I understand that the B.C. Minister of Environment, Terry Lake, will soon announce his decision on whether or not to allow a Waste To Energy (WTE) plant to be built either here in the Lower Mainland, or at a Gold River or a Campbell River location.
No matter where such a plant might be located, people and animals somewhere will have to inhale the minute but extremely toxic and uncapturable airborne particulates.
Not only that, but these WTE facilities essentially burn or gasify recyclable materials and turn them into solid toxic and hazardous wastes, namely fly ash and bottom ash. It has been scientifically proven that these ashes cannot be made into or used for anything else, so no matter how any ‘spin doctor’ might try to convince us otherwise, these ashes are what they are — forever.
Let us hope, no, let us pray that our new environment minister makes the wise choice and says no to WTE, otherwise who knows how many deaths and/or permanent disabilities may eventually be on his hands?
Gary Huntbatch
