“J LOVED the poetry of it: Baie-Comeau, home of the prime minister of all Canada, becoming the dump site for that shipment of PCBs rejected by British dockworkers and sent back across the Atlantic to the very doorstep of our PM. I guess Brian Mulroney won't be showing up in Baic-Comeau for a while, lesi his Guccis get gunked- up. Har har har. Of course it’s no joking matter. There are over 2,000 PCB storage sites across Canada. It could cost as much as $46 million to clean up one site alone. The total costs of the clean-up, therefore, could be in the neighborhood of a billion dollars. Tre revelation that 15 PCB containers were being shipped from Canada on a Russian freighter to Great Britain to be burned in Wales brought to light an entirely different aspect of the trade in toxins.’’ Ee Most of us look at a figure like that and shrug. Where will the money come from? Your pocket and mine. But there are sharpies out there who look at a figure like a billion dollars and automatically start thinking about how to get that money into their pocket. Hazardous waste disposal is the biggest growth industry of them he Laidlaw, Canada’s biggest waste handler, reported profits of $90 million last year, 2 139 per cent in- crease over the previous year. In the U.S., public and private spend- ing on waste disposal has reached $20 billion... This is attributable, in part, to the peculiar fact that the one “natural resource’ produced by cities is garbage. It is the hazard- ous waste component, however, where the bucks are to be made. Disposal of a single drum of un- wanted chemicals costs at least $120. The international traffic in toxic wastes started becoming a major story last year when an Italian chemical company was caught try- ing to dump 5,000 tons of toxic wastes in the Nigerian port of Nekyo. This revealed an ugly sidelight to the pollution crisis, namely the use of Third World countries as dump- ing grounds for poisons created by the industrialized nations. The revelation that 15 PCB con- tainers were being shipped from Canada on a Russian freighter to Great Britain to be burned in Wales brought to light an entirely different aspect of the trade in tox- ins. Here was one industrialized country using another industri- alized country as a disposal site. The sneakiness of it all wasn’t lost on angry British dockworkers, who refused to unload the stuff. Canada had been caught red- handed trying to fob its PCBs off on somebody else. Now the polychlorinated 250 Pemberton Avenue North Vancouver biphenyls have come home to roost. And what is the Canadian . response? More sneakiness. More deception. More secrecy. A document has fallen into my hands that wasn’t supposed to. It is a draft agreement between the governments of Ontario, Quebec and Canada, along with Ontario Hydro and Hydro Quebec, to hire an American waste disposal com- pany to conduct a test burn of ’ PCBs at a location in Alberta. The goal is laudable. It is to ac- quire a high-tech mobile PCB in- cinerator which is supposed to be 99.99 per cent effective in destroy- ing the deadly toxin. The idea is to get four such units in operation, going around the country from one PCB storage site to another, burning the stuff. The company involved is Vesta Technology Inc., which is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The secret agreement allows Vesta to conduct the test. If it succeeds, the . s»mpany is promised an inside :: ack on the lucrative contract to destroy On- tario Hydro’s stockpile of some 700 metric tonnes of PCB-laced solid wastes, representing about one third of the country’s total load. The agreement has a rather neat indemnification clause. All the parties involved agree to forgive each other in the event of some- thing going wrone. Absolutely no- body is to be held liable for any- thing. It’s a wonderful arrangement, reminiscent of the Canada’s Nu- clear Liability Act, which absolves nuctear power operators of any- thing more than a nomina! penalty in the event of an accident, even though such an accident could cost untold billions. The point is, here are the gov- ernments and Crowr utilities operating behind closed doors again, just as they did in the origi- nal sneaky attempt to solve Canada’s PCB problem by the shipping the stuff virtually under cover of darkness overseas. It was just a couple of weeks ago that Ontario’s environment minister Jim Bradley assured Ca- nadian entrepreneurs that tough new anti-pollution legislation “would create business by stimulating them to get into the high-tech waste management game. Government funding for research and experimentation would be available on a massive scale, he vowed. Obviously it is. But it’s not go- ing to Canadians. It is going to Americans. Strange — although somehow quintessentially Cana- dian in its own way, wouldn’t you say? First we try the Brits, then we try the Yanks. And we do it behind a cloak of secrecy @ 0 ee en en re ne oe ee 0 eh Oe Spills are just part of life. mp Cail now": offer expires Sept. 20/89 Professional cieaning made affordable. Fortunately, so is sears Carpet and upholstery cleaning Clean your fiving room, dining room, hall and three bedrooms 119.° Clean your sofa and chair (Most fabrics) B44. 3M Scotchgard Half Price * Furnace and duct cleaning. + Refringing available. « Emergency flood services. « Area rug cleaning, prices on request. Call 521-3991 charge it on your sears account. Your money's worth . . . and more. The Secon Paleiititié: PROGRAM OF EVENTS “WARM UP” by FITNESS WORLD S$ ium welk atound the Seawa) — pst parading oe prizes to youngeal and pet Sook alike comest. PURPOSE ‘The Zaed Annual Ponanes Day Vielkstton ts in of the work and community servic: Wy the B.C SCA. and Ie designed x: 1. A comamundty awarenees vent Le lnjurm and educate tia public about the S.P.CA. 2. A fund ralsing event to suppert the work aral services parlasmed by the S.P.C.A. 3. A fan participation event to tavolve members of the community and thei pete. — Last Name Number and Street CitysTown Sen Age on Rare Day Home Telephone CARD Ss LTT) EXPIRY DATE (} (1) CUT titr Piease charge to my D Visa (0 Mastercard each pariiciparé wit of8 ‘nopar thet ata mnie of $1500 coche ould give we 2 miniowunn of S560 Participards as: pledges bolas ‘et acluct doy ef the Walcathom AM 00 per team. thelr own pludees are tes decuciiide. A tax receipt will be pean) pet given upon reques! for alt ferme Segue a at Jaretions rest A Fhl Hinesa Weel end CERCA a nae a Sas. First Name ‘Work Telephone Signaiwre __. Registration will be accepted over the phone with Visa or Mastercard. CTT TT ETT ty yer rrr ttt tT rr FTTTITyTTTTiTtit) $C CLTiTiTi ty Postal Code Awards and prizes will be presented teBewing the icecana ca © The individuc! with ths nest pinged deSere wean apd prof cael ay ope ede ARASHEENA, a one yess mansbonshlp to rid nde uscieeoen ergot ¥ The cagiain oF meet pludge Linares Fest pea ofon oy rset enaberehip cme yeas te Flenoes Giocid onda pair of runcoors aan erth'a, © Each winner wl receive 0 Qhusad Vitneni qi peck. Fos more information eal Michact Weeks {879-7011), Nina Rhades (731-9119) ov drap by 1205 East 7h. S.P.CA. Pars comatrny ot Reh rng 2nd ANNUAL B.C./S.P.C.A. WALKATHON Saturday, September 10, 1989 Return or mai! this | 7 registration and/or pledges ; to: B.C.S.P.C.A. 1205 £. 7th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. VST tRt | have enclosed an additional $___ as a donation for 8.C./S.P.C.A. (tax receipt will be mailed. flake cheque or money order payable to B.C./S.P.CA. Oc not mait cash. Event held rain or shine. :