The 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,
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'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. -,
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