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Toxic Sludge is Good for You |
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August 20, 2007
Barry Penner, Minister of Environment, has signed a Code of Practice allowing toxic waste to be spread on BC Crown lands, agricultural land growing food crops and forestry lands, including land in the Agricultural Land Reserve, watershed areas, tree crops, livestock grazing and forage crops. The new Soil Amendment Code of Practice will to come into effect September 1, 2007 despite the wide protest by citizens and environmental groups around the province.
Waste qualifying as soil ‘amendments’ in the code include: fly-ash,
pulp mill sludge, domestic sewage, lime mud or waste, industrial or
domestic water treatment sludge and industrial wood waste. Wastes may
also contain some foreign matter - composed of demo waste, metal,
glass, plastic, rubber and leather.
There are no provisions in
the Code for soil sediment testing, analysis or non-compliance
enforcement of the Code by government officers. "Qualified
Professionals" hired by industry will be responsible in deciding if
wastes applied to the site bring soil to levels of a contaminated site.
And there are no provisions for linking waste disposal activities to
the property title for protection in land ownership transfers.
Public
notification consists of a warning sign on the land, after application
for up to 36 months although some contaminants from pulp mills are
known to be highly persistent, bio-accumulative in the environment and
carcinogenic. The protection to public health is woefully inadequate
with no notification required prior to application and minimal testing
required of the waste.
Send a letter to the Minister of Environment expressing your feelings about spreading toxic sludge across the province.
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This is not the first time that it has been proposed to spread toxic pulp mill sludge on farms and forests of BC. In July, 2000, then Minister of Environment Joan Sawicki heard loud and clear from the BC environmental community that the idea was not acceptable. You can read the letter and the background documents here , hosted by our partner organization Reach for Unbleached.
In November, 2006 the government announced their intentions to pass this Code, raising loud protests from concerned communities and organizations across the province. Click here to read the CACG response.
In other jurisdictions, the spreading of sewage and industrial sludge has been met with raging controversy. Legal battles, serious health complaints and a legacy of persitent pollutants embedded into the atmosphere are the result. Read the Epoch Times, of New York detailing the history of the issue in southern Ontario.
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