Sludge Watch ==> Hamilton - Energy Plant - 550 page health study

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Currently Hamilton sewage sludge is spread on Ontario farmland.  Since 
Hamilton is an industrial town famous for its steel mills, the sludge is 
very high in heavy metals. The copper levels often exceed provincial limits 
for heavy metals.  Copper, which can be toxic to plant life, is sometimes 
over 1,800 parts per million in Hamilton sludge.  Copper in Ontario soils is 
generally under 50 parts per million so you can see how the sludge is 
elevating toxic metals in the soil.

Yet despite the hospital wastes, pathogens, and rural opposition to sludge, 
Hamilton continues to spread its sludge over the Ontario landscape. They 
even want to spread sludge on the Niagara Escarpment.  The Escarpment is 
supposed to be a Unesco World Biosphere reserve.
http://www.ontariooutdoor.com/en/landscapes/niagara/



Sludge spreading means that 100 percent of the mercury is released into the 
environment.  It means 100 percent of the arsenic lead, dioxin, PBDE, PCBs, 
and triclosan is emitted onto the foodchain.  It means that rural residents 
drinking from groundwater wells in communities near Walkerton have to fear 
for the safety of their drinking water as the sludge can seep into the 
fractures of the karst fractured limestone soils of the region.

Where is the risk assessment for the land application of sludge?  It hasn't 
been done!  Canadian governments havent' done a risk assessment, and the US 
EPA promised to do a pathogen risk assessment but didn't do it.  Hamilton 
should be doing a risk assessment on the health impacts of its sludge land 
application if it wants a meaningful comparison.

There are lawsuits from people sick from sludge in Southern Ontario.  Why 
would anyone prefer to have their pathogenic sewer wastes contaminate the 
hinterland and the food chain by dumping sludge in unwilling farming 
communities?  Out of sight out of mind?  It makes much more sense to keep 
the food chain free of contamination and concentrate sludge toxins into the 
ash, where it can be safely sequestered.

A facility that can create clean energy from a contaminating waste solves 
two problems.

..........................................................................................



Plant won't hurt health, firm says

By Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 26, 2007)
Liberty Energy says a new, independent study shows the health of people 
living and working in east Hamilton is not threatened by a proposed 
Strathearne Avenue power plant fuelled by sewage sludge and waste wood.

Another study predicts construction of the facility will add more than $100 
million to the Hamilton economy and support more than 500 years of 
employment.

If built, it will produce enough electricity to supply 8,000 homes, create 
the equivalent of about 150 full-time jobs and inject more than $10 million 
a year into the local economy.

The company released its own summary of the 550-page health study on the 
weekend. It forecasts only negligible health impacts and says particulate 
matter in the air would increase at most by 1.3 per cent.

Most of the particulate increase is blamed on road dust kicked up by 
increased truck traffic. Liberty says it would combat that by paving its 
site and sweeping Strathearne to reduce dust tracked onto the road from 
neighbouring, unpaved industrial operations.

The health report is one of seven studies conducted to help the Ontario 
Environment Ministry decide whether to order a full environmental 
assessment. As a small power plant fuelled by waste biomass -- a category 
that includes sludge, wood waste and farm crop residues but not municipal or 
industrial waste -- Liberty was required to go through only an environmental 
screening process.

But the City of Hamilton, MPP Andrea Horwath, Environment Hamilton, the 
Hamilton Beach Preservation Committee, Community Action Parkdale East and 
half a dozen individuals have asked the ministry to order a full assessment. 
After receiving those requests, ministry staff asked the company to conduct 
seven more studies.

The ministry has not said how soon it will make a decision. According to the 
company, the human health risk assessment concluded "there are no acute 
impacts to human health," and "potential chronic risks will not occur above 
acceptable levels."

emcguinness at thespec.com