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Feb 4, 2004
" Powell River has a fluidized bed boiler and they can't get a clean burn nor a clean act together."
Keeping ahead of TDF
01/27/2004
I attended a concerned citizens' meeting in Crofton on January 20
[about using tire-derived fuel (TDF) in the Crofton NorskeCanada mill],
["Study finds air 'excellent,'" August 20, 2003].
They had planned for weeks, maybe months. People filled the hall to
standing room and kept coming. Organizers were ready with an another
large meeting room downstairs, with audio. A professional moderator
kept it together for the around 500 people who came.
A local First Nation man welcomed us and we prayed for guidance.
Spokesperson Michael Ableman opened the meeting with a well thought out
and passionate description of how the group came together to respond to
NorskeCanada's new deal, only to realize they had a new deal of their
own that did not include more burning of so-called waste including
scrap tires, creosoted railroad ties and waste coal. They want the
current situation cleaned up.
I think Norske woke these people up. But never underestimate the value of praying for guidance.
Norske relied entirely on repeating: It's what we do in Powell River, or Port Alberni, or Campbell River, and nobody minds.
I like a little song and dance now and then, but everyone came for
information. They say information is the oxygen of democracy. If that
is so it would explain the blue faces.
A worried-looking ministry of land, water and air protection
representative came with empty hands and no baseline understanding of
the ambient air loading.
The Crofton area was heavy with sulphur compounds that night and the
mill looks dirty--more so if you consider migrating heat and vapour a
pollutant. The limited information I have garnered about their permit
looks dirty. Apparently, the ambient air monitors did not notice any
difference in the air quality when the mill was cold for over 10 months
during a strike.
The group invited me to attend their public meeting and a strategy
meeting with the core organizers, the next morning on Salt Spring
Island. I now know Norske is saying things to the other communities
that they are not saying here. Information finds me like this group
found me. I do a lot of work to qualify the stuff.
Paddy Goggins
Cranberry Street
©The Powell River Peak 2004
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Crofton Airshed Citizens Group looked the beast right in the eye and the beast blinked
NorskeCanada has asked for a six-month extension to an application to
burn three new waste streams in the Crofton mill. Norske Crofton
Division vice-president Don McKendrick has called for a six-month
time-out on the application to the ministry of water, land and air
protection to switch from natural gas to imported scrap tires, treated
railway ties and waste coal as supplemental fuel due to the dwindling
amounts of free wood waste that fuelled the pulp and paper industry for
so long.
Why? Is it because the Duncan city council decided to reverse its
position unanimously and support the people, not the mill? Is it
because the Halalt First Nation has a deep concern for the air, water
and land (and maybe a big law firm behind them)? Could it be because
there are some things that mean more than money to Norske?
When Norske told Powell River it wanted to test replacing natural gas
fuel with cheap scrap tires there was panic. Apparently, same in
Crofton.
But the scenario played out differently here. Our council continues to
support Norske doing whatever it can get away with. The stinking
clarifier in Townsite is a fine example. Norske has a solution it won't
use due to cost.
Sliammon First Nation took a huge step up to the plate in the local
discussion and Environmental Appeal Board proceedings. We the citizens
were told the dialogue was over and that we could always appeal.
The Crofton group will be working with Powell River, Port Alberni and
Elk Falls communities as a coalition. I will be arranging a Clean Air
Now meeting for interested locals and will place an ad in The Peak with
the time and place. I will also email Clean Air Now's members list.
So why do you think that Norske told the people in Crofton they were
going to apply for a permanent amendment to the air emissions permit
that would allow them to burn imported scrap tires in Powell River,
without telling us first? I'd like to know.
Paddy Goggins
Cranberry Street
Editor's note: Brian Johnston, Norske vice-president and Powell River
mill manager, told The Peak the company is still evaluating whether to
apply for a permanent permit to burn tire-derived fuel in Powell River.
©The Powell River Peak 2004
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Reader Opinions
Post your opinion and share your thoughts with other readers!
Name: anne cameron
Date: Feb, 04 2004
"Waste stream" incineration is another of those euphemisms which hide
some truly diabolical plans. First it was old tires. Then it was old
tires and coal. Now it's old tires, coal, and used creasote-soaked
railway ties... what next?
Well, what next will be a way to burn "waste flow" AND make a few bucks
as well... Vancouver is running out of places to send it's garbage...
garbage will burn...that firepit in the Norske Mill in Powell River is
capable of taking garbage from all over the province, and even further
afield, adding it to the hog fuel, old tires, railroad ties and coal
and using it as fuel. Plastic will burn, medical waste will burn,
household garbage will burn, hospital garbage will burn, just about
anything will burn and what won't burn can be dragged out with the
ashes and either sold to the metal salvager or used as fill in road
beds.
The mill in Powell River, regardless of which corporation owned it, has
never been a good corporate citizen. The law allows corporations the
same rights as people but it does not demand of them the same
responsibilities ... as proof, how many CEO's and upper or middle
management guru's have ever wound up in jail for cavalierly
disregarding anti-pollution laws? This province puts a 70+ year old
grandmother in jail for standing on a logging road but the jerks who
stood with their heads implanted and allowed deadly chlorine gas to
escape in Powell River didn't hear the big steel doors slam. They've
got the municipal council hog-tied with a decades old agreement signed
when the stink factory was first built... and that gives them virtual
carte blanche to do whatever they want and the council hasn't the legal
right to confront them.
BUT THE CITIZENS DO!!!
Come on, off your duffs, it is your kids and grand-kids who will pay
the price of this atrocity. Already the respiratory disease rate is
higher than provincial norms, the childhood cancer rate is
heartbreaking... or don't you care what happens to your grand-children?
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Air Pollutants 
