I find it intriguing that Mr. Penner considers heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury to be "soil amendments" and "nutrients" when in fact they are deadly poisons.
See Environment Minister Responds on Sludge
According to agencies such as Health Canada, Environment Canada, US Center for Disease Control, Harvard University, University of Calgary, University of Kentucky, and the World Health Organization, heavy metals cross the blood-brain barrier and destroy brain and nerve cells. They cause immune disorders, cancers such as leiomyosarcoma and multiple myeloma, cardiovascular disease, dementia, kidney failure, hormone irregularities including infertility, fibromyalgia, depression, chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders, +++. (Mercury alone causes over 200 symptoms which multiply exponentially with every added heavy metal.)
Heavy metals bio-accumulate--our bodies can't get rid of them so we
accumulate more as we age--causing more symptoms and raising the cost
of health care. Heavy metals cross the placenta so mothers pass their
heavy metals to their developing babies, then feed them metal-tainted
breast milk.
Environment Canada's National Pollution Release Inventory shows that in
2006, the Catalyst pulp mill in Crofton voluntarily reported "on-site
releases to air and water" of 74.490 kg arsenic, 13.130 kg cadmium,
42.400 kg lead, and 1.230 kg mercury. These "on-site releases to air
and water" travel with wind currents, contaminating our soil and the
crops we grow in it; the water we drink and the fish that live in it;
and the air we breathe. That's bad enough.
In 2006, Catalyst's "on-site disposals to landfill" include 1.590 kg
arsenic, 7.948 kg cadmium, 108.098 kg lead, and 0.016 kg mercury;
"off-site disposals to landfill" include 404.574 kg arsenic, 28.362 kg
cadmium, 900.907 kg lead, and 1.335 kg mercury.
In 2006, the Crofton mill released 2.5 kilos mercury; 1.5 kg of that
into landfills. An acute dose of 1-4 grams of mercuric chloride
(mercury plus chlorine, which the mill also discharges) can kill a
person within 24 hours. The mill also released over 1.5 metric tonnes
of lead alone; one tonne into landfills, aka "sludge" aka "soil
amendments." How can we worry about lead-painted toys from China when
the greater threat to our health is right under (and inside) our noses?
That's just one pulp mill in B.C.; others dump similar amounts.
After decades of discharging heavy metals directly into our air and
oceans, Mr. Penner has just given pulp mills carte blanche to pollute
our soils directly with heavy metal-contaminated sludge from
overflowing landfills--and call it "soil amendments."
True, Crofton mill's landfill sludge does contain trace elements found
in fertilizer--but any gardener will tell you that an overdose of
fertilizer will kill plants sooner than feed them (eg. 2006 total
discharges: 83.5 tonnes of manganese, 9 tonnes of zinc, 146.6 tonnes
of phosphorus, and 74 kg of hexavalent chromium, plus numerous noxious
chemicals). Which mill worker is going to hand-apply this heavy
metal-contaminated "fertilizer" to individual plants to protect them
from root burn--and at what cost to his/her health? If mill effluent
discharges into oceans kill sea life, why would these same compounds
"improve soil conditions in agricultur[e] or forestry"?
A gardener would also know that if you dump lime on our acid-loving
cedars, wild rhododendrons, salal, Oregon grape and Douglas firs,
you'll "sweeten the soil" and kill the plants.
Far from letting pulp mills further poison our soils, Mr. Penner, these
polluters should be held responsible for destroying our
environment--and our health--over their decades of lucrative
operations.
Christel Martin, B.G.S., C.T.M.
741 8255
Data from:
http://www.ec.gc.ca/pdb/querysite/facility_substance_summary_e.cfm?opt_npri_id=0000001266&opt_report_year=2006
Air Pollutants 
