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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-02-21, Page 104 A Pep 16--Locknaw Sandimpl, Wednesday, February 21, 1979 Use of land for dump sites a concern BY ALICE, GIBB Environmental -issues, including waste management and the need for 'energy conservation, were again among the main topics discussed at the annual members of parliament dinner , sponsored by the Huron Federation of Agriculture and affiliated commodity groups, held in Clinton on Saturday. Jun McIntosh, of R. R. 4 Seaforth, an OFA regional director, told Jack Riddell, MPP for Huron -Middlesex; Murray Gaunt, MPP for Huron -Bruce and Bob McKinley, MP for Huron, that agricultural land can't continue to be the dumping grounds for urban waste. Mr. McIntosh said agriculture is Ontario's biggest industry and the amount of "prime agriculture land taken for a "dump site" is only one of agriculture's major concerns." The director said an even greater concern is "The potential time bomb effect these sites may be to future generationsl." Mr. McIntosh said there are already 4,000 know chemical disposal sites in the Great Lakes basin, which will preVide continuous contamination of the lakes. ,Now the question facing society is how many more dangerous chemicals are being dumped into land fill sites, Mr. McIntosh' said. He, told the • three politicians that ;FLUARG researchers have stated there are 300 to 500 new organic compounds appear- ing on the market every year, while no rigid testing program for the chemicals exists. Pointing out that pesticides must pass rigid tests before they can be used on farms, k 'marnmsw Mr. McIntosh called for more research into the effects of the chemicals being disposed of in dump sites, In the next 10 to 20 to 50 or 100 years, these chemicals could enter the ground water and chemically. poison many thous- ands of acres of farm land for future food production, or by being in the ground water, poison many farm supplies," the director said. Mr. McIntosh called for more government research .to determine ways to safely recycle the chemicals or convert them to products that are safe -for the environment. Murray Gaunt said he agreed with Mr. McIntosh that "industry should test as vigorously and actively as agriculture . is testing." He said as of January 1., 1980, the Ministry of Environment is banning all new liquid industrial dump sites. However, he said some of the present sites will continue in use after 1980, if they are considered safe. Mr. Gaunt told the federation members that recycling is certainly the answer .to the problem of waste but "there are some very real problems in recycling, due to the cost not the' technology." Mr. Gaunt said the technology is there to transform some waste products into neutral block by adding chemicals. He said a Fort Erie company wanted to build a plant to transform waste materials into building materials, but the council turned down the proposal. Bob McKinley said before the government funds expensive pilot projects to look into waste disposal, they should check whether wa similar projects have already been carried out in other countries. Jack Riddell, the Liberal agriculture critic in the legislature, said protection of the environment is one cif the greatest dangers facing government and industry ,today and added if emissions from industries aren't controlled, "48,000 of our lakes in northern Ontario will be pretty well destroyed to the point where we can't bring them back." From the farmer's viewpoint, Mr. Riddell said, the problem is tyatthese emissions blow across the land and "we don't know their effect on vegetation." Mr. Riddell said white beans for example, have already proven very susceptible to pollution. He also mentioned the danger of the acid rain condition. Jake Van Wonderen, of the Gashein Line, representing the Stanley Township Federd- • tion of Agriculture, also presented a brief dealing with an environmental issue. He spoke about the transition in agricul- ture in the last 40 years from horse and buggy to "big tractors gulping in excess of seven gallons of fuel an hour." Now, Mr. Van Wonderen pointed out, the farm community is faced with the problem of fossil fuels becoming scarcer and more expensive while farmers must keep their machinery going to compete on the market. He called, for more research by Agticul- ture Canada into alternative forms° of energy which can be used' to operate farm machinery. Both Mr., McKinley and Murray Gaunt agreed that more research was needed into the question of fossil fuels and agriculture. Mr. Gaunt said the United States and -Canada already face the possibility of fuel rationing due to the instability in Iran. He said this situation. "makes us realize how dependent we are on fossil fuels." Tony McQuail, of the Lucknow are, another federation director; also made a plea for less dependence on fossil fuels, saying "the days of cheap, unlimited energy are past." • Mr. McQuad suggested the government could encourage the development of alterna- tive approaches by maintaining the best agricultural land for agriculture; by encour- aging more co-operation among farmers in sharing machinery;.and by_ensuring farmers get enough return on their investment to spend money on new technology and to experiment with new approaches. Mr. McQuail said more emphasis should be placed on cropping systems which require fewer non-renewable energy outputs. He also called for a , new program of farmer instigated energy research to respond to situations encoiintered by the farm popula- tion. He recommended grants of up to 810,000 to assist farmers in experimenting with alternate energy forms. Both Agricul- ture Canada and 0.M.A.F. could then keep farmers posted on the conservation and renewable energy techniques ,developed under the program, Mr. McQuail said. Murray Gaunt complimented Mr. McQua- il on his own experiments with energy conservation and told the audience that the Lucknow-area farmer is installing a wind generator on his farm and hopes to feed excess power back to Ontario Hydro from the generator. The Huron -Bruce MP also said if the capital "grants program is renewed by the government, it will operate in a different form, and might apply to projects like the one Mr. McQuail had undertaken. Frank Wall, a mgmber of the OFA executive, told Mr. McQuail he looks forward to the day when "Ontario Hydro will be sending you a cheque every month." Mr. McQuail said his philosophy on the matter is "let's use Hydro but take away some of the monopoly control they have -- make it a shared resource." .Jack Riddell agreed with his fellow politicians that there should be a research and development fund to assist farmers like Mr. McQuail who are experimenting with alternate energy uses. -, It you want a big tractor, the tractor you want is an Allis Chalmers tractor. And right now, we're ready to make the best deals ever; depending on model - on the big tractor line from Allis-Chalmers. The 7000, with 106 PTO hp.* The 7020, with 123 PTO hp* The 7045, with 146 PTO hp.* The 7060, with 161 PTO hp.* The 7080, with 181 PTO hp.* Even our two brawny 4 -wheel -drive brutes, the economical 186 PTO hp* 7580 and the'monstrous 253 PTO hp* 8550. 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