HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1978-08-24, Page 5 (2)By"JACK RIDDELL
MPP Huron -Middlesex
Recently Liberal Leader
Stuart Smith called upon
Premier Davis to reconvene
the Legislature as Soon as
possible to discuss the total
breakdown in the Govern-
ment's handling of en-
vironmental matters. He set
out a number of issues which
have been mishandled by the
present Minister of the
Environment, who assumed
his position in January of
this year.
-The issues cited were
Absence of a provincial
policy for toxic liquid in-
dustrial waste disposal.
Withdrawal in March of the
ban on non -refillable .pop
bottles. Government han-
dling of the $35 -million suit
against Dow Chemical for
mercury pollution of Lake
St. Clair - dropped in favour
of a paltry $250,000 private
settlement with affected
fishermen.
Failure to make the
Environmental Assessment
Act effective and
meaningful. Failure to
develop a policy to deal with
the serious problems of solid
waste disposal in Metro
Toronto. Failure to act on
problems of lake
acidification in the cottage
country, where fish can't
survive. The inability of
Ontario to comply with
commitments to the
International Joint Com-
mittee on the reat Lakes
clean-up.
Stuar mith's statement
folio ed closely upon the
a ouncement of the
'overnment's decision to
relax an eight-year old air
• pollution control order on
International Nickel Co.
Ltd., which has been
----described-res- demonstrating
the hopeless irony of Ontario
pollution enforcement
policies.
In 1970, the Ontario
Ministry of the Environment
ordered INCO to stop using
two 500:foot chimneys and
one 350 -foot chimney at its
smelting plant at Copper
Cliff, West of Sudbury. INCO
complied, replacing • the
stacks- with a 1,250, foot
chimney in 1972. •
However. the Ministry at
the same time ordered the
company, to reduce its
emissions of sulphur dioxide
from 5,200 tons a - day in 1970-
to 4,4)x) tons by the end of
1974, 3,600 tons by the end of
1976 and 750 tons by the end
of 1978. According to the
Ministry, this order. was
•
r
Environmental concern
based "on a need to restrict
tonnage emissions due to the
unpredictability of disper-
sion under all weather
conditions" and "on
potential adverse effects on
vegetation, soil and water in
a large area surrounding
Sudbury." '
Today INCO continues to
emit 3,600 tons a day. Yet the
Ministry has issued a new
order permitting INCO to
maintain that level until 30th
June, 1982, simply
requesting a report by
December 1979 "evaluating
the feasibility of controlling"
the smelter's pollution.
Instead of penalizing the
offender, the Government
has bent over backwards to
rationalize and excuse
failure to comply with the'
1970 pollution control order..
Apparently, 1976 statistics
indicate that • Sudbury
sulphur emissions accounted
for only 4 percent of North
America - main -made
emissions, • and only 1.3
percent of global emissions..
Also, "the problems of high
ground level concentrations
of sulphur dioxide and
widespread acute vegetation
damage in the Sudburylarea
have essentially been
resolved even at current
emission rates."
As the Ontario Govern-
ment sees it, the _Inter-
national Nickel Company is
merely doing the same as
everyone else: moreover,
the 1,250 foot smokestack has
-dispersed -the -emissions - to
some extent, which has
minimized the concern
which prompted the issuance
of the 1970 order. •
MurrayGaunt, Liberal
Environment Critic, believes
that if the Government is not
prepared to agree to an
emergency debate on the
environmental control order,
"the best thing would be for.
-George McCague
(Environment Minister) to
resign...I think he's sold out
to big -business cin that he's)
agreed to almost five times
the previously= set limit for
the next four years."
The condition of the Great
Lakes-- has --received -some -
publicity recently, following
release of a report by the
Pollution from Land Use
Activities Group, which
indicates that both the
United States and Canada
have adequate laws to
prevent lake pollution, but -
the laws should be enforced
more strictly. The group is
urging broader and stronger
control measures. '
During the last Provincial
Election, Premier Davis, in
a tough statement, called for
the revision of the Canadian -
U.S. Great Lakes water
quality agreement-; . to
provide for massive (m1111ion
dollars fines to be paid into
an environmental clean-up
fund, administered by both
countries to aid pollution
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research:) An official of the
Ministry of the Environment
recently, described
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statement by Ole Premier as
a bit of "dramatic ,wishful
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As Dr. Smith has in-
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recent INCO decision is the
last straw in a series of inept
Government decisions on
environmental issues..."We
are in a period of drift and
inaction by the Government
the results of which could
have far reaching' and
deleterious consequences for
Ontario.
He has indicated that our
Party would move that the
Legislature empower the
Standing Committee on
Resource Development to
meet without delay to review
•
Times -Advocate, August 24, 1971
Pones
the INCO decision. As the
Legislature is not currently
sitting, a special session
would be the only way that a
legislative .committee could
be empowered to carry out
such a review prior .to
October, when the
Legislature _is at present
scheduled to reconvene.
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