Re: Wildwood landfill -  Permit  #PR-04565

Dear Ms  Warriner,  

Powell River Legacy is a community group formed in response to the announcement by the local paper mill owned by Catalyst Corporation, of a proposal to apply for an application amendment to expand its industrial waste disposal site located in Powell River BC.

We are NOT in favor of mill closure or job loss, but rather, are promoting responsible waste management, and sustainable economics.

As a community, we share a common goal of establishing a legacy in Powell River which will benefit all who live and work here. Our legacy does not include an industrial waste dump within the City limits! The proposed vertical expansion of the landfill, if permitted, would leave an environmental catastrophe in its wake. Hardly an honorable legacy for our children and grandchildren.

Our specific objectives are:

The local paper mill in Powell River BC, operated by Catalyst, is seeking to reopen the sealed off industrial waste dump directly adjacent to the long-established community of Wildwood. Following are details of the proposed expansion:

click to see fullsize image

1. Basic Industrial Waste Dump Facts
2. Health Risks
3. Dust
4. Leachate
5. Flawed Public Process
6. Zoning Problems
7. The Unprecedented Plan

(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 residents gathered Saturday, May 26th at James Thomson School in Wildwood for a rally and parade sponsored by Powell River Legacy. The event gave voice to a huge groundswell of support to defeat Catalyst Paper's application for a landfill expansion.

The rally featured local speakers as well as Green Party candidate Silvaine Zimmerman, musician John Tyler and the Powell River Raging Grannies. The event was capped by a bagpiper-led parade of over 350 people through the streets of Wildwood.  The march ended at the landfill gates where community representatives delivered collected petitions to Catalyst personnel.

Listen to the opening speech:

» Listen to all the speeches

During the month of January, 1995, I conducted a document search at the office of the Ministry of the Environment, Land and Parks (MOE) in Surrey relating to the entire operation of MacMillan Bloedel's Powell River pulp mill for the past five years. The following is my initial draft report concerning only MB's hazardous waste dump known as the Wildwood Landfill.

The original MOE Permit for this industrial dump was issued to MB in 1976 and its terms are very vague and general. Significantly, the permit was for a term of 12 years which would take it to 1988, some 7 years ago.

The dump itself is situated in an old gravel pit on a high hill immediately above Powell Lake which is the source of drinking water for the Wildwood residential community, the source of potable water and electrical power for the mill, and which flows by the mill and discharges into Georgia Strait.

DOCUMENTS