|
Clearing the Air Over Crofton |
|
|
|
CLEARING THE AIR OVER CROFTON
By Michael Ableman, Crofton Citizens Airshed Group
[appeared as op-ed piece in Times Colonist, July 17, 2004]
We are pleased that the upcoming Clean Air Concert has aroused so much
attention. While many have expressed support of our efforts to clean up
the air in the region, some are feeling threatened.
We are not trying to take away jobs, or close the mill, as some have
suggested. We are trying to find out whether the Crofton Mill's
emissions are affecting public health. Anecdotal evidence suggests that
they are. If this is confirmed by independent scientific assessment,
then we intend to work with the company and other stakeholders to
improve the situation. Everyone has a birthright to clean air. We
believe that no one should ever have to choose between their jobs and
their health, they have a right to both.
Last January at a community meeting in Crofton, dozens of speakers rose
to tell their stories about how they believe the mill is affecting
their lives. Some can't breathe properly. Others get stinging eyes and
headaches. Others worry when cleaning mill ash off their cars or decks
what it may be doing to their lungs. Some are leaving town rather than
raise their kids there.
Most disturbing , we discovered, is that there are no laws protecting
us from dangerous air emissions. BC's regulations for air emissions are
so lax, we might as well be living in a third world country. Mills must
have a permit, but there are no legally binding standards for air
quality to write into those permits. The permit for the Crofton mill
regulates only four of dozens of harmful substances, it is almost 30
years old, and it was written at a time when much less was known about
the effect of these substances on people's health.
Is there anyone who would not be concerned if they found out that their
kid's asthma, or their partner's cancer, or their own heart disease was
tied to pollutants coming from that mill? The problem is that we do not
know. And so the Crofton Airshed Citizens Group is pursuing an
independent scientific study to tell us what the impacts of the mill
are. "Independent" means the study is not paid for, managed, and
controlled by the polluters themselves. Rather than responding to the
public’s demands to study and clean up it’s pollution, NorskeCanada has
focused on cleaning up it’s image, but his is not a perception problem,
it’s a pollution problem.
The National Pollution Release Inventory run by the Canadian government
tells us that the exhaust gases leaving the Crofton mill each day carry
with them a tonne of fine particulate matter, a tonne of volatile
organic compounds, two tonnes of hydrochloric acid, three and a half
tonnes of sulphur dioxide, one and a half tonnes of methanol, plus
dioxins and furans, chlorine dioxide, formaldehyde, PCBs, and
hexavalent chromium. Each of these substances is dangerous to human
health.
Moreover, we know that the mill does not always operate under 'steady
state' or optimum conditions. This is clear from the periodic fall out
events, from very evident changes in the colour of the emissions, and
from monitoring data provided by the company.
Our organization believes that the Crofton Mill should be guided by
precaution, a principle now written into the environmental laws of
every civilized country in the world including the Canadian
Environmental Protection Act.
"When any activity raises threats of harm to the environment or human
health, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and
effect relationships are not fully established scientifically."
The key element of this principle is that it incites us to take
anticipatory action even in the absence of scientific certainty. The
burden of proof should be on the company to prove that its emissions
are safe, and not on citizens groups to prove that they are not.
It is no longer acceptable for any corporation to pollute. The
technology exists to dramatically reduce harmful emissions. Sweden is
pioneering closed-loop mills that recapture effluent and minimize
emissions. There is no reason why Canadians cannot be as innovative as
Swedes in solving problems, and why we should not be setting a goal for
the eventual elimination of pollution altogether.
We believe that most people share our desire for cleaner air in the
Crofton airshed. We want the upcoming concert to be a catalyst for
community members, workers, the company, and government agencies to get
together to find solutions.
|
In the News