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Workers succumb to Crofton stink |
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By Sean McIntyre
Gulf Islands Driftwood-
April 23, 2008
Smell descended “like a bomb”
A Salt Spring Island resident is searching for answers after a strange odour she believes came from the Crofton Mill left her and three people working outside her home with headaches, nausea and itchy eyes last week.
“I am angry and scared and in need of answers,” Anne Miller wrote in a letter to B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner immediately following the incident. “I have long known the potential dangers of the air from the mill, but had also thought that this was being rectified and, as we tend to do, I put that aside believing that our government would not allow us to be harmed if the dangers were known.”
Though Miller has smelled the sulphur-like odour coming from the Catalyst pulp and paper mill before, she’s never encountered symptoms like those experienced just after 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 15.
Jessie Gebhard said he and his crew noticed the strong odour when they approach the Millers’ Sunset Road property.
“We all know what [the mill] can smell like,” he said. “I’ve been here six years and have never smelled it that potent. You could almost taste it.”
Though Gebhard has often worked through the smell before, he said he and his crew were forced to shut down their rammed-earth building operation when it became evident their headaches and nausea were getting worse.
The men drove to Lady Minto Hospital where doctors flushed out their sinuses cavities with saline solution. Doctors could not identify the source of the irritant, Gebhard said.
Gebhard and fellow workers Silas Gebhard and Yash Black complained of shortness of breath, swollen throat glands and itchy eyes, though symptoms let up by Tuesday evening.
The men have since returned to work, but are left with some serious questions about the source of the fumes.
Gebhard would like to know if anybody else experienced similar symptoms, but suspects few people were out and about in the area when the incident occurred.
Catalyst paper spokesperson Michelle Vessey said she was unaware of any plant malfunctions that could have caused the incident.
“We’ve been contacted by the individuals and followed up on the issue,” she said. “We’ve looked at the data and found nothing that correlates.”
Vessey said people occasionally call the mill to complain about the smell of emissions, but added in 13 years at the facility she has not heard of any incidents like the one described by the Sunset Drive workers.
Emissions from the facility are monitored at three locations in the Crofton area, she said.
The mill became the centre of attention in 1992 when the Capital Regional District’s Healthy Atmosphere 2000 report noted that, while the mill is ranked among the province’s cleanest, “it was possible for weather conditions to trap and concentrate pollutants at ground level, causing emission levels to exceed ambient standards.”
A follow-up report, conducted in 2004 by former mill operator Norske Canada concluded that further monitoring of four of the 106 pollutants released by the mill is required.
The report failed to determine if emissions of sulphur dioxide, hydrogen chloride or hydrogen sulphide have caused any noticeable detrimental health effects in people living near the pulp mill.
The review concluded that emissions from the mill do not threaten ecosystems and residents living near the facility.
Despite the claim, Miller said she intends to gather more opinions and conduct further studies to investigate any potential health impacts related to the mill’s emissions.
“I am convinced that our air is under threat from the toxic pollutants that are emitted from the mill at Crofton, and most likely, from mills across the land, and I intend to find out the facts,” she said. “I am very motivated to do something about this.”
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/saltspringislanddriftwood/news/18029659.html
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