Don't bring poisons to Point Aconi

Letter to editor from R.J. MacNeil
Cape Breton Post
Saturday, June 28, 2003

The tar ponds cleanup option to transport that poison to our community is a plan fundamentally flawed from its conception.

I travel that highway every day and can say that within the last couple of years there have been at least four coal trucks that went off the road and dumped their loads. Just imagine a truck loaded with that poison.

As for having Nova Scotia Power Inc. burn it in the Point Aconi plant, based on past practice I think NSPI will want to be paid to do it. Paying the utility to burn it adds insult to injury; we taxpayers will end up buying the energy back as electrical power.

That's assuming the community would ever allow this to happen. It's bad enough where it's at, without disturbing all this material, knowing particles will become airborne.

I am no expert, but after attending several community meetings and listening to people from the Joint Action Group, I can say that in my opinion neither are they.

We cannot allow our children, our homes, or our community to be contaminated with this poison! This is a serious threat to the health and welfare for all the citizens - from where the material is going to be disturbed, to the communities where it's going to transported through or to, to where the emissions are going to blow from the smokestacks.

It's too late after the fact. If it happens it will be dealt with - with extreme prejudice. There are too many intangibles with this option and too much risk of devastating consequences.

R.J. MacNeil
Millville