RTH OND WEST

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Classifieds 986-6222

| NDP to institute tougher
| pulp mill pollution laws

EMPLOYEES OF Howe Sound Pulp and Paper's (HSPP)

Port Meilon pulp mill had to

be evacuated Tuesday after a

power failure resulted in the leak of (wo types of gases into

the Howe Sound environment.

occurred one day
before B.C vironment Minister
John Cashore was to. bring in
stricter dioxin emission laws for
B.C. pulp and paper mills and
follows « Dee. 23 gas leak from
ihe mill.

Cory Legebokow, the en-
vironmeatal protection officer in
charge of HSPP, said the mill was
lesting a new turbo generator
which knocked out power to the
till.

As a result, he said, chlorine-
dioxide gas leaked into the air for
aboue 10 minutes and non-
condensible gas, which is a
byproduct of cooking wood chips,
was released into the environment
for about four minutes.

He said he was not aware of
any environmental damage, but
added that employees in the mill's
chemical preparation area had to
be evacuated.

Any pollution permit violations
would result in “appropriate ac-
tion,’ said Legebokow.

Ray Robo, acting head of the
industrial section of the B.C. en-
vironment ministry’s waste
management branch, said the gas
leak was more a concern for the
mill’s workers than the area en-
vironment.

Port Mellon resident Janet
Calder, who lives 2 quarter mile
away from the pulp mill, criticized
mill management for failing to
notify area residents of the gas
leak.

Calder said she asked the en-
vironment ministry what would
happen if there was a serious ac-
cident at the mill and was told
that emergency rescue crews
would be dispatched to the area.

«,,.we’re an isolated communi-
ty. By the time emergency rescue
crews got here we'd all be dead,”
said Calder. “If they’re going to
evacuate the mill, then they
should look at the residents too.”

Mil management did not return
News phone calls to press time
Thursday.

Cashore said his new guidelines
would limit the amount of toxins
pulp mills would be allowed to
release into the environment.

The existing dioxin emission
limit for pulp mills is 2.5
kilograms of organochilorines in
pulp effluent for every tonne of
air-dried pulp.

While details of the new diox-
inemission law were not available
to press time Thursday, Cashore,
while the opposition environment
critic, introduced a private

The accid

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

member's bill calling for a
kilogram limit) within two. y
and a 0.) kilogram = standard
within 10 years.

But) Environmental Watch
founder Terry Jacks was cautious
about Cashore’s announcement.

said that both Cashore and
Mike Harcourt made s
eral promises to environmentalists
while in opposition.

“By this coming June, he
(Cashore) said he was going to cut
down dioxin emissions to 1.5
kilograms. If he doesn’t bring *
by June then he’s still waffl
said Jacks.

Last year, Jacks, along with
Brian Killeen of Greenpeace
Canada, Richard Tarnoff of the
United Fishermen's and Allied
Workers Union and Doug
MacKenzie of the Pulp and Paper
Workers of Canada, met with
Harcourt and Cashore while the
two were in onposition.

They asked Harcourt and
Cashore to do six things if elected:
@ eliminate all toxic discharges
into the environment and set a
timetable to reach this goal;

@ force pulp mills to comply
immediately with existing provin-
cial permits and standards;

@ provide leadership in using and
promoting chlorine-free paper,
recycled paper and make less use
of paper;

@ introduce 24-hour on-site,
government-controlled policing
and monitoring of pulp mills with
regard to all aspects of their per-
mits and to have the cost of the
monitoring paid for by the mills;

@ allow the public routine access
to information regarding discharge
levels, impact and compliance of
mills with their permits;

@ prevent mills from expanding
until they are in compliance with
their permits and allow no com-
pany to build a new mili until all
B.C. pulp mills are in compliance
with their permits.

Harcourt and = Cashore wrote
back to the four and vowed that
an NDP government would *‘take
action to eliminate toxic
discharges from pulp mills’? and
to establish ‘higher environmental
standards and a_ timetable to
reduce chlorinated organics. in-
cluding d ns and furans to a
level of 1.5 AOX per dry weight
tonne of pulp produced by July 1,

Sots

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a a - cal
NEWS photo Tery Peters

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FOUR AND a half-year-old D.J. shows why his father is angry with North Vancouver District
officials — dead rats regularly turn up in the yard of their new Deep Cove home. His father,

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problem originating from an undeveloped district-owned lot next door. See story pace 2.

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