Northern Daily News
Friday, January 4, 2002
 
Headline: Project backed
Sub headline: Kirkland Lake Mayor Bill Enouy defends Bennett proposal
 
by Rick Owen
Kirkland Lake:
 
Call it what you want, but Kirkland Lake's Mayor isn't calling Saturday's meeting to discuss Bennett Environmental's plans an information session.
 
Mayor Bill Enouy called a press conference Thursday to voice his concerns about the proposed information session planned for Northern College on Saturday.
 
He pointed out that during the past two years, anyone with questions about Bennett, including the Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture and Public Concern Timiskaming, had a number of chances to voice their concerns.
 
He described the two speakers being brought in from the United States for the event as "two loaded speakers - to bring propaganda against Bennett."
 
The mayor said they are trying to spread paranoia and fear about the project rather than going through the legitimate process.
 
Currently, Bennett Environmental is undergoing an environmental assessment as part of the process of locating a facility in Kirkland Lake to process contaminated soil.
 
In talking about the people who are opposed to Bennett locating in Kirkland Lake, Enouy said it doesn't matter to Public Concern Timiskaming if their questions are answered. He continued by stating that they will work within the system as long as it works for them and as long as no party involved abandons this system.
 
Enouy said he will not attend the session because, along with his invitation to attend, he also received an anti-pamphlet.
 
As well, the mayor said he had attended all of Bennett's open houses.
 
While the town has not received any official indications from municipalities in South Timiskaming that they are opposed to Bennett locating in Kirkland Lake, the mayor said, "I don't know what the bug-a-boo is about in South Timiskarning."
 
Since the municipal election, Mayor Enouy said Kirkland Lake has been working with municipalities to the south, pointing to the town's cooperation with Earlton on the airport issues as one example.
 
Enouy said that individuals do not see signs in Kirkland Lake advising them not to drink the water in south Timiskaming, but that there are signs to the South of Kirkland Lake, opposing Bennett. The mayor noted that there have been water problems in South Timiskaming and that in the summer, there have been beaches closed.
 
Enouy also said that in south Timiskaming there are mills and plants right on lakes, but that no one seems to complain about that. One of the objections raised to the Bennett proposal is that the plant is located in the town of Kirkland Lake. He described the people who are opposed to the Bennett project as not being environmentalists, but rather as NIMBYs (not in my backyard). The project is legitimate and is going through the process, the mayor said.
 
“We are for the project if it passes all the safeguards,” said Enouy. We are not afraid of the truth. The truth is that this is a solution aaand not a problem." In commenting about the environmental Assessment process that Bennett is going through, Enouy added, "I still have faith in the system, I don't believe in anarchy. We can’t outside the system and get things done.”
 
NOTE: The headline and article is accompanied by a large, coloured photo of Mayor Bill Enouy sitting at a desk with the Bennett reports in front of him and holding the PCT pamphlet in his right hand.