To Powell River Legacy group:

Why does the City Council not take a stand on this issue? What are their individual views? This is an issue of great concern to the residents of Powell River and yet I've only heard the viewpoint of one newly elected councillor. Where are the Mayor and the other councillors on this issue. Isn't it their job to represent us?

To Powell River Legacy group:

I saw yesterdays viewpoint in the Peak, and once again I see a statement that the fly ash coming out of Catalyst is no worse than the ash left behind from a wood stove. This seems like a pretty straightforward empirical claim: either the mill's flay ash IS or IS NOT worse than wood stove residue.

Since I'm new to knowing about the landfill, can you point me to whatever you know about the dioxin content of wood stoves ashes, or about the dioxin content of fly ash from the mill's boilers? Or is this a red herring? Isn't it possible to settle this claim one way or another? It's clear that this line is being pushed by the mill as part of their PR campaign. -Along with the claim that demanding that Catalyst adhere to environmental regulations equates to demanding that the mill be closed -- what about following the guidelines AND doing their business? Have we all decided that we have to choose either a functioning mill or a non-toxic town?

To Powell River Legacy group:

Hi,

I've heard that fly ash can be safe and can in fact be used in building materials rather than be put into the ground. I understand however, that Catalyst barges and sorts their logs in the ocean thus contaminating the logs with fly ash which makes the fly ash toxic. Is this true? Do you know if Catalyst exploring these alternative options?

Catherine Coupe
Deer Lake, Burnaby B.C.

To the Powell River Legacy group:

I attended the Catalyst stakeholder meeting last week and was surprised to hear of the company's plans to sell the land the landfill occupies, and then lease it back from the purchaser. My concern is, who then owns the liability for the environmental cleanup of the site should leaks or other problems occur five, ten, or twenty years from now? Is the city of Powell River planing to be the purchaser? Does that make all taxpayers responsible for a future bill that could be very costly? This is the first I've heard of a sale of the landfill site, it has not to my knowledge been talked about, but I think it raises some disturbing questions. Thank you for trying to answer some of them.

To Powell River Legacy group:

Hello,
We are here for a few months and own a property on King Ave. We are from the US, but would be willing to sign a petition. Our home is near Los Alamos National Lab, which is one of the US's main toxic problems. There are questions:
        Is the new expansion going to follow the highest standard, state of the art containment?
        What is the life expectancy of the barrier between the waste and the soil?
        What is the plan to move the material once the barrier fails?
        What is keeping the material from being air borne?
        Is there any way of making the material inert?

Is there support from other parts of the city? My husband and I had a major neighborhood problem in our area of Santa Fe, New Mexico which lasted 6 years. Our neighborhood tried to deal with it ourselves, but in the end it was the lack of city wide support that led to our downfall.

To the Powell River Legacy group:

i am wondering where in Washington the fly ash is currently going.

thanks

Reply from PR Legacy:

The flyash does not currently go to Washington, it is being dumped right here in Wildwood and space is running out as we speak. Until recently, Catalyst sent their flyash to a state of the art facility in Washington State with a company known as Rabanco Allied Wastes Industries Inc. In Washington, Rabanco deposits waste at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill, a space in the desert far away from homes that meets or exceeds all requirements set out in the province's "Landfill Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste."

To Powell River Legacy group:

Could you please tell me how Catalyst paper is associated with Third Avenue Management from New York?

Is the company committed to keeping our mill open for the thirty plus years that the landfill permit covers, or could they just use the boilers and the landfill to dispose of mill waste from other places, and close our mill down?

To Powell River Legacy group:

How many of you trouble makers have woodstoves?Are you willing to pay 40% more taxes when your troublemaking shuts the mill down and puts all of the workers out of work?Did your small minds even bother to look into the fact that a CEMENT tub has been built to put the ash into? How are ashes going too go through cement?

Tell that trouble maker that moved here from Vancouver and is starting all this to go back where she came from. Her starting trouble and getting sued by Formasa already should show her what a good for nothing she is.

To Powell River Legacy group:

I an owner of a small business in Powell River who was recently phoned and visited by some mill people who are going around engaging in corporate thuggery by trying to intimidate any local business owner who signed the landfill petition. I know I am not the only one who has been told to remove my name and remove petitions from my business or that my business will be boycotted. It seems to me that because they can't argue with the facts, they must resort to intimidation and possibly violence. Catalyst's attempt to "divide and conquer" will not work. Truth will win over coercion.

I just felt like someone needed to say this. What we need is a public meeting so the truth can spoken out in the open and that rumors like “you will all lose your jobs if we don't put the landfill in Wildwood” can be traced back to their source. I'd like to know who is feeding this fire of lies.