Canaries in the coal mine

It seems that in the eyes of officials in the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, the people of Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Counties live in nothing more than a large petry dish where experiments are conducted at whim.

The MOE began with their panicked attempt to address water quality in the province. Rural villages would be compelled to live under standards so strict, the only answer would be to build a water works. The plug got pulled on that experiment when another branch of the Ontario government concluded that no such system was financially viable unless there were a minimum of 10,000 customers. Unfortunately, this came too late for the approximately 250 households in Sydenham who still have to pay $20,000 apiece for the privilege of being guinea pigs. Let us remember that it was none other than local MPP Leona Dombrowsky, as Environment Minister, who signed the original flawed directive.

Now, with the five year study on the impact of tire incineration at the Lafarge Plant in Bath, it is the turn of people in south Lennox and Addington County to play the part of the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine’ – literally so, when this operation will be the only one legally sanctioned by the MOE.

Dombrowsky, when quizzed by Bath residents on the approval of the Lafarge project, said that it was the fault of bureaucrats, and that she would fight for an extension beyond January 5th. Unfortunately, Dombrowsky’s clout as Agriculture Minister, a member of the powerful Planning and Priorities Committee of Cabinet, and serving recently as Acting Premier is still not enough to convince a salaried employee of the Province of Ontario to delay this action by a few days.

With the impending closing of the border to Michigan for Toronto’s garbage, and with the rising costs of maintaining and enlarging landfills – both environmental and financial – everyone agrees that alternatives need to be explored. Clearly, incineration is being considered. But all good science is tested in the lab under controlled conditions before it is adopted for widespread use. Even new medicines undergo rigorous study and testing before they are available for prescription. Surely it is not unreasonable to ask that incineration be subjected to the same methods of study before it goes into widespread use in Ontario.

Leona Dombrowsky, by her reaction, appears to be taken off guard by recent events. Yet, the members of Clean Air Bath, local newspapers, and other groups seem to have known about this situation for quite some time. Given that such application processes take years to complete, she may very well have been the Environment Minister when Lafarge first made its submission. Such ignorance is due either to a lack of information or a lack of interest. Regardless, it does little to distinguish her, or her Liberal Party, as the defenders of local interests.