality of the process.
�The entire EA is based on Bennett�s claims at its St. Ambroise incinerator. It�s outrageous that the MOE has stepped into the process and moved the goal posts rather than subjecting these claims to any real scrutiny.�
Graves believes that the Ontario EA process has become such a one-sided joke that court action may be necessary. If court action were taken, the question of the whether or not the MOE is in conflict over the Bennett application would be a major issue.
For example, during the EA preparations, the MOE refused Freedom of Information requests to release emission rates from neighbouring plants. The existing emission rates are considered necessary to determine the existing toxic load in the region so as to give a sense of whether the Bennett incinerator would add an increased health risk.
�The MOE is in total conflict here. They are sitting on documents that are necessary to ensure public health, because any release of documents will reflect on whether the MOE has been failing in its job to protect public health. It�s an unbelievable situation. The MOE is actively colluding to undermine the public interest.�
The MOE has given the public only three more weeks for comment. No public hearings have been planned. A �war chest� for legal action has already raised thousands of dollars.
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P. O. Box 2320
New Liskeard, ON P0J 1P0
705-647-1533
[email protected]
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