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SWARU EMAIL LETTER CAMPAIGN
URGENT EMAIL LETTER CAMPAIGN!!!
HELP US STOP THE HAMILTON INCINERATOR EXPANSION!
Please sign the following letter and email it directly to the members of
the Region of Hamilton-Wentworth and our provincial and federal
representatives (listed after the letter).
NB: The letter has been prepared through Great Lakes United (www.glu.org)
and so, makes specific reference to citizens of the Gt Lakes Basin. If you
are from outside of the basin and willing to write, there are just two
places in the letter where you should change 'citizen of the Great Lakes
Basin' and instead state where you are actually from.
The SWARU incinerator is scheduled to increase its burn very shortly
please help us stop it. Thank you.
A backgrounder follows the letter.
May 27, 1999
Regional Chairman Terry Cooke & Members of Regional Council
71 Main Street West
Hamilton, Ontario L8P 4Y5
RE: FULL CAPACITY OPERATION OF SWARU INCINERATOR
Dear Chairman Cooke and Members of Regional Council,
I am writing as a citizen of the Great Lakes basin to express my great
dismay over the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth's recent
decision to permit the SWARU incinerator to burn at full capacity. In
choosing this option, you have ignored recommendations from the community,
and put the health of residents of your region and communities across and
beyond the Great Lakes basin at unacceptable risk from such toxic
pollutants as dioxin and mercury.
The decision of the regional council to increase the burn at SWARU works
directly against commitments made at both the provincial and federal level
to reduce the emissions of chemicals like dioxins and furans from waste
incinerators. The Canada-Ontario Agreement (COA), established between the
federal and provincial governments to facilitate the implementation of the
international Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, includes a goal to
reduce the emissions of dioxins/furans within the Ontario region of the
Great
Lakes Basin by 90% by the year 2000. While a 76% reduction in these
compounds had been achieved as of 1998, the decision by regional council to
increase the capacity at SWARU has single-handedly thwarted the ability of
the COA to meet its year 2000 goal. This action also violates Canada's
goals and commitments under the Binational Toxics Strategy to eliminate
major sources of many BTS substances.
As a citizen of the Great Lakes, I urge you to immediately reverse your
decision to increase the capacity at SWARU and instead limit the amount of
waste burned at the facility to the present 2,750 tonnes per week. At the
same time, the region should immediately begin a process to examine and
implement alternatives to SWARU for managing its waste. This process must
involve the community in developing a comprehensive waste diversion
strategy and job transition plan inorder to facilitate the phase out of
incineration at SWARU.
Less than two years ago, the Plastimet fire in Hamilton released an
estimated 13g TEQ of dioxin into the air, according to the Ontario Ministry
of the Environment. The environmental and human health impacts of this
disaster continue to be felt, particularly by families in the area and
those involved in fighting the fire. Burning waste at SWARU will
deliberately
continue the toxic legacy faced by these communities.
Our environment knows no political boundaries. Your actions in
Hamilton-Wentworth have implications for the population of the Great Lakes
and beyond. Given your status as an "Agenda 21 Community" I urge you to
reverse your decision and proceed in a manner that is truly appropriate for
a sustainable community.
YOURS TRULY,
Cc: Ward 5 Councillor Chad Collins
Ward 5 Councillor & Chair of Regional Environmental Services Ctte Fred
Eisenberger
The Honourable Sheila Copps, MP - Hamilton East
Dominic Agostino, MPP - Hamilton East
The Honourable Christine Stewart, Federal Minister of the Environment
The Honourable Norman Sterling, Ontario Minister of the Environment
Mr. Vic Shantora, Environment Canada, Director General, Toxics & Pollution
Prevention
Mr. Ron Shimizu, Environment Canada, Ontario Region
Mr. Hardy Wong, Director of Water Policy, Ontario Ministry of the
Environment
Dr. Brian Louis Gibson, Canadian Co-Chair, IJC Health Professionals Task
Force
Linda Lukasik, concerned citizen
Great Lakes United
Toronto Environmental Alliance
Direct emails to to:
Chairman Terry Cooke, Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth
chairmancooke@hamilton-went.on.ca
Cc to:
ccollins@city.hamilton.on.ca
feisenbe@city.hamilton.on.ca
min_copps @pch.gc.ca
dominic_agostino-mpp@ontla.ola.org
stewart.c@parl.gc.ca
norm_sterling@ontla.ola.org
vic.shantora@ec.gc.ca
ron.shimizu@ec.gc.ca
wongha@ene.gov.on.ca
lohp@lefca.com
llukasik@worldchat.com
reg@glu.org
tea@web.net
BACKGROUNDER
Hamilton, Ontario to Expand Municipal Incinerator Facility is already
Ontario's worst
The front page headline on Monday, May 3 in the Hamilton Spectator read
"Incinerator plan pumps up dioxins." The regional council of
Hamilton-Wentworth has approved a 40% increase in the tonnage burned at the
region's SWARU incinerator, starting this summer. This will result in a
50%
increase in dioxin emissions from the 27 year-old incinerator and make it
the source of OVER 90% of the total dioxin emissions from all municipal
incinerators in Ontario.
The regional council's motion will increase the burn at the SWARU
incinerator from 143,000 tonnes to a full capacity burn of 200,000 tonnes
per year. The decision was made based solely on financial reasons, with the
region realizing an annual savings of $445,000 per year as a result of the
tonnage increase. (Savings accrue as a result of the contract the region
holds with Canadian Waste, a subsidiary of Wheelebrator. At a higher
tonnage, the region is charged less per tonne for the company to burn its
waste). Additional waste to the facility will be from commercial
and industrial sources, as the facility is already handling all sources of
municipal curbside waste.
The decision to increase the burn at SWARU involved a blatant disregard for
a recommendation put forward by a community liaison committee mere months
earlier. This committee of citizens and politicians recommended that the
facility burn only 5 days worth of tonnage over 7 days - a decision aimed
at
keeping emissions from the aging 27 year old facility at a minimum. At
that
time, the recommendation was accepted by regional council.
The approval of an increased burn means an increase in toxic emissions from
the SWARU facility. The facility presently emits 4.0 gms TEQ
dioxins/furans
each year -- of the 5 municipal incinerators in Ontario, SWARU is the worst
actor, contributing over 91% of the dioxins and furans from this source. At
the "new" full capacity burn, the facility will emit an estimated 6.21 gms
TEQ dioxins/furans per year, an increase of over 50%. The facility is also
a
significant point source emitter of hexachlorobenzene, contributing over
97%
of the HCB emitted by Ontario
incinerators (1462 grams per year). The move to a full capacity burn will
also increase emissions of particulate matter, heavy metals such as lead,
mercury, cadmium and chromium, and other air pollutants such as sulphur
dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide.
While the region argues that even with these increases, no provincial air
regulations are being violated and that there will be minimal threats to
the
environment and human health, this decision directly contradicts
commitments
at the federal and international level to reduce significant point sources
of dioxins/furans. The Canada-Ontario Agreement (COA), an agreement struck
between the federal and provincial governments to facilitate the
implementation of the international Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement,
includes a goal to reduce the emissions of dioxins/furans within the
Ontario
region of the Great Lakes Basin by 90% by the year 2000. While a 76%
reduction in these compounds had been achieved as of 1998, the decision by
regional council to increase the capacity at SWARU has single-handedly
pushed the COA further away from the likelihood of meeting its goal.
This decision will have devastating human health and environmental effects
within the Hamilton-Wentworth region (which is still suffering the effects
of 1997's Plastimet fire) and beyond the Great Lakes basin.
The regional council of Hamilton-Wentworth has ignored public opinion and
increased the health and environment risks to our Great Lakes community.
Also, the provincial government in Ontario is currently up for re-election:
they are the worst government we have ever had on environmental issues, and
are responsible for dismantling virtually all environmental legislation and
resources across the province.
In making this decision, the regional council of Hamilton-Wentworth ignored
the recommendations of the SWARU Community Liaison Sub-Committee (SCLS)
that they reject the incinerator expansion, and in fact reduce existing
levels to 2,750 tonnes burned over a 7-day period.
Note: While we feel that the continued operation of SWARU even at prior
levels poses an unacceptable risk to the community, we are asking for your
support for the SCLS recommendations as a first step to fast-tracking a
waste diversion and job transition process to phase-out SWARU.
Great Lakes United
(www.glu.org)
Lynda Lukasik
Hamilton, Ontario
llukasik@worldchat.com