Sludge Watch ==> Ontario Liberals lose their way - embrace nuclear energy, coal-fired plants, and sludge spreading

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

What in the world has got into the Ontario McGuinty Government?  They have stumbled and lost their way.
These 'greenie wannabees' this week came out with three or four awful positions:

-  They are breaking their promise to close the dirty coal fired energy plants ....decided to keep them around

-  They decided to go nuclear ..dangerous technology that creates radioactive wastes we can't manage

-  They are obscuring and defending the massive scale dumping of papermill sludges with absolutely no waste permitting or management

-  While Toronto has a 45 day countdown to no-place-to-put sewage sludge the MOE is slowing the permitting of a proposed  modern biomass 
  sludge-fueled energy plant - the type of  green renewable energy the Liberals claimed that they are fast-tracking

-  Oh....and they are exempting themselves from their own environmental assessment process in the creation of their energy plan so we don't get 
   to examine the alternatives to their nuclear/coal nightmare.

Why on earth would this government  favouring  environnmentally dangerous technologies that have only left a legacy of disease and distrust?  
Why are they permitting and  promoting sewage sludge and paper sludge flung on farmlands and into the food chain?
The land application of sludges releases 100% of the contaminants (arsenic, lead, mercury, dioxins, pathogens) into the environment and releases greenhouse gases
like methane.  Modern technologies...like biomass, methane digestion-capture, plasma arc, gassification...could keep those metals and chemical sequestered in 
the scrubber ash...as well as eliminate the sludge risks from pathogenic disease and water and soil contamination.

They need to embrace proven clean technology...not promote nuclear - coal - sludge slinging.

45 days until August 1st.....

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June 16, 2006
Your Earth - Nuclear Showdown

What a week it's been for energy watchers in Ontario:
 
On Monday the highly theatrical demolition of "The Four Sisters", the mighty smokestacks of the Lakeview Generating Station, took place, metaphorically clearly the way for what the government hopes we will all embrace as our new energy future.
 
On Tuesday, that energy future was revealed. To the surprise of no one, the Energy Minister Dwight Duncan announced that the province is planning to move ahead with new nuclear construction. But if McGuinty and his cohorts thought that this would be final act of their little energy drama, they were sorely mistaken. 
 
Minutes after the government's plan was announced, seven Greenpeace activists, lead by veteran anti-nuclear activist Dave Martin, occupied the Energy Minister's office in protest. Unlike the government's corny staged antics, the courage and conviction of the Greenpeace activists provided some very real life drama and sent a clear message to the McGuinty government: "It's show time, folks!"

To read more, go to http://www.yourearth.ca 


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