HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1978-05-25, Page 4Page 4
Citizens News, May 25, 1978
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"Here goes — I'm turning on the news!"
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On the defensive
There's a saying "when the going gets tough,
the tough get going" and it appears Ontario Hydro
is taking the offensive with regards to future
nuclear power development.
Recently, there has been considerable talk
about possible safety problems that can and will
arise in the disposal of nuclear waste.
Presently, there is no known way of
diminishing the toxicity of nuclear wastes; only
much time reduces the nuclear wastes radiation.
There are two methods at present which are used to
control nuclear garbage: encasing it in a mixture of
lead and concrete and bathing the material in large
tanks of water.
These are not solutions. They are merely delay-
ing the inevitable of what is going to happen to this
material a few years down the road from now when
there will be more waste to contain and a popula-
tion that will be getting closer and closer to the
nuclear generating plants of this province.
According to a Hydro press release "Working
in an Ontario Hydro nuclear -electric station is one
of the safest occupations in the country. Since the
late 1950s there has not been a single fatality in the
workforce nor any lost time attributable to radia-
tion in close to 40 million manhours. The safety per-
formance is similar to that achieved by office and
staff workers in Hydro's head office building in
Toronto."
This is all fine and dandy but it doesn't come to
grips with the hazards involved in handling nuclear
material outside of a closed environment. As an
aside, the safety records of the two areas might be
comparable but no one would deny the fact that
working in a nuclear setting is potentially more
harmful than working in a non-nuclear develop-
ment.
The expansion of nuclear development is a
chancey thing: let's hope Ontario Hydro is telling
the truth when it says contrary to rumour, that a
nuclear power plant is not scheduled for this part of
the country.
Paying the price
As anyone travelling by car in the United States
will be aware, gasoline prices are considerably
lower south of the border.
In fact during a recent trip to Pennsylvania we
were able to buy brand name regular gas for as lit-
tle as 54 cents per gallon and never paid more than
58 cents. Taking into account the smaller U.S.
gallon this works out to approximately 65 to 69
cents for an Imperial gallon. A similar trip through
Ontario would reveal gas prices ranging from 85
cents to well over 90 cents per gallon.
Another interesting point p nt is that while, at least
along the route we travelled, gasoline prices south
of the border haven't increased during the past
year, prices here have gone up at least twice with
further hikes planned.
It's time that, when the oil czars come to Ot-
tawa with outstretched hands hinting they'll stop
looking for the stuff unless it's made worth their
while, someone starts asking some questions, such
as how they manage to get by with tidy profit on'
much lower prices in the U.S. but can't do the same
here. Can it cost so much more to produce and
deliver a gallon of gas here than it does a few hun-
dred miles to the south, particularly when the oil
. companies are the same and some of the U.S. gas
starts out as Canadian oil anyway? What are we
getting for the 30 per cent higher prices? Some of it
might be due to higher taxes but it's doubtful that
accounts for the entire difference since gas is taxed
in the U.S. too. The answers might make in-
teresting reading.
While we're on the topic, we've often wondered
how
the
oil
companies set the prices to their
retailers. For instance why is gas less expensive in
Brussels and Listowel than in Wingham but more
expensive in Arthur? Why did prices in Wingham
drop two cents at about the same time they jumped
10 cents in Kitchener? And how was it possible to
sell gas for 15 cents a gallon less in Kitchener than
here before that? It's hard to believe the retailers
are responsible, since most operate on a mark-up of
only a few cents per gallon, but it's curious how all
the prices in an area seem to change together.
Wingham Advance Times
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Miscellaneous
Rii ulnbliings
By
TOM CREECH
Conservation
saves
Man's very existence on this planet earth im-
plies that he is, has and will continue to be a con-
sumer.
Today's society necessitates certain non-
renewable resources must be consumed if our re-
quirements for food, shelter and transportation are
to be met.
Until recently (within the past ten years) the
consumption of non-renewable resources has been
pushed by the firms that would benefit from such
consumption. Remember those advertisements
from Ontario Hydro stressing the benefits of an all
electrical home and other similar advertisements
from energy suppliers.
It was ten years ago and "muscle cars" were
all the rage, a big engine stuffed into a big body
which delivered very few miles to the gallon and
precious little interior room.
Some people would say "those were the days"
and you'd have to agree if you love blatant excess.
Within the past few years we've seen a switch
in attitudes. People are more concerned about con-
serving because as in many things, people start to
think twice when it starts to hit them in the pocket-
book. People might complain about the Arabs and
Peter Lougheed getting rich but they at least got us
thinking in a more constructive sense.
While the Canadian public seems generally
receptive to the idea behind energy conservation
(witness the rapid rise in the sale of small cars), it
is still by and large, not quite in tune with the latest
developments in this area.
To fill this information gap, the office of energy
conservation under the auspices of the federal
ministry of energy, mines and resources was es-
tablished.
Under this program 152 community conserva-
tion centres have been set up in New Brunswick,
Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
An energy conservation centre serving the
residents of Huron is located in Lucknow and is
ready to answer any questions the public has about
energy conservation.
Bev Brown, public relations co-ordinator for
the group says they have received a favourable
response from the public in the area but that they
would like to see more people from this part of the
country.
The group has several slide presentations for
showing to local organizations and the staff is
always available for speaking engagements.
In addition to a very extensive resource library
on energy conservation practices, they have
several booklets put out by energy, mines and
resources Canada available for the taking.
The booklets cover everything from re -
insulating your home to how to save money by
throwing out less.
Another goal of the centre is to serve as place
for the exchange of ideas of how energy can be con-
served.
Both Ms. Brown and Donna Hazelton, the new
publicity co-ordinator, are enthusiastic of what
energy conservation can achieve.
At the centre's office in Lucknow, a solar panel
was installed in the front window of the building.
On a February day, -the heat coming from the panel
was over 100 degrees fahrenheit, they said.
While solar energy as method of heating
buildings on a continuous basis might not be prac-
tical in Canada, much energy could be saved if
— Please turn to Page 7
Published Each Wednesday By J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd.
Member:
Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association
Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association
eiNA News Editor - Tom Creech
Second Glass Mail Registration Number '1385
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