4 — Wednesday, May 24, 1989 — North Shore News Bos HUNTER “COCKTAILING”’ — That’s the word used, apparently, by organized crime to describe mixing texic leftover chemi- cals like PCBs with regular petroleum products, bringing the price down enough to sell bootleg tainted fuel. With 2.2 million gallons of toxic waste solvent having reportedly — note, only reportedly — crossed the border into Canada, mixed in with diesel fuel, gasoline and home heating fuel, the stuff is assumed to be spread out across the country in everything from fuel tanks to lawnmowers and outboard engines. As a result, the Canada-U.S. border is tightening up, like a scene out of War of The Worlds. Men in fluorescent orange protec- tive gear, wearing face masks, dip huge syringes into tank trucks. In nearby mobile testing units, sam- ples are further probed by gas chromatographs, computers and mea in 1 lab coats. “A t a time when serious ecological problems are piled up on every horizon, it is a bit frivolous for Opposition parties and the media to call for ministers to resign because they didn’t act earlier on tips about the poisoned fuel scam, Of the 175 ro2d points of entry into Canada, all but 50 have been barred to oil and gasoline tanker trucks, forcing them to converge on the remaining customs posts, where the inspectors are waiting. St is a pretty impressive picture. Yet, at the time of writing, for all this effest, the Checkpoint Chartie tactics had come up with zip. The problem, to begin with, is that every trucker has a CB. Within literally minutes of a border point being hit by govern- ment eco-cops, word goes out over the radio on both sides of the line. Any driver heading for customs with a load of toxic cocktail im- mediately parks or turns around. But are there any such drivers? Is the tainted fuel scandal a tilt at vanished windmilis? At a time when serious ecological problems are piled up on every horizon, it is a bit frivolous for Opposition parties and the media to call for ministers to resign because they didn’t act earlier on tips about the poisoned fuel scam. Normally, | would be the fast one to come to the defence of an environment minister. Given the state of our environment — they are ALL abysmal failures. But I think in this particular case, we have another overblown media docudrama unfolding be- fore our eyes, like the Chilean fruit scare, where there was a massive over-reaction to an infinitesimal danger. Canadian authorities were warned by the FBI in February 1988 that they should be ‘‘on the lookout”’ in case there were tankers crossing the border with cocktailed fuel. But the warning they got from the FBI was no more specific than that. The FBI had, by then, been in- vestigating allegations by an in- formant that three companies in the Buffalo, New York, area were mixing toxins and fuel. There was supposed to be a “‘link’’ with or- ganized crime. It should be noted that orga- nized crime is also implicated at least in rumor, in the waste disposal industry at large, in areas ranging from landfill to the burn- ing of toxins. Some of the in- cinerator ships that haul deadly poisons out to sea and burn them there, out of sight, out of mind, are rumored to be linked io orga- nized crime as well. Having said that, one hastens to add that clean, serious, well-inten- tioned companies involved in what is, after all, one of the biggest growth industries in the world, are the rule, rather than the exception. The hints about organized crime are just that — shadowy allega- tions. Nothing more. For several months prior to the FBI warning, Canadian officials had also known, thanks to an RCMP informant, about a cocktailing scam, as part of a larger fuel tax evesion scam. But the Mounties were having the same problem as the FBI, who just couldn’t find a ‘‘smoking gun.” In mid-April this year, surprise tanker checks were sprung at border crossing points on the Niagara peninsula, but in 122 fuel trucks coming into Canada that were sampled, not a drop of toxic waste was found. The FBi’s own informant told them that by June, last year, the cocktailing scam had been aban- doned. The figure of 2.2 miilion gallons of chemical witch's brew having entered Canada is strictly a jour- nalist’s estimate. by :he way. The story about the cocktail scam was broken by The Globe's Jock Ferguson, but we know only what he says his sources told him. Meanwhile, back in the real world... The biggest environmental scam going on in this country has nothing to do with organized crime, it has to do with organized government crime. it is the fact that while promis- ing to clean up the ecosystem the federal government is ploughing ahead with the financing of pet- roleum-based megaprojects which will lead to more fossil fuels being converted to carbon dioxide, thus worsening the Greenhouse Effect. Madness! While Environment Minister Lucien Bouchard spends his time and energy trying to look good on the big ‘‘tainted fuel’ controversy, he is meanwhile getting away with gross neglect of the country’s serious and overwhelming com- pound ecological crisis, which in- cludes the continued release of CFCs that destroy the ozone layer, acid rain, pollution of the Great Lakes, contamination of the Arc- tic, mismanagement of our forests, fisheries and farmlands, etc. Tainted fuel? Red herring! ® Personal Injury Ardagh Hunter Turner Barristers & Solicitors #300-1401 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver 988-4366 Free Initia! Consultation Man jailed for assault AN 18-YEAR-OLD North Van- couver man was sentenced May 16 in North Vancouver provincial court to 14 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to three criminal charges ranging from assaulting a police officer to mischief. Randy Alan Wanek was origi- nally charged with assaulting a police officer, mischief, and obstructing a police officer in con- nection with Feb. 19 incidents in which the interior of a police vehi- cle was alleged to have been dam- aged. He was further charged with failing to appear for a scheduled court date after he missed an April 26 court appearance, and with another charge of mischief in con- nection with a Feb. 2 incident in which a taxi meter was kicked. Appearing before Judge J.B. Paradis, Wanek pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, failing to appear for a scheduled court date and mischief in connection with the kicked taxi meter. A stay of proceedings was entered in the other two charges. He was sentenced to 14-day jail terms on each of the three charges. The terms will be served concur- rently, | eae |e Tris 1000S OF MS ff REG. TO 8.99 M 1 PRICE | a&» euisedilipcenters Call oy 8p SHIP Yia ” WERE SCANNING THE HORIZON... FOR THE BEST DEAL TO: ALASKA $845% 4" CALL FOR DETAILS im AMERICAN Hl 445CM I DRESS FANCIES 4 § REG. TO 16.99M SATURDAY ONLY & OUR ENTIRE 5 STCCK OF G. TO 6.99M phic : (OFF REG.)