INDEX PCB Digest - 7/5/02
__________________________________________________________________
1) Temiskaming Speaker -7/3/02 - Front Page
Might not buy local dairy products
Milk producers face new worries about BEI
2) Temiskaming Speaker - 6/26/02 - Front page
Quebec plant data relevant in BEI review: MPP
__________________________________________________________________
1) Temiskaming Speaker -7/3/02 - Front Page
Might not buy local dairy products
Milk producers face new worries about BEI
by Diane Johnston
Speaker Reporter
TORONTO � Heat over a proposal to build a hazardous waste incinerator in Kirkland Lake has been turned up a notch.
Temiskaming�s MPP has released a letter from one of Canada�s largest dairy processors offering no guarantee to continue buying Temiskaming milk if consumers express concern over the safety of milk produced in the vicinity of the incinerator.
Local milk producers are worried, said Louis Ethier, a Thornloe dairy producer who heads the association representing the district�s 80 milk producers.
�We all have millions invested in this thing, whether it�s quota or land or whatever,� said Mr. Ethier last week.
He said it�s now clear that �just the perception that maybe something could happen� could be enough to end milk sales.
�Milk would be the tip of the iceberg,� warned Timiskaming-Cochrane Liberal MPP David Ramsay last week.
Opponents of the Bennett Environmental Inc. (BEI) proposal say the BEI project jeopardizes a $100-million agricultural industry.
�It�s non-negotiable. It�s black and white. You can�t have a toxic waste industry in a thriving agricultural region,� said Barb Bukowski, a spokesperson for the citizens� group Public Concern Temiskaming, in a statement.
MILK COMPANY RESPONSE
Concern began spreading June 26, when Mr. Ramsay released a letter from Robert Poirier, Parmalat Canada�s senior vice president of operations.
In a June 7 response to Mr. Ramsay, Mr. Poirier wrote that Parmalat Canada �cannot give assurance� that it would continue to buy Temiskaming milk if the Bennett project goes ahead.
Mr. Poirier said scientific evidence of the proposed plant�s safety would not be enough.
�If scientific proof were given by Bennett Environmental that there was no impact of their project on agriculture in the area, we would consider accepting milk from that area only in as much and for so long as there was no pressure from our consumers and our customers,� Mr. Poirier wrote.
�You are right in saying that perception can be as damaging as reality on issues of food safety,� he continued.
�Therefore, any concern from the population would force us in refusing delivery of the milk and in asking the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) organization to replace that volume to us by milk produced in other areas.�
Parmalat is an international company employing more than 39,000 employees in 160 plants in almost three dozen countries.
It�s one of the largest food companies in Canada, with product lines including Beatrice, Lactantia, Astro, Black Diamond and Balderson.
Mr. Ethier said Temiskaming�s milk is shipped to Parmalat plants in Sudbury, Thornloe and Laverlochere, north of Ville Marie, Quebec.
To Mr. Ramsay, the company�s response �gets us out of this scientific pissing match that goes on with these projects. Is it safe? Isn�t it safe?�
He said Mr. Poirier has agreed that consumer perception of food safety is key.
When it comes to food safety, Mr. Ramsay said perception becomes reality.
�This isn�t an argument from me,� he said. �This is why I went to the customer, the person who purchases the milk.�
REACTION
On June 27, Mr. Ethier was in Toronto meeting with the DFO, the producer-run organization that handles the marketing of the province�s milk.
The board was supportive and receptive to their concerns, he said.
DFO did not return calls for comment.
Mr. Ethier said questions over the safety of food produced in areas near industrial development could have Ontario-wide implications.
The Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture is inviting anyone concerned about the developments to attend a meeting at the Earlton Community Centre Wednesday, July 3 at 8:30 p.m.
Mr. Ramsay said he delivered copies of the letter to Ontario Agriculture Minister Helen Johns and theoffice of Premier Ernie Eves some ten days before releasing it in the legislature June 26.
At that time, he asked the premier to put a stop to the Bennett proposal.
�The government has the power and the obligation to step in now to protect Northern agriculture and the safety of Ontario�s food supply,� Mr. Ramsay said last week.
BEI has now submitted an environmental assessment document to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for review. The deadline for comment is August 9.
BEI officials could not be reached for comment in time for this week�s Speaker.
__________________________________________________________________
2) Temiskaming Speaker - 6/26/02 - Front page
Quebec plant data relevant in BEI review: MPP
by Diane Johnston
Speaker Reporter
TORONTO � Temiskaming�s MPP is concerned that data from a Quebec hazardous waste incinerator will not be included in a review of a proposal by the same company to build a similar plant in Kirkland Lake.
Timiskaming-Cochrane Liberal MPP David Ramsay described the rejection as another example of how �the Mike Harris Environmental Assessment Act fails our environment and the people of Ontario.�
Bennett Environmental Inc. (BEI) submitted its environmental assessment for a Kirkland Lake plant to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for review last week.
BEI proposes to treat up to 200,000 tonnes of contaminated soil and other solid waste annually by a two-stage burning process.
BEI now operates a similar but smaller plant in St. Ambroise in the Saguenay region of Quebec.
Mr. Ramsay wants the Ontario ministry�s environmental assessment branch to include data from daily monitoring of stack emissions at the Quebec plant as part of the environmental assessment of the Kirkland Lake project.
But his request was turned down in a June 11 letter from Michael Williams, director of the ministry�s environmental assessments and approvals branch.
�NOT APPROPRIATE�
In the letter released by the MPP, Mr. Williams said the St. Ambroise facility is licensed and operated in Quebec, and therefore subject to different environmental standards than it would have to meet in Ontario.
He said the Kirkland Lake plant would also differ in size and technology from the St. Ambroise facility.
�Therefore a direct comparison of the environmental impacts would not be appropriate in this EA (environmental assessment),� he wrote.
But Mr. Ramsay argues that the information is relevant.
The St. Ambroise plant �is half the size of the proposed Kirkland Lake facility and uses the same technology save for a few minor modifications,� he said in the legislature earlier this week.
He noted that BEI frequently refers to the operations of its Quebec plant in its EA submission for the Kirkland Lake plant.
�Why would you not look at it?� Mr. Ramsay said.
Rather than relying on modelling and extrapolations, he said the Quebec plant�s record offers information from a �real life� operating facility.
He has asked Environment and Energy Minister Chris Stockwell to consider �this vital data� as part of the BEI environmental assessment.
Opponents of the BEI proposal say failing to include the information will gag potential criticism.
�If the upsets and accidents at St. Ambroise are not admissible, then none of Bennett�s EA claims can be included,� said Terry Graves of Public Concern Temiskaming in a statement.
�The EA is based on their record at St. Ambroise. The MOE (Ministry of the Environment) is attempting to squash the only reasonable yardstick for judging these claims.�
PONN RESPONDS
Danny Ponn, BEI vice-president and chief operating officer, said it would not be appropriate for the company to comment on the ministry�s response at this time when a public comment period is underway.
�This is now in the ministry�s hands,� he said earlier this week.
But Mr. Ponn said BEI is �absolutely� willing to make information about operations at its St. Ambroise plant public.
Public Concern Temiskaming charges that reports from the Quebec site paint �a disturbing picture of blow-outs and contamination.�
The group said the reports document unplanned emissions lasting from two to 14 minutes.
But Mr. Ponn said BEI is still trying to discover the source of the 14-minute figure.
�We�re not denying that the vents opened because of power failure or power interruption,� he said.
But by the company�s records, he said control measures were out of operation for no more than four minutes.
Even during such conditions, he said the system remains hot enough that waste continues to be destroyed.
__________________________________________________________________
PCB Digest
http://members.fortunecity.com/toxic/
PCB Information
http://www21.brinkster.com/nopcb/