Sandra Finley

2017-11-01 Book: “Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science” by Carey Gillam (glyphosate, roundup, Monsanto)

 Corruption, Freedom of Speech. (Remove some wrong postings from category), Genetically Modified, Health, Propaganda  No Responses »
Nov 012017
 

Hart writes:
Glyphosate is not necessarily the subject of a new crusade for me. But I do believe that family and friends should know about it. For their own and the health of their families. There are ways to reduce the risks.

The info about the chemical is particularly important in the EU right now.

The frightening part is the effects of lobbying and corruption that still prevents governments to take necessary actions.   See the short book review  . . .

Book review : “Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science”

by Carey Gillam, Island Press, 2017

Cover art

 

A few weeks ago I found myself sitting beside a retired chemical engineer at a reunion of my husband’s age-mates in Germany. I’m not sure what made the engineer decide to unleash decades worth of remorse about what his profession had done in the 1960s and 1970s, but that’s what he did.

He said that he, his company and colleagues around the world had knowingly produced many, many toxic chemicals that wound up in our homes, our foods, our bodies, and made us sick. Others they produced were so poisonous they would kill instantly, and were almost impossible to dispose of safely. Many are still in storage today.

I listened, amazed at his candour and aghast at what he was saying. I had just written a book about a fifty-year-old pulp mill in my home province of Nova Scotia in eastern Canada, and about successive waves of public protest over the dangerous chemicals it used and emitted, polluting air, water, and politics. The book also shows how the powerful pulp industry has shaped forest policies and practises in much of Canada, with its regime of clearcutting, planting of conifer monocultures, and then spraying these plantations with herbicides to kill off hardwoods that would compete with them.

The active ingredient in those herbicides is glyphosate. This is the weed-killer that the giant agrochemical and biotech company Monsanto put on the market in 1974 with the name “Roundup,” and complemented 20 years later with its genetically modified (GM) “Roundup Ready” crops that could be sprayed with the herbicide because they had been engineered to withstand it. Governments seemed convinced the weed-killer was safe; they had permitted its use around the world on fields of crops that we eat every day, and anywhere else that human beings want to wipe out plants that dare to put down roots where they are not wanted — on lawns, golf courses, gardens, parks, and playgrounds.

But glyphosate had long been controversial and I was curious as to what the chemist thought of it.

So I interrupted his Mea culpa about his own chemical sins and asked, “What about glyphosate? Is it safe?”

“It should be banned,” he said, without hesitating. “It’s poison.”

I wanted to ask him many more questions. Why, for example, did he (and many others) think glyphosate was dangerous, when the agro-chemical industry (and many others) argue that it is safe enough to drink and harmless to the environment? And why, if it really was harmful, did government agencies around the world approve it so that it has become the most widely used agro-chemical in human history?

Unfortunately, time ran out and I didn’t get to pose these questions.

Imagine my pleasure, then, when a couple of weeks later I learned there was a new book about glyphosate that might answer my questions. Entitled “Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science,” it was written by a veteran journalist, Carey Gillam.

The book does not disappoint. Not only does it answer my initial questions, but it also raises and answers many more, and it does so dispassionately and meticulously. She draws on years of research and investigation, countless scientific studies, court documents, interviews with scientists, farmers and regulators, and her previous experience as a senior reporter with Reuters.

When she first started reporting on agriculture, Gillam — like most citizens in democracies — had a lot of faith in the government agencies whose job it is to protect consumers and ensure the safety of farm products and foods, assuming that they wouldn’t approve herbicides such as Roundup and the GM Roundup Ready seeds that Monsanto produced if they posed any risks. She even became a “fan” of Monsanto’s chief technology officer, and said she enjoyed her chats with “the affable Brett Begemann” who had risen through the ranks to become Monsanto’s president.

But, as time passed, and her research and reports began to expose doubts about GM crops and glyphosate-based herbicides, she discovered that Monsanto could also be far from affable. The company tried to have her editors take her off the beat and their surrogates engaged in smear campaigns.

Eventually, Gillam left Reuters and joined the non-profit, US Right to Know, with its stated goal of “pursuing truth and transparency in America’s food system.” Her book offers readers 251 pages of compelling evidence that there is an urgent need for just such truth and transparency, that glyphosate poses many risks for human health, farms, crops, soils and the environment, and that Monsanto and the agro-chemical industry have gone to extraordinary lengths and expense to hide these from regulators and the public.

We learn that in the mid-1980s, a decade after Monsanto began promoting glyphosate as the safest herbicide ever, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States classified the chemical as a “possible human carcinogen.” Then, in 1991, after “extensive input” from Monsanto, the EPA did an about-face, deciding there was “evidence of non-carcinogenicity for humans.”

Over the years, study after independent study found that glyphosate was linked with health problems, with cancers such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chromosomal damage in blood cells, endocrine disruption, kidney or liver disease, and hormonal changes, among others. The combination of other ingredients with glyphosate in herbicide formulas made it even more dangerous.

Then there were the giant superweeds that were springing up in fields of Roundup Ready crops, which were resistant to glyphosate. To try to get rid of them, farmers were being forced to go back to deep tilling and every greater use of herbicides, both of which were things Monsanto promised its GM seeds and herbicides would reduce.

Researchers also found that the use of glyphosate around conventional and GM crops weakened their root systems, making them more vulnerable to disease and crop failures, such as that which has devastated Florida’s citrus crops. One independent scientist who determined that glyphosate destroys soil health tells Gillam, “When you spray glyphosate on a plant it’s like giving it AIDS.”

Monsanto and the agro-chemical industry pushed back at every step, publicizing its own studies that did not have to go through a peer review, hiring ghost-writers and providing them with messages, engaging industry-friendly scientists to write industry-friendly papers, and attacking genuinely independent scientists who contradicted them, trying to discredit them. As Gillam documents so diligently, this pattern repeated itself over and over and over again, and continues today.

“So where, one might ask, are the regulators?” asks Gillam at one point. A good question that she answers with ,a litany of rock-solid examples of how regulators have failed the public when it comes to glyphosate-based herbicides, be it the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US. Or the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Germany. And although she doesn’t focus on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), she does note that it did not require annual testing for glyphosate residues until 2017, after the research branch of the World Health Organization categorized glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Gillam admits that the story of glyphosate, the sacrificing of public safety for corporate profits for agro-chemical giants and the corporate capture of regulatory agencies, is not a “feel-good story.” This is certainly true. Page after page detailing the perfidy of compliant politicians and scientists, and the silencing of honest researchers within regulatory agencies, can be hard on the soul. It challenges head-on the myths that Monsanto (which the German giant Bayer is trying to take over) and others in the business of profiting from pesticides and GM crops have spread so effectively that their mission is to feed the world, something one senior scientist tells Gillam is “a bunch of garbage.”

At the same time, this book is hard to put down, as fast-paced and full of intrigue as any thriller, and it does offer glimmers of hope. After the World Health Organization labelled glyphosate a probable carcinogen, and despite the backlash from industry, lapdogs in regulatory agencies and even some media, many people believing their cancer came from exposure to glyphosate decided to take Monsanto to court. This brought to light damming documents that reveal still more of the subterfuge that surrounds glyphosate.

One professor emeritus of plant pathology tells her, “Future historians may well look back on our time and write about us … how willing we were to sacrifice our children and jeopardize future generations based on false promises and flawed science just to benefit the bottom line of a commercial enterprise.”

As Gillam notes, some believe that the chemical may turn out to have been worse than its poisonous predecessors — DDT and Agent Orange.

Her work on glyphosate leads her to conclude that “…when powerful corporations control the narrative, the truth often gets lost, and it’s up to journalists to find it and bring it home.”

This is exactly what Carey Gillam has done masterfully in this must-read book.

2017-10-27 Liberals table budget bill to join China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Globe & Mail

 Bank of Canada vs Canada Infrastructure Bk, Banksters, Privatization & Trade Deals, COMER  No Responses »
Oct 312017
 

By Bill Curry

The Liberal government has introduced a second large budget bill that includes a new law establishing Canada’s participation in the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Bill C-63, Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s second budget bill of the year, enacts a wide range of measures related to his March budget. Like the first budget bill, it is more than 300 pages, repeating a practice that has faced opposition criticism for lacking transparency.

The bill includes a new law called the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Agreement Act, which sets the terms for Canada’s relationship with the emerging bank.

Mr. Morneau’s March budget made one reference to the bank, stating that Ottawa would be contributing $256-million over five years to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Yet, the budget bill gives the Finance Minister the authority to transfer up to $375-million (U.S.), which is about $480-million in Canadian dollars. A Finance Department official said the legislation would give Canada the flexibility to buy more bank shares than the current plan of $256-million if desired.

Canada’s decision to join the more than 60 countries participating in the AIIB was announced the same week as the 2017 budget was released. The bank is viewed as China’s counterweight to the U.S.-led World Bank and Japan’s Asian Development Bank. It is also part of China’s One Belt One Road policy of expanding its international influence through infrastructure.

Since the bank’s launch in 2015, it has funded several large infrastructure projects throughout Asia, including a flood management project in Manila, electrical transmission work in India, a highway in Pakistan and a natural gas pipeline in Azerbaijan. The bank, which has more than $100-billion (U.S.) in available capital, received a AAA credit rating from Moody’s Investors Services earlier this year.

Canada’s participation in the AIIB comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has sent clear signals of his desire to expand trade links with China. These efforts coincide with a period of considerable uncertainty regarding the future of Canada’s economic relationship with the United States in light of ongoing talks to renegotiate the North American free-trade agreement.

This week, a state-owned firm, China Communications Construction Co. Ltd., announced that it is buying Canada’s largest publicly traded construction company, Aecon Group Inc.

Mr. Trudeau said on Friday that the transaction will receive a full review under the Investment Canada Act.

Neither the United States nor Japan have joined the AIIB and Canada did not express support under Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper. Canada’s decision to sign on was a concrete sign of Mr. Trudeau’s efforts to forge a deeper relationship with China, where the Prime Minister’s father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, is highly regarded for establishing diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China in 1970.

Mr. Morneau’s first budget bill, C-44, came within a vote of being blocked in the Senate in late June largely because many senators opposed the fact that it included new legislation creating the $35-billion Canada Infrastructure Bank.

Many senators said the Finance Minister should have introduced the Canada Infrastructure Bank Act as a stand-alone bill, so that it could have received more detailed scrutiny. The Senate chose to hold several hearings specifically on the infrastructure bank aspects of the first budget bill.

NDP MP Nathan Cullen said the government raises suspicions when it places large initiatives inside a budget bill.

“If they’re proud of the policy, if it’s something that they’re wanting Canadians to know about, then don’t bury it in hundreds of pages,” he said. Mr. Cullen noted that Parliament has received little information about Canada’s role in the AIIB and the Trudeau government’s broader plans to strengthen ties with China.

“This is clearly part of the China agenda with Trudeau,” he said. “The challenge with that entire agenda is it’s been low on transparency and high on ambition. I think Canadians are right to raise concerns about what exactly it is that we’re offering to China.”

Daniel Lauzon, a spokesman for the Finance Minister, said Canada’s participation in the AIIB is clearly a budget measure that should be included in a budget bill. He said Canada’s participation in the AIIB “will create jobs here at home and help the middle class around the world.”

Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre said the bank forces Canadian taxpayers to shoulder the risk of private projects in other countries.

“If investors want to profit off infrastructure, that is fine. But they, not taxpayers, should take the financial risk,” he said. “The Asian Infrastructure Bank is yet another Liberal handout to the world’s wealthy at taxpayers’ expense. … Investors get the profit and taxpayers get the financial risk of infrastructure megaprojects, many of which are not even in Canada.”

2017-10-19 Bowser Sewage Treatment Plant. Reply to my submission.

 Water Bowser BC Sewage Treatment Plant  No Responses »
Oct 292017
 

I made a submission to the Government about the Bowser Sewage Treatment Plant (“Opportunity! …).

Reply from the Deputy Minister of Environment received (I have some follow-up to do.):

 

Reference:  311945

October 19, 2017

 

Dear Ms. Finley:

 

On behalf of the Honourable George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, thank you very much for your email of September 13, 2017, regarding the Regional District of Nanaimo’s (RDN’s) proposed sewage treatment system and outfall intended to serve the Bowser Village. I am pleased to have this opportunity to respond.

 

I appreciate the time you have taken to share some of your ideas with us. Your comments regarding alternative treatment options, source water protection and cumulative effects are valuable and have been provided to Ministry staff on the South Authorization Team in the Environmental Protection Division for consideration during adjudication of any future application for this project.

 

At this time, the Ministry has not yet received a formal application for a proposed system to service the Bowser Village Centre so I am unable to respond with specific comments on the RDN proposal in relation to your concerns. However, I would like to assure you that my ministry and our new government take the protection of our air, land and water resources seriously and will ensure that the environment and human health is at the forefront of our decision-making.

 

Prior to submitting an application for a municipal wastewater discharge, the Ministry requires meaningful consultation with members of the community and First Nations. The results of these efforts are then presented as part of the submission to the Ministry. Once received by the Ministry, an application for a municipal effluent discharge is assessed according to the requirements identified in the Municipal Wastewater Regulation, and in accordance with the principles in the RDN’s Liquid Waste Management Plan. This includes the preparation of an environmental impact assessment. You can learn more about the regulatory requirements and authorization process on our website at http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/waste-management/sewage/municipal-wastewater-regulation.

 

Planning and public consultation regarding the types and locations of proposed wastewater treatment systems, including the outfall, rest with the local government. I understand that residents in the area to be serviced by the proposed sewerage system supported the project in a recent petition, allowing the RDN to proceed to the next phase of detailed design and consultation with the broader community. I also note that the RDN website contains significant information on the proposed facility, with community engagement details, recent updates and direct contact information to the appropriate RDN staff working on this project. I encourage you to visit their website at http://www.rdn.bc.ca/cms.asp?wpID=3609, and participate in the ongoing consultation process.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to express your concerns and for sharing your personal experiences.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Mark Zacharias

Deputy Minister

 

cc         A.J. Downie, Director, Authorizations – South, Environmental Protection Division, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy

2017-10-26 Revealed: oil giants pay billions less tax in Canada than abroad, The Guardian

 Energy, Freedom of Speech. (Remove some wrong postings from category)  No Responses »
Oct 292017
 

Data shows companies made much higher payments to developing countries in 2016 than to Canadian, provincial governments

Canada taxes its oil and gas companies at a fraction of the rate they are taxed abroad, including by countries ranked among the world’s most corrupt, according to an analysis of public data by the Guardian.

The low rate that oil companies pay in Canada represents billions of dollars in potential revenue lost, which an industry expert who looked at the data says is a worrying sign that the country may be “a kind of tax haven for our own companies.”

The countries where oil companies paid higher rates of taxes, royalties and fees per barrel in 2016 include Nigeria, Indonesia, Ivory Coast and the UK.

“I think it will come as a surprise to most Canadians, including a lot of politicians, that Canada is giving oil companies a cut-rate deal relative to other countries,” said Keith Stewart, an energy analyst with Greenpeace.

Companies like Chevron Canada paid almost three times as much to Nigeria and almost seven times as much to Indonesia as it did to Canadian, provincial and municipal governments.

Chevron used to run its Nigeria and Indonesia projects out of the U.S., but after allegations that they evaded billions in taxes, their operations were moved to Canada.

According to data collected by the Guardian, Suncor also paid six times more taxes to the UK, and Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) paid almost four times more to Ivory Coast.

 

(Please go to the URL, to see the bar graph –  – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2017/oct/26/revealed-oil-giants-pay-billions-less-tax-in-canada-than-abroad)

Oil company payments to governments in Canada and abroad
Payment per barrel in Canadian dollars, 2016
Chevron Canada
Canada
Nigeria
Indonesia

Suncor Energy Inc
Canada
UK

CNRL
Canada
Ivory Coast
Guardian graphic | Source: Natural Resources Canada

The revelations emerge as tax reforms proposed by the Liberal government to curb the use of loopholes by wealthy Canadians continue to be hotly debated and opposed by business lobby groups.

Even with the low rates, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has been lobbying the federal government for more tax breaks to improve their “competitiveness.”

The Guardian used a new extractive sector database launched in June, 2017, after a law passed by Stephen Harper required oil, gas, and mining companies in Canada to disclose for the first time payments they make to governments around the world. The Guardian compared payment figures for 2016 to oil production levels.

The result of a global push for “publish-what-you-pay” corporate transparency, the Canadian law was billed as a way to empower citizens in developing countries to ensure more tax revenue is collected for much-needed social programs. While it was supported by Canada’s mining industry, oil companies fought against full disclosures.

“Publish-what-you-pay was set up to help fight corruption in the developing world, but ironically this data reveals that it’s Canada who is getting the short end of the stick when it comes to the public’s share of oil revenue,” said Stewart. “The Trudeau government should be demanding that oil companies pay at least as much tax here as they do abroad, and use that money to fund a transition to green energy.”

According to resource governance expert and UBC geography professor Philippe Le Billon, neoliberal policies in Canada and across OECD countries have resulted in lower taxes and royalties for companies.

“Companies in Canada will point to the jobs they are creating rather than acknowledge they could be sharing more of their profits, which mostly goes to shareholders who are not even in the country,” he said. “In key jurisdictions like Alberta, this has come about after decades of rule by Conservatives who are very cozy with oil interests. The numbers reveal a poor tradeoff: high emissions for not much revenue. It’s long-past time for Canada to follow a model like Norway’s, which captures far more revenue from oil production.”

While royalty rates in Newfoundland are the highest in Canada, in Alberta they have fallen from a 40 per cent high during the 1970s to less than four per cent, and a complex system of exemptions ensures companies often pay even less. The NDP government in Alberta backed away from a pledge to hike them.

Le Billon said the tax gap between Canada and developing countries has also been influenced by lower prices for Canadian crude and higher production costs.

“[Production in Africa] generated positive segmented earnings, therefore generating higher associated payments to the local Governments. In contrast, last year our Canadian conventional operations were generating operating losses, hence lower payment levels to Canadian governments,” a spokesperson for CNRL said. They reported losses of $204 million last year but have made $1.07 billion in profits in their latest quarter in 2017.

Chevron Canada did not directly address the discrepancy in tax rates, but a spokesperson said its reporting to the extractive sector database “are one of many important roles that Chevron Canada and our industry peers play as we produce safe and reliable energy and partner with communities and first nations [sic].” They reported losses of $497 million in 2016 after making $4.6 billion in 2015.

Suncor, which reported profits of $1.9 billion in 2016, did not return a request for comment. All three companies pay massive dividends to shareholders every year.

Natural Resources Canada referred questions to the Finance Ministry, which did not respond to questions.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government and the provinces also continue to give $3.3 billion in yearly subsidies to fossil fuel producers in the country, despite having pledged to phase them out.

2017-09-18 Drive it through: the legislation to get Big Money out of politics.

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?  No Responses »
Sep 182017
 

(Note:  links are good, even in they appear not to be.)

B.C. Premier Horgan and the NDP government are planning to pass Ban Big Money legislation.

From the beginning, this has truly been a grassroots movement. When we launched the Ban Big Money campaign, the media ignored us and politicians told us it couldn’t be done. But tens of thousands of everyday British Columbians came together to say “enough is enough.” And now, here we stand, on the edge of something great.

Last week we asked for your input into what you thought the gold standard should be for Ban Big Money laws.

2,179 of you took the time to make your voices heard, and we can’t thank you enough. Here are the results.

Already our volunteer teams are out knocking on their MLAs’ doors and phoning their offices, presenting them with the results of our survey. They are making sure elected officials know, after decades of living in the no-holds-barred Wild West, British Columbians won’t settle for anything less than the best.

Please stay vigilant this week — watch the announcements and look at the details. We want to make sure this law meets our standards. If it doesn’t, contact your MLA and let them know their job isn’t finished yet. And if it truly is ideal, celebrate.

Let’s drive this home,

Lisa

 

 
PLEASE DONATE

 

https://dogwoodbc.ca/donate-generaldynamic/

2017-09-18 Nuclear Waste: Last Week Tonite with John Oliver

 Radioactive waste  No Responses »
Sep 182017
 

A great video, John Oliver on nuclear waste.

With many thanks to Angela and the activists in Ontario:

Sept. 18, 2017

☢ Nuclear Waste: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Late night comedy hour explains why the United States desperately needs to build a metaphorical toilet for all that waste. 18 min. video.

The World

☢ Nuclear power on the global decline Nuclear power is on its way out, as construction of only one new nuclear reactor was undertaken in 2017, reports the World Nuclear Industry Report 2017. In 2016, more than $240 billion [€202 billion] was invested in renewable energies compared to about $10 billion [€8.4 billion] in the nuclear sector.

☢ How the nuclear industry is still poisoning us 13 min. interview with Paul Gunter about why the nuclear industry fails when it comes to your health.

☢ Distant Future Warnings: The challenges of communicating with eternity Radioactive waste and toxic mining byproducts will remain deadly for thousands of years – maybe forever. Generations in the distant future will need to know about the places this stuff is buried, and to stay away. But is it even possible? 54 min. CBC radio documentary. (Nuclear waste section starts at 24 min.)

☢ Banking on Uranium Makes the World Less Safe Clothed in woolly non-proliferation rhetoric, the IAEA’s ‘uranium bank’ is nothing more than a marketing enterprise to support a struggling nuclear industry desperate to remain relevant as more and more plants close and new construction plans are cancelled.

☢ Tsunamis on the Great Lakes? Indeed there are 100/year in the Great Lakes.

☢ Michael Flynn backed for-profit nuclear scheme inside Trump transition The Trump adviser pushed a ‘Marshall Plan’ for Middle East nuclear power after he was hired by its private sponsors.

☢ Nuclear plans ‘should be rethought after fall in offshore windfarm costs’ The UK government is under pressure to reconsider its commitment to a new generation of nuclear power stations after the cost of offshore wind power reached a record low. The Guardian Editorial board agrees.

Ontario

☢ U.S. officials still trying to stop Canada’s plan to bury nuclear waste under Lake Huron The US House passed Rep. Paul Mitchell’s amendment that prohibits American money for the International Joint Commission from being used to attend an annual Canadian water resources conference, demonstrating the U.S. Congress’ opposition to the DGR (nuke waste dump proposed in Kincardine, ON). “A failure at this site would have devastating impacts on Michigan and Canada, who both rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water, tourism, and commerce.”

Renewables and Conservation

☼ Offshore wind energy is cheaper than new nuclear power for first time Improved infrastructure and higher voltage cables have in recent years sent prices for wind power tumbling. (And no radioactive waste!)

☼ The Way We Get Electricity Is About to Change Forever Superior batteries are on the way, and they will disrupt power markets within the next decade.

☼ Renewable energy growth now far outpaces nuclear energy worldwide Globally, wind power output grew by 16%, solar by 30%, nuclear by 1.4% in 2016.

Take Action!

☢ Don’t Let #DirtyEnergy TRUMP the Climate – Stop the $100+ Billion Nuclear and Coal Bailout Petition against the Republican plan for a massive coal and nuclear bailout as part of a new policy for “Energy Dominance”.

☢ Our big chance to close Pickering Hydro Quebec is offering Ontario enough low-cost water power (6 cents) to replace the Pickering nuclear station (9 cents). More here. Please send your support for a deal to Premier Wynne and PC Leader Patrick Brown.
Email Premier Wynne at premier@ontario.ca or leave a phone message at 416-325-1941.
Email Patrick Brown at patrick.brownco@pc.ola.org or leave a phone message at 416-325-0445.

☢ Suspend shipments of liquid nuclear waste from Chalk River, ON to the US & do an independent EA – Petition You can learn more about it here & here & here.

☢ Please sign the petition to the Cdn. House of Commons to help us protect the Ottawa River from a giant radioactive megadump.  More info here.

☢ Send the Premier a message calling for Hydro One to stay out of the coal business

☢ Tell the Japanese government: don’t dump nuclear waste into the ocean!

☢ Sign our petition to close the old and dangerous Pickering Nuclear Station when its license expires in 2018. And then share it with your friends. Watch my video here.

☢ Can you spare a few hours to leaflet blitz your neighbourhood mailboxes? Help us make the closure of the Pickering nuclear station a public issue. Contact: angela@cleanairalliance.org

☢ Prime Minister Trudeau: Canada must help achieve a global ban on nuclear weapons Send your message here.

☢ Order your free KI (anti-thyroid-cancer) pills here if you live within 50 km of an ON nuclear facility – that includes all of Toronto and beyond. Download your anti-thyroid cancer posters here to post in your office, school, or local cafe.

Events

☢ Canada Day of Action to Support the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty Citizen Signing Ceremonies Wed. Sept. 20 in Toronto, Ottawa, Kingston, London, Sidney, Halitax, Victoria, Salt Spring Island, and Nanaimo.

☢ No War 2017: War and the Environment Sept. 22 – 24, Washington DC. Livestreamed and archived.

☢ Green Energy Doors Open Sept. 22 – 24. Annual showcase of individual, community and commercial sustainable energy projects across Ontario.

☢ Getting to Nuclear Zero: Building Common Security for a Post-Mad World Sept. 22 – 23, Ottawa. Nuclear disarmament ultimately requires a shift from the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD) to a commitment – in mind, policy and practice – to mutual security, through a sustainable common security regime rooted in global interdependence, the rule of law, and a recognition of the limited utility of military force in responding to political conflict.

☢ Climate Change Workshop: Local Development of Zero Emission Solutions Sun. Sept. 24, 10.30 am – 5 pm,  Ecotay Education Center, Tay Valley Township, ON.

☢ Great Lakes Water Walk Sun. Sept. 24, Toronto. Open invitation to all to join an Indigenous-led Water Walk to honor Nibi (Water).

☢ ClimaCon Sept. 27 – 29, Ottawa. Canada’s largest convergence of climate heros. For activists and organizers.

☢ Webinar- Beyond Doom and Gloom: Essentials to Move the Needle for Green Energy Fri, Sept. 29, 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. EDT

☢ Webinar with Paul Hawkin on Climate Solutions Wed. Oct. 4, 1:15 – 2:15 p.m. EDT

☢ 3rd Antinuclear World Social Forum Nov. 2 – 4, 2017, Paris, France

2017-09-12 One developer drops out of Bowser sewer deal, Parksville Qualicum News

 Water Bowser BC Sewage Treatment Plant  No Responses »
Sep 172017
 

 

Board to hold special meeting to approve DCC’s frontender agreement

 

by Michael Briones

First there were five developers. Now there are only four developers who are set to enter into an agreement with the Regional District of Nanaimo that would require them to fund 85 per cent of the cost of the $10.7 million Bowser Village Centre Wastewater Project.

The support of the developers is a vital component of the project in order for it to proceed. The proposed Bowser sewer system will have three components — a collection system ($3,877,154), a wastewater treatment plant ($4,262,962), and effluent disposal ($2,541,395).

The project has already been approved for a $7.6 million Clean Water and Wastewater Fund and, initially, the balance not covered by the grant was to be paid for by 99 property owners — or 107 parcels — located in the proposed sewer service area. To reduce the cost to parcel owners, developers in Bowser made a commitment to the RDN to pay in advance development cost charges (DCCs) for future property developments, amounting to approximately $2.7 million. The proposed rate for a residential DCC is $14,888 per unit.

The board has called a special meeting for Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 3 p.m. at the RDN board chambers to vote on the development cost charge front-ender agreement with the developers.

There were five developers that initally agreed to buy into the agreement but one — Magnolia Enterprises Ltd. — had dropped out. That leaves A.G. Project Management Inc., owned by Alan Grozell; Coral Ice Developments, owned by Keith Reid; Ballard Fine Homes Ltd., owned by Donald Ballard; and James Walter Foulds and Lenny Agustin Foulds to carry the deal through.

The RDN staff proposed to the board to redistribute the capacity allocation, or dwelling unit equivalents, to the remaining four participants. Ballard Fine Homes Ltd would fork out the highest amount at $1,161,264, which is 44 per cent for 78 lots. A.G. Project Management would pay $923,056 for 62 lots, followed by James Walter Foulds and Lenny Augustin Foulds, who would contribute $297,760 for 20 lots, and Coral Ice Developments, $253,096 for 17 lots.

The property owners along the proposed sewer service area will share the 15 per cent balance of the project’s cost not covered by the DCCs and grant.

For a one-acre parcel or less, parcel owners will pay a flat fee of $2,900. For parcels larger than one acre, owners will pay on a per-square-metre basis at a rate of $0.717 per square metre, or $2,900 per acre. However, not entailed in the project cost is the annual operating and maintenance charges — estimated at $150,000 per year — that property owners would be required to pay.

Some properties may require on-site pumps, to be paid for by the RDN. But the regional district will not cover installation or the link into the sewer mains. A one-time cost for a single-family residence can range from $1,000 to $5,000.

While the RDN board endorsed the project, giving three readings to each of the bylaws required to get the infrastructure initiative moving last month, there are property owners outside the proposed sewer service area fighting the marine outfall option being chosen to discharge treated effluence.

The Stop Bowser Ocean Sewage group has a petition with over 650 signatures and is hoping the RDN will consider investigating a land disposal option.

 

2015-09-26 Sadly, evidence is not sufficient if people cannot hear it. Many thanks to Nancy

 Perception, fallibility, Linguistics  No Responses »
Sep 172017
 

– – –   Good grief!  Good thing it doesn’t take me five years to get all postings from “draft” to “published”!

NANCY WRITES:

Sadly, evidence is not sufficient if people cannot hear it.  That is why I appreciate Randy Olson’s Connection: Hollywood Storytelling Meets Critical Thinking.

 

“If we want to communicate with people who are not experts, who are not scientists, if we want to be effective in communication, we should speak to their System One.  And that is a different way of speaking.  It almost necessarily involves stories.  It involves concrete events.  You have to assume that System One is largely indifferent to the quality or amount of evidence.  It is bound more by the coherence of the story than by the evidence behind it.

And then I would add something that is crucial.  Because of emotional coherence, the source is extremely important.  The source has to be liked, and the source has to be trusted.  And if the scientific establishment is not liked and is not trusted, then the amount of evidence really is going to have very little purchase on what actually happens.  Messages from distrusted sources will be ignored, and the amount of evidence will not matter.”   Daniel Kahneman May 2012 p. 70

(INSERT: Kahneman’s work is discussed in  2013-11-26 Conservatives are effectively using the techniques that marketers have developed for changing brains, George Lakoff)

Olson’s book supplies this never-fail recipe:

And-But-Therefore (ABT) Storytelling Formula

  1. A series of this “And” this “And” sets up the ordinary world.
  2. “But” is a fulcrum that poses a question and turns the ordinary world upside down.
  3. “Therefore” answers the question by showing how the protagonist resolves their conflict.

 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

EMAIL THREAD THAT PRECEDED THE ABOVE

From: Nancy  Sent: September 24, 2015  To: Sandra Finley Subject: Re: Advocating for detailed files on citizens

In a CBC interview this morning Buffy Ste. Marie said something about her message has been the same since the 60’s but now people have the ears to listen.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

On Thu, Sep 24, 2015 at 10:09 PM, Sandra Finley wrote:

 

RE:     her message has been the same since the 60’s but now people have the ears to listen

Of course – ding dong me!   Some things have to be repeated many times and in many different ways – – – but the same message.   And then one day the words take hold.  Or, they appear to have taken hold.

It just struck me as I read an old posting that is quite alarming, still today – – about the plans for integration with U.S. and Mexico that keep rolling on in the back rooms.   It is so well documented that this is what is happening.

You sent those words at the right time,  minutes before I needed them.  It is not the time to despair but to REPEAT.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

I can think of lots of plans that got dropped,  without it ever being announced.   It doesn’t mean you can drop your vigilance.  Another, or the same person picks up the idea and tries to run with it, again, 20 years later.

Reminds me of kids who eventually wear down their parents!

 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

On Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 12:53 PM, Sandra Finley wrote:

I wonder how much evidence we need that we are on the wrong path?

 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

 

From: Nancy   Sent: September 25, 2015  To: Sandra Finley  Subject: Re: AHA MOMENT!

Pleased my sharing of Buffy’s words was timely.

My feminist mother is struggling.  She has dedicated a large part of her life to women and lives in the Ottawa Valley.  She woke up looking forward to the annual “Take Back the Night” vigil; celebrating with old friends and meeting new, and went to bed knowing that three women had been killed by a man who they had had the courage to press charges against.  The next day she realized that she had taught one of the women and had known her family.

. . .  BACK TO THE TOP, Nancy’s concluding email.

2017-09-13 Update on battle to get fish farms out

 Economy / Political Economy, First Nations activists, Occupy Movement, Rule of Law, Salmon & Fish, Sustainability  No Responses »
Sep 152017
 

Very good video and written documentation.   With thanks to Alexandra Morton; First Nations Chiefs, people; and thousands of supporters.

Among other issues,  there is further excellent documentation of a Canadian phenomenon, the use of the RCMP to defend corporate interests AGAINST our laws.

Corporate interests act with impunity.   The RCMP respond when the corporate interest beckons.  The whole “justice” system responds to the corporate interest that is breaking the laws, but will not respond to people who are on the right side of the law.

  • it is illegal to harvest herring in these particular waters. Watch the video, see what happens.
  • the corporate interest is trespassing; again, watch and see what happens.
  • you will see other laws being broken, with no consequences.    It reminds me of
  • the RCMP used by Monsanto to intimidate organic farmers
  • the RCMP anti-terrorist squad called in to terrorize the inhabitants of Tom’s Lake over incidents on the Encana pipeline.  That was after futile, lengthy attempts by Wiebo Ludwig in particular, to have laws enforced that would protect his family and livestock from the poisoning that was happening from sour gas emissions.

BUT!  read on:

From: Alex Morton (via wildsalmonpeople list)

Hello

After decades trying to reason with government and industry, First Nations are taking matters into their own hands.

I believe we are seeing the end of fish farming as we know it.

http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/

Alex

2017-09-12 The proposed Bowser Sewage Treatment Plant, submission to the BC Government

 Health, Water Bowser BC Sewage Treatment Plant  9 Responses »
Sep 142017
 

UPDATE:   See reply of the Deputy Minister , Oct 19, to my submission below.

UPDATE:   2018-03-25   Vancouver Island cholera outbreak ‘a unique situation,’ health officials say, Vancouver Sun

UPDATE:    2018-03-26  Water: re Cholera cases from herring eggs, Qualicum Beach area. Letter to officials, Reply from Medical Health Officer.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The following is prompted by one local project.  But it isn’t local at all! 

I listened to submissions being made about a new sewage treatment plant, and joined the list of speakers.

There is opposition to the proposal, which also has supporters.  . . .  By meeting’s end, the project was moved up the chain, closer to approval.

I left the meeting feeling that central issues have not been addressed in the public debate.  I don’t think they are even well understood.   That’s not a good place from which to make decisions with 50-year consequences.

There are extensive water networks in Canada, with a depth of understanding, thankfully.

The proposed Bowser Sewage Treatment Plant is a large opportunity to do a U-turn around the smelly issue.

 

Sewage treatment for the Village of Bowser CAN become a moment that signals a much-needed shift in thinking.

I try to make water-tight arguments  (scroll down to THE PROPOSED BOWSER B.C. SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT ) – – even though I know from long experience:  “rational” arguments do not often win the day.   The brink of crisis is a far better motivator!   But critical mass plays a role, too.

Thanks to Maureen (“Comments” at bottom) for the “mystery” about microfibres in tap water from The Guardian news.

The scientific report, link no longer valid – need to find a new one    https://hal-enpc.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01150549v1

Microfibres and microbeads that we and aquatic life are ingesting are not a mystery, in my mind.  They don’t “come from the sky” as scientists are quoted to have said.   If you understand our water systems, the most likely (“plausible”) trail:

  • water delivery pipes take water to residences and businesses
  • someone fills a washing machine with clothing or table cloths or a blanket or other fabric.
  • Take a look at a pair of close-fitting pants.   After a bit of wear, you can see plastic micro-fibres where there is rubbing.
  • Back to the washing machine,  hit the “start” button,  the washing machine starts to fill with water.
  • Water “goes down the drain” into the sewage collection system, after the wash and after the rinse cycles.
  • Microfibres from millions of loads of laundry, every day, enter the water supply   . . .

If invisible microfibres and beads are in your tap water (and in the oceans of the world),  it seems to me the answer is obvious:

Sewage treatment plants  (NOR water treatment plants) are able to remove invisible microfibres and microbeads  from water.  They’re invisible to our eye.  So we just drink them down, along with all the synthetic chemicals that water and sewage treatment cannot remove.

The proposed Bowser Sewage Treatment Plant is a huge opportunity from which to create a U-turn.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

UPDATE:   5 developers.  One has dropped out.  See http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=19888 

LOCAL GROUP:

 

RELATED GROUPS:   There are tons of Canadian groups fighting hard to reverse our poisoning of water supplies.

  • In addition, I see a Florida group, “Stop Ocean Sewage”,   https://www.facebook.com/stopoceansewage/
  • And from the state of Washington that shares ocean waters with British Columbia,  Puget Sound Alliance,  Allyssa Barton  260  297  7002   X114

 

CONTACT INFO, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

  • See below, the four officials I sent my submission to
  • There’s an excellent, more comprehensive list at  sosbowser.ca.   It includes the programmes through which the tax-payer funding will come.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Sept 12, 2017

FROM:  Sandra Finley

TO:

  • BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs,  The Honourable Minister Responsible, Selina Robinson   (mah.minister   AT  gov.bc.ca)
  • BC Ministry of Environment,  The Honourable Minister Responsible, George Heyman   (env.minister  AT   gov.bc.ca)
  • BC Green Party Leader, The Honourable Andrew Weaver   (Andrew.Weaver.MLA  AT   leg.bc.ca)
  • My BC MLA,   The Honourable Michelle Stilwell    (Michelle.Stilwell.MLA@leg.bc.ca)

 

Dear Honourable Members of the Government of B.C.,

First, I want to tell you how much I appreciate the point-of-view you are bringing to the Canadian ideal of “peace, order and good governance”.

You are making a difference, helping to forge a new relationship between governed and government.  I hope you succeed.  Democracy has never seemed so fragile.

Please find attached  my submission  . . .

 

THE PROPOSED BOWSER B.C. SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT

 

SUMMARY

  1. The proposed Sequencing Batch Reactor Sewage Treatment with UV radiation, tertiary filtering, and marine disposal of liquid effluent is water-intensive technology.  There are proven technologies for poop, pee and grey water that are not water intensive.  With increasing populations, and water shortages, why would water-intensive technology be under consideration, when there are alternatives?

 

  1. If the Sewage Treatment Design Report is approved, we would be intentionally endorsing the addition of more carcinogens, teratogens, hormone disruptors, heavy metals and other poisons into the ocean – – when we know that marine life is already under relentless and destructive assault.  Sequencing Batch Reactor Sewage Treatment with UV radiation and tertiary filtering does not attempt to remove the poisons, nor is it possible to identify and remove them.

 

  1. The effluent would be going into Georgia Strait that already receives large volumes of sewage effluent from coastal populations. And today, there are more, and larger cruise ships, small floating cities.   News reports state that the cruise ships dump offshore Canada because we lack regulation and enforcement.   Alaska has stringent legislation to prevent dumping in their waters.  Washington state has regulation, but not to the same standard as Alaska.   As I understand, the default for the ships is to dump in Canadian waters.

 

The proposed Bowser Sewage Treatment Plant underlines our asleep-at-the-wheel attitude.

 

  1. The proposal is clothed in fancy-sounding words. “UV radiation” enables the proponents to infer that the effluent will be treated to drinking water standards.  (Point #2 – – UV radiation does not touch the odourless, colourless pollutants that we know go “down the drain”.   Nor does tertiary filtration.)  A “reactor” sounds potent; the chamber that houses the UV lamps is typically called a reactor – – so,  fancy words that pacify, but which are irrelevant for addressing the poisoning of offshore water, cumulative impacts and bio-accumulation of poisons.

 

  1. Bowser’s water is clean. It comes directly from underground sources; a water treatment plant and delivery pipes are not factors in the cost estimate.  So Bowser is not cost representative.  The cost for similar communities that want the same grants as Bowser, will have the significant additional cost of a Water Treatment Plant and water lines to the users.   Bowser will have the same cost, if at some point, their water has to be treated to drinking water standards before it can be used (if the underground water supply should ever become contaminated, which happens, and happens in Canada).

 

  1. A sequencing batch reactor cannot pass the economic tests, especially for the population size, and given the alternative technologies now being used (Calgary, one example). Is the Government going to provide more than $7 million in grants – – just for the sewage treatment side of the coin?  How will the other side, the Water Treatment Plant and delivery infrastructure, be funded?  will this be for every population of 188 residents in Canada that gets sold on the idea of a status quo sewage treatment plant?

 

INSERT 1 (not in the Submission):  The math for the economics:   more than $7 million in Government grants for the sewage treatment for 188 residents is more than $37,000 per resident.  And does not cover the full costs, which are around $11 million, more than $58,000 per resident, just for the sewage treatment, doesn’t include the delivery of water to everyone.   How about if we start by granting the same amount of money to First Nations communities that have been on boil water advisories for years?

INSERT 2 :   The basic Sequencing Batch process  (I think of my French press coffee-maker, or making tea with loose leaves):

  • Step 1 – fill a tank with a batch of sewage.  (water and tea leaves)
  • Step 2 – settle out the solids.
  • Step 3 – “decant” (from the word decanter.  Carefully pour off the liquid, so as not to disturb the sediment (sludge) at the bottom of the tank.
  • Step 4 – desludge.  Empty the tank, readying it for the next batch.

UV radiation is an added step in the Bowser proposal; also tertiary filtration.

The word “tertiary” means third, as in third level sewage treatment, steps up from primary and secondary treatment.  Tertiary FILTRATION (this is not tertiary TREATMENT, which wouldn’t make a difference anyway).   Tertiary filtration (a granular bed) aims to make the liquid effluent less cloudy by catching suspended solids that don’t settle out.  The esthetics are improved.  Anything that is a part of the liquid itself, is unaffected.

Scroll down in this posting for more detail:

2017-08-16   Water: Bowser votes on sewage treatment. ($11 million for 188 population?  What am I missing?)

END OF INSERT

– – – – – – – – – – –       ELABORATION      – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

LOCATION

The proposal would have liquid effluent discharged into the Salish Sea, also known as the Strait of Georgia.   The Strait is the arm of the Pacific Ocean between Vancouver Island, and the mainland coast of British Columbia, and northern Washington state.

PROJECT APPROVALS

Regional Approval received:

The Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN), Board Meeting, August 22, 2017 – approved the proposal for a Sequencing Batch Reactor Sewage Treatment Plant for the Village of Bowser on Vancouver Island, with marine disposal of the liquid effluent.

The next step is approval from two Provincial Ministries:

  • Municipal Affairs (Honourable Selina Robinson, Minister)
  • Environment (Honourable George Heyman, Minister)

The plan for sewage treatment for Bowser has been in the making for 25 years (as I understood the Chair of the RDN to say).  I appreciate the dedication of the people who have been involved over the years.  And the frustration that comes when action is elusive.

Nonetheless, the role of citizens in a democracy is to be informed, and to speak up when warranted.

 

THE PROPOSED SEWAGE TREATMENT TAKES US IN THE SAME DIRECTION WE’VE BEEN GOING.  IF IT WAS THE RIGHT DIRECTION, THE OCEANS WOULD NOT BE IN THE STATE THEY ARE TODAY.

My first experience with marine disposal was 45 years ago, on the opposite Coast of Canada in Halifax-Dartmouth.   Everything, except our thinking, has changed in the years since.

It is a tragedy, especially because there is ANOTHER OPTION (and it’s not “land disposal” of effluent).

Cities with increasing demands on the quantity and quality of water supplies are moving to technologies that mitigate.  Increasing population automatically means increased demand.   We are already experiencing water shortages.   Water-intensive technologies belong in the past.

To recommend the use of technologies that we know will put substantially greater stress on the local water supply is kind of crazy.   Approval of the Bowser initiative will establish obsolete,  outrageously expensive processes for every new application that comes along.

B.C. and Canada will be exacerbating the state of the oceans, instead of contributing where we can, to making things better.

 

CUMULATIVE IMPACTS:

The failure to address cumulative impacts is intentional stupidity.  You see it over and over in Canada.  One example:

Individual smokestacks get regulated.  There are religious checks to see that no one is fiddling with the monitoring devices in the plant.  And the industry (one of many) trots out the mantra, “Why, this is the most-highly regulated industry in Canada!”

Nonetheless, downwind of Fort McMurray, northern Saskatchewan is “acidifying”, first acknowledged in 2003, worsening with each passing year.  (The Great Lakes, prior to the negotiation in the late 1980’s of the “Acid Rain Treaty” to regulate pollution, were “acidifying”.  The lakes “die”.).

Heavily regulated?  . . .  one smokestack in isolation, that’s how it’s done.

 

It’s the same story with all the synthetic chemicals.  Cumulative impacts, whether of air pollution or synthetic chemicals are serious, but we look the other way.   Childhood cancers increased by 25% over 25 years.   Asthma rates increased by 40% over the same period.

We have developed burgeoning economies around children with health problems, and with developmental challenges (teratogenic chemicals).   We don’t bother to “think”.   Cell division and specialization of purpose is the same process, whether in the human or other species.   Tumors in humans, tumors in fish.

The cumulative effects of coastal populations using the oceans for dumping is obvious:  more and more ocean-side is closed to shellfisheries and swimming.   But here we are, proposing another sewage treatment plant with marine disposal.

The largest cities on the Planet, with a few exceptions, are ocean-side.  45 years ago, when I was befuddled by the condoms and tampon tubes on the shore at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, I learned that pretty well every community on an ocean shore in this world,  uses “marine disposal”.  We have to stop it.

 

 

CONVOLUTED PHRASES, RED HERRINGS AND PROPAGANDA TO BAMBOOZLE

A SEQUENCING BATCH REACTOR DOES NOTHING TO ADDRESS POTENT INGREDIENTS IN THE LIQUID EFFLUENT.  

I was four years back-and-forth with Saskatoon City Council.  Saskatoon is on the South Saskatchewan River.

When I heard that Saskatoon had replaced augering-out of tree roots in sewer lines with a chemical combination, Vaporooter, that dissolves tree roots, I groaned.  Sure enough, Calgary and other communities, upstream and downstream of Saskatoon, had bought into contracting-out to companies that use Vaporooter.  The outcome is below, but first:

THE QUESTION FOR BOWSER:

Which step in the proposed Sequencing Batch Reactor will remove the synthetic chemicals (and micro beads from personal care products like body washes?) from the effluent?

THE ANSWER:

There isn’t a step and we don’t have the technology to allow us to test, to know which chemicals are in the liquid effluent.

The starting point:  you have to know which chemical you are testing for, in order to know what test to run.   But you don’t know what chemicals are in the effluent.   You do not know what has gone “down the drain” and down the toilets in the collection system, which includes from businesses, that for example, discharge heavy metals.

We are not told:

UV Radiation, nor Tertiary Filtration, nor any of the steps in a Sequencing Batch Reactor remove these ingredients of the liquid effluent that are very harmful to living organisms.

The City of Saskatoon defended the use of a chemical combo for dissolving tree roots in sewer lines (instead of augering them out):  it ordered testing of the River water for the presence of the two chemicals in Vaporooter.

What they found:

  • for one of the chemicals, they could not find a lab that knew a protocol for testing for the presence of that particular chemical.
  • For the other chemical, it cost $3,000 for one test, for one water sample, taken on one day, from one location. (Probably would cost more today.)  . . . Guess how much testing gets done at three or four thousand dollars a pop.  (That’s if you know the chemical and can find a lab that knows a protocol.)
  • One of the two chemicals is a known cause of cancer.

 

And what is known:

 

  • The Federal Govt (PMRA) licenses the chemicals. Cumulative impacts are not considered.  Interactions between chemicals are not considered.  We know about bio-accumulation and things such as mercury in tuna.  And forget about it.
  • Are the regulations enforced (“safe, if used according to label instructions”)?   Not in my experience.

 

Oyster, scallop, mussel and geoduck (Pacific) / quahog (Atlantic)  fisheries receive reassurances.   And irrational rationalization: 

a sewage treatment plant with marine disposal, even if it’s near your fishery will be better than – – remember when? – – the die off of oysters from leakage into the Strait from septic fields.

(INSERT:   Instead,  one person from the shellfish industry is found, who  will deliver the irrational response,  and No One asks:)

Why weren’t the offenders identified and fined?

We need

  • strong protective regulation
  • enforcement of regulations and
  • stiff fines for people who poison water

Lots of families like to swim in Georgia Strait, the Salish Sea.

The first time I swam further than Judges’ Row in Qualicum Beach, going toward French Creek, was the last time.  I was new here.  I didn’t know – – the water becomes skanky.  Next day I scouted the bank for some explanation and found an innocuous little sign related to the sewage treatment plant.

When I swim, I get a bit of water in my mouth, eyes and ears.  So do kids.   The idea of the sewage grosses us out, but the invisible and odourless synthetic chemicals and heavy metals are a real threat to marine organisms and to ourselves.

 

NOT MARINE DISPOSAL, NOT LAND DISPOSAL, WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE?

Less Water toilet technology is old, yet new – – and helpful, or a company like Envirolet would not still be in business:

  • A Canadian manufacturer of composting toilets, Envirolet, has been in business since 1977,    http://www.envirolet.ca/.   Take a look at “the new”. You may be surprised!
  • Reference CBC article, 2008, (link no longer valid)  The Amazing Composting Toilet
  • My experience, composting toilets, is with the Eco Centre on the highway between Saskatoon and Regina at Craik, SK.  It opened in 2004 with composting toilets.  The public washrooms were lovely.  Well-designed. The composting worked very well;  the manure went onto the golf course.  (The Centre unfortunately burnt down in 2016, amid controversy.)
  • The “old”: I was in China in 1988.   There, human manure is known as “night soil”.  For centuries the buckets were emptied on the fields at night.  (Our soils are being depleted in one lifetime.)

 

WHAT’S FAIR IS FAIR:  DO THE FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS PROPOSE TO GIVE $7.6 MILLION TO EVERY GROUP OF 188 RESIDENTS THAT DESIRES STATUS QUO SEWAGE TREATMENT? (NO OFFENCE TO THE RESIDENTS OF BOWSER.  I THINK THEY’RE BEING RAIL-ROADED.)

$7.6 MILLION DOLLARS IN GRANT MONEY ON THE LINE.  TOTAL CAPITAL COST AND POPULATION NUMBERS.

POPULATION:  The Engineers’ Report specifies that the cost estimate

is for 188 residents, projected to grow to 499 residents by 2036.

 

DISCREPANCY, TOTAL CAPITAL COST (NEWSPAPER, ENGINEERS’ REPORT)

Newspaper, where people obtain their information. I was told that the figures quoted in the Newspaper were supplied by the Regional Authority (RDN)).

The total capital cost quoted is $10.7 million.

But the Engineers’ (Stantec) Report, sent to me by the RDN  Bowser Village Wastewater Service Area Draft Design Report – April 2017,  see page 2,

total capital cost is:  $11,272,000 to $11,921,000

As much as a million dollars more than the newspaper report.  The newspaper number excludes the Permitting, Archaeological, Engineering cost of  $788,000.  And other numbers vary somewhat.

These are the capital costs.  They do not include annual operating costs that local property owners will have to cover without federal and provincial grants.  As mentioned, the Engineers’ Report is based on 188 residents, projected to be 499 by 2036.  It seems to me that a discrepancy of a million dollars in the cost estimate is a serious matter for a village of this size.

Pricing themselves out of their own homes.

 

THE GRANT.  Is it coercion or bribery or mere largesse?

Newspaper:  The Bowser Village Wastewater Servicing Project was awarded a Clean Water and Wastewater Fund Grant of around $7.6 million last March.

This federal and provincial funding initiative is only good for one year.

The message:  Residents of Bowser, you will be throwing away $7.6 million dollars, if you don’t sign up and get this project approved.  Pronto!

 

Note re  “Clean Water and Wastewater” Grant:

The residents of Bowser are proud of the pure, clean water they draw from their wells.

The point at which pure, clean water becomes sewage:

Suddenly, at the moment you remove the plug in the drain, or flush the toilet, what came out your tap is no longer “water”.

Instantly, it becomes “sewage” or “waste water”.  “Waste” implies that we throw it away.

But (and you see this more clearly if you live in a city on a River) we don’t get “new” water.  It just keeps recycling.  In the River example, a person in Calgary flushes the toilet.   The once “pure clean” water then goes through a “waste water treatment plant” and back into the River.

The “water plant” downstream in Medicine Hat takes water from the River, treats it to drinking water standard, and delivers it to the residents through the water lines.  A person in Medicine Hat turns on the tap, or flushes the toilet.   . . .

There it goes again, through a “waste water treatment plant” and back into the River.  Over and over it goes, down the length of the River across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Meanwhile, we just keep pumping the toxins (poisons) into the water and expect there are no long term consequences.   We just keep pumping out air pollutants, warming the ocean surface; the angry waters of the hurricanes shout:  it’s time for change, folks!

Even if the cost of testing for the presence of all the various chemicals that contaminate our water supplies was not prohibitive;  even if a test existed for each chemical,  even if we actually tested and regulated what’s “going down the drain”,  the evolved composting toilets are much more cost effective.  And, we could start to reverse the rate at which we turn good clean water into sewage.

If it was an individual, and not “The Government” footing the bill, I have a hard time believing that the sewage treatment plant proposal would be on the table.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of conversations I’ve had with people who are informed, and see the way forward is through alternative, new technology.

LACK OF DATA 

How many civilizations have fallen because they salinized their fields?

What happens when we today,

Convert large quantities of fresh water into salt water, in a daily continuous process? “Marine disposal” is used around the planet.   Throw fresh water into an ocean and you have salt water.  Not useable.

We are counting on the rain-evaporation cycle to return at least some of our surface and ground water supplies back to us.

Does Bowser know the recharge rate for the underground water supply it taps into?   Does it know current, cumulative withdrawals?  And the projected withdrawals that will occur with population expansion?  No decisions should be taken without supporting data to know whether the withdrawals will (or not) place Bowser where Salt Spring is.

I may be speaking out of turn:  I have not looked into the number of “monitoring wells” for ground water on Vancouver Island.   I know that in a land mass the size of Saskatchewan, Government and scientists back in the public service days of the 1940’s, set up 100 monitoring wells.   Some places have base line data.   Not nearly enough, what with oil and gas, fracking and how little we know about flows of water between aquifers.   One thousand monitoring wells would be more appropriate.

One sector in our society has responsibility for protecting our water resource:  the Government.   IF it truly does that in B.C., there will be available data.

If you don’t have base line data, the experience of people west of Saskatoon (and elsewhere):  there is no recourse if you end up without water.  Large volumes of water were pumped from underground for industrial purposes.  Area springs and artesian wells stopped flowing.  Cause-and-effect was denied.  Citizens had “no proof”.

Withdrawals from aquifers in Arizona to water orange groves and golf courses lowered the water table substantially.  The number of oases (green, with available water) in the surrounding desert plummeted in the period 1950 to 1980.

In B.C., in 2017, we know enough that any decision taken is

conscious, and intentional.

 

POPULATION GROWTH

When I was young there were 2 billion people on the Planet.   We could get away with things; the Earth had the capacity to deal with what we did to it.

More than 7 billion people cannot get away with what was done back then.   We act as though the world has not changed.

BOWSER IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE  

The proposed Bowser project is not representative of the cost of sewage treatment in smaller communities.  (Total capital cost of approximately $11 million for a village of 188 residents, projected to be 499 by 2036.)

A sewage plant has to have sewage to process.   Normally, in order to have the infrastructure for sewage collection and a treatment plant, you first build a water treatment plant and the infrastructure for delivering water to households and businesses.

The Capital Costs for Bowser do not include a water treatment plant and the installation of water lines.  Residents draw clean water directly from underground sources.

As I understand, Bowser people balked at paying a one-time fee of $38,000 for their share of the Sewage Treatment.   To win over the residents, the developers committed $2 million from their profits, which reduced the amount payable by the locals down to $2,900 each, generally speaking.

If it should happen in the future that their water has to be treated before it can be used, they will have the additional cost of a water treatment plant and water lines.

At some point, local people are responsible for decisions that price themselves out of their homes.

IF THE SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT IS APPROVED, IS IT MANDATORY FOR EVERYONE?   (CAN A RESIDENT OPT OUT?)   Experience of a friend:  once approved, no one can opt out.  Is that the case for Bowser?

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE SUBSIDIZING:  there should be a grant for helping the village convert to the new generation of composting toilets.

 

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