Re: Petition

To the Auditor General,

I am a Canadian resident of Powell River B.C. and wish to submit the following environmental petition relating to an environmental matter in the context of sustainable development.

The local pulp and paper mill owned by various companies over the years and currently owned by Catalyst Paper sits at the forefront of this petition.

In the early 1990’s, the company was owned by Macmillan Bloedel.

ENVIRONMENTAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION FUND

Application For Support

Date: June 3, 2007

Where the applicant is an organization, the name and position of the person authorized to act on behalf of the organization in relation to this application.

Name: Elizabeth Brach   
Position: Founding member of Powell River Legacy

To Powell River Legacy group:

I think these protesters and petitioners are just taking the easy way out. They are not true environmentalis’s but likely people with an axe to grind about things in general, likely they wouldn’t be happy no matter where they parked their butts.

(Letters to the editor, Powell River Peak)

Company's ad details wrong

Catalyst Paper Corporation made several factual errors in the full-page advertisement in your May 23, 2007 issue ["Shared interests, responsible choices," May 23].

From the Catalyst ad: "Fly ash is created when wood is burned, similar to what you see in a fireplace, beach fire or wood-burning stove."

Fly ash is not something that is left behind after a fire. Fly ash particles are more than 1,000 times smaller than ash remnants.

Catalyst also states: "There never has been evidence of leakage from the mini-landfill and we're determined to keep it that way".

Powell River Peak
05/30/2007

Between 200 to 300 people turned out for a rally on Saturday, May 26 in Wildwood to oppose a proposed expansion of Catalyst Paper Corporation's landfill.

Gerry Brach, whose father worked in the mill for 38 years, grew up in the Townsite and has lived in Wildwood since about 1980. Standing under a sign that read "Wildwood we've had our fill," he gave the opening speech at the event which began at James Thomson Elementary School.

"I'm sort of a middle-of-the-road sort of guy," Brach told the crowd. "I like to look for common ground on issues. Unfortunately I haven't seen a lot of common ground so far coming out of Catalyst."

Brach said he was not "anti-Catalyst" and he didn't want to see anybody lose their job. "On the other hand, I want Catalyst to know that the residents of Powell River are concerned and they're not going to jeopardize their health or the health of their children so that Catalyst can save a few dollars here."

Catalyst plans to apply to the province for an amended waste management permit to increase the volume of waste disposed at its Wildwood landfill, from 100,000 cubic metres to 850,000 cubic metres. Catalyst is permitted to deposit 14,000 cubic metres in the landfill annually. It will apply to increase the limit to 25,000 cubic metres to allow it to continue to deposit fly ash from its power boiler.

June 1 2007

As you can see, the newsletter has a different name, Powell River Legacy instead of Powell River News, as it was last time.  And the name-change is the primary subject of this newsletter .

Since the inception of the ad hoc website PowellRiverNews.com, we have become better organized, and have named ourselves Powell River Legacy, by way of easy identification, and legitimacy in the community and in the media. 

Of necessity, our focus has been almost exclusively on dealing with the landfill expansion problem, so the website has thus far been entirely devoted to that issue.

May 10 2007

May 10th Website Newsletter

This newsletter is entirely devoted to the Wildwood Landfill issue.

• TIME: 12 Noon
• PLACE: James Thomson School and then on to the gates of the Landfill Site
• BRING: Pets, kids, noisemakers, placards, and your vision of our legacy.

Re: List of deficits

Please find below a list of all the areas in which the Golder assessment and the landfill proposal are deficient or in contravention of standards established for landfills in British Columbia. Also please note that many of these sections are mandatory and cannot be waived by the minister, but which may be made more stringent to protect the environment.

 

Dear Dr. Barkowski,