Dissension a sign of failed process on the cleanup
Letter to editor from Bruno Marcocchio
Cape Breton Post
Thursday, July 3, 2003
It is clear with the publication of Parker Donham's memo on JAG's inept
handling of the public consultations on Boularderie Island that the rats
are abandoning the JAG ship. The resorting to back biting and finger
pointing at the first real interaction with stakeholders when a concrete
proposal was finally spelled out, shows how useless and self serving the
JAG exercise has been.
Mr. Donham, the Provinces' spin-doctor, wants no public discussion of the
plan. He admits government, behind closed doors, with no public input, is
preparing the clean up plan. Parker's wish on the island he dares call
home, is to keep the residents uninformed and disenfranchised. He wishes
no public discussion of the inherent dangers of burning PCB contaminated
waste in an incinerator that has been plagued with technical problems from
the start. The coal from Prince mine, the reason the plant is nowhere near
access by boat or rail, has been abandoned as a fuel source at Point
Aconi.
The public relations strategy is that if we don't talk to the community
that is about to be poisoned they may not notice that toxic waste is about
to be burned in a low temperature incinerator that has been plagued with
problems. If there is no public discussion perhaps no one will realize
that low temperature incineration will guarantee that Boularderie Island
will be contaminated with dioxin and furan. His "friend" Mark Eyking may
not realize his farm will be contaminated with the most toxic compounds
man has created. Perhaps Mr. Donham thinks that if no one informs his
neighbors that the island is about to become a toxic dumping ground, they
may not ask him any embarrassing questions about why no safe and effective
solutions have been offered.
The back biting is just getting underway and should make good copy over
the next while, as the project moves from the vague generalities that has
allowed JAG to say and do nothing for seven years, to the reality that no
acceptable solution has been considered. The first bombshell, that we need
to double the cost estimated by JAG, is just the beginning. JAG blames the
Tar Ponds Agency for the inaccurate estimate. The Agency and Parker Donham
blame JAG and Environment Canada for promoting unrealistic options and Mr.
Garth Bangay of Environment Canada calls Parkers comments dishonest and
not supported by the facts.
A safe, effective, economical alternative to the unacceptable burn and
bury options has been ignored by government for unknown reasons. It is
time to admit that the exercise of pretending to consult has failed.
Thermal desorption/hydrogen reduction is emission free and destroys all
the organic contaminants, PCB and PAH, completely. As an Environment
Canada employee pointed out at a recent meeting in Alder Point, a full
panel review that can look at alternatives and give real public input can
be completed in as little as six months.
We have a safe effective community driven solution that we can all live
with. First we must stop the finger pointing that the current exercise has
degenerated into and make decision-making open and public. Negotiations
without meaningful public input will only result in more bad decisions and
wasted money.
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