Burning debate rages
The Kingston Whig-Standard - Wednsday, February 7, 2007
By Jennifer Pritchett
Local News - It was standing-room only at city council last night as politicians heard from both the cement company planning to burn tires as fuel at its nearby plant and a group fiercely against the controversial proposal.
Each side was given 15 minutes to present their case, before opening the floor for questions from councillors.
Representatives from the Lafarge facility in Bath took the podium first, presenting their pitch for the largest cement producer in the world to burn tires and municipal waste at its plant, just west of Kingston.
Then Martin Hauschild, president of Loyalist Environmental Coalition, spoke on behalf of the opponents to the project.
Both Rob Cumming, Lafarge's environmental manager, and Michael Klenk, manager at the Bath plant, addressed council and answered their questions.
"[Burning] tires will reduce smog and will reduce greenhouse gas," said Klenk.
He said the company will use technology to burn tires that's been around for 30 years and is being used in 20 countries.
He said the technology is safe and won't increase emissions at the Bath plant.
He said Lafarge has spent $64 million on upgrades at the plant in recent years and continues to spend up to $9 million annually on maintenance to ensure the system operates properly.
After Klenk and Cumming finished speaking, councillors peppered them with questions.
Many of their concerns had to do with the emissions, specifically about the release of dioxins and furans, which are cancer-causing pollutants.
Both councillors Lisa Osanic and Vicki Schmolka pointed out that the continuous emissions monitoring to which Lafarge is subject doesn't include dioxins and furans. They wanted to know why.
"You're going to test [for these] at four months, 12 months and then again - this is not very reassuring for us," said Schmolka, who said she would like to see regular testing of air emissions for these substances in Kingston.
Klenk responded by saying he would support the ministry doing impromptu tests for air quality in Kingston.
"I live in Bath - I would never put my health, my family's health, the employees at the plant or my neighbours' health at risk," he said.
He urged councillors to visit the Bath plant and said he would help arrange for them to tour a Lafarge plant that burns tires in St. Constant, Que., where there have been emissions problems in the past because of an equipment failure.
Martin Hauschild, president of Loyalist Environmental Coalition, told council that his group is not against alternative fuels, but that projects such as the Lafarge one has to be scrutinized.
"Lafarge has their experts," he said. "Those with environmental concerns, ourselves included, have their experts. The expert opinions differ and there must be a forum under which the experts can be heard."
The Loyalist Environmental Coalition is one of several environmental groups and citizen groups to request the right to appeal the province's decision to allow Lafarge to burn the waste at its Bath plant on a trial basis.
Those groups will find out around the end of March whether the Environmental Review Tribunal will allow them to appeal the province's decision.
It took nearly two hours to get through the presentations and the subsequent questions.
Outside council chambers, Kingston resident Dorothy Krawetz said she attended the meeting because she has serious concerns about the Lafarge proposal and hopes city politicians will take citizens' fears seriously.
"I hope tonight wasn't just for show," she said, in an interview.
Krawetz hopes council will be diligent and ensure that the air in Kingston isn't impacted by the Lafarge proposal.
"I'm concerned about the children," she said.
Concerning the ban the Ministry of Environment has instituted for Ontario, she said it's unfair that Bath wouldn't be subject to the same prohibition.
"Tire burning is banned everywhere, but here - why aren't we getting the same protection as everywhere else?"
